Landscapes & Waterfalls

fishing4sanity · Dec 12, 2017

Yesterday I headed out to find a couple of waterfalls I wanted to visit for the first time. After about 3 hours of driving I found out these particular forest roads closed to wheeled vehicles on December 1st - bummer. I was going to hike in, but I figured the closer falls was about 5 miles one way. It was 22* and windy, plus I'm still getting over a back injury from earlier this year, so a change of plans was in order. A couple of weeks ago I shared some photos from Panther Creek Falls, which is in this same general area and decided to try some more pics there without smoothing/white fuzz the water so much.

The first pic is from yesterday at 1/5 second, while the second is the earlier pic at 3 seconds. The angles are different and yesterday was much brighter, but curious which water looks better? I also took a pic of an alder tree thicket trying for that abstract feel. My B&W rendering skills are lacking, but is B&W or color the better way for an abstract look? Finally, I went to Dog Creek Falls and I'm wondering which pic is the better pic? I enjoy getting out and photographing and appreciate advice on improving my hobby. Thanks.

#1 Panther Creek Falls (new one at 1/5 second)

#2 Panther Creek Falls (old one at 3 seconds)

Alder Trees

#1 Dog Creek

#2 Dog Creek

#3 Dog Creek

fishing4sanity · Dec 12, 2017

Here are a few more pics from the trip. Again, advice and tips are appreciated. The morning started pretty high up in the forest near Mt. Saint Helens. Then I took pics in Paradise Creek and dropping down to Panther Creek and Dog Creek. Finally finishing back down at the Columbia River Gorge.

#1 Mt. St. Helens

#2 Paradise Creek

#3 Ice

#4 The Road

#5 PCF, I just really like this waterfall

#6 Columbia River Gorge

zulu42 · Dec 12, 2017

A couple hobbyist opinions:
What I really, really like about the first shot is the proximity right up close to that log on the left. I like the way the water in the foreground is rendered in he first shot. Was there higher flow when the second, longer exposure was taken? The water on the upper right shows up so much better in the second shot.

The Alder trees is really nice. Wouldn't that look cool in a large print! I prefer the color. It's one of those that's an abstract from across the room, but not up close, and I think the green patches of color help the context.

All good pictures. I often wished for more sunlight, like in the road image. I guess the golden hour in some of those deep gorges is around noon!

fishing4sanity · Dec 13, 2017

Thanks zulu42. The flow in Panther Creek was a little higher two weeks ago, plus I think the longer exposure helped the small falls on the right-hand side to show up better, but then the main water went to white fuzz. I too, like the proximity to the left-side log more in the first pic. I wish I was better a spotting that type of thing in the moment instead of after I'm home. Next year I need to get there about 1 1/2 months sooner and get some fall color as well. Thanks again for the feedback.

weepete · Dec 13, 2017

fishing4sanity said:
Yesterday I headed out to find a couple of waterfalls I wanted to visit for the first time. After about 3 hours of driving I found out these particular forest roads closed to wheeled vehicles on December 1st - bummer. I was going to hike in, but I figured the closer falls was about 5 miles one way. It was 22* and windy, plus I'm still getting over a back injury from earlier this year, so a change of plans was in order. A couple of weeks ago I shared some photos from Panther Creek Falls, which is in this same general area and decided to try some more pics there without smoothing/white fuzz the water so much.

The first pic is from yesterday at 1/5 second, while the second is the earlier pic at 3 seconds. The angles are different and yesterday was much brighter, but curious which water looks better? I also took a pic of an alder tree thicket trying for that abstract feel. My B&W rendering skills are lacking, but is B&W or color the better way for an abstract look? Finally, I went to Dog Creek Falls and I'm wondering which pic is the better pic? I enjoy getting out and photographing and appreciate advice on improving my hobby. Thanks.

#1 Panther Creek Falls (new one at 1/5 second)
View attachment 150662

#2 Panther Creek Falls (old one at 3 seconds)
View attachment 150663

Alder Trees
View attachment 150664
View attachment 150665

#1 Dog Creek
View attachment 150666

#2 Dog Creek
View attachment 150667

#3 Dog Creek
View attachment 150668

1# Panther Creek Falls is the much better shot, primarily because the framing is better. The space between the logs at the lower left is just small and dark enough to not distract and take the eye out of the frame. In 2 it's bigger and with the white in the water makes it instantly more obvious to me. Good leading lines in both. I'd have liked to have seen a shot with a much faster shutter speed, around 1/15th to see if it retains a bit more structure to the water.

With yours shots of the Alder trees I prefer the B&W, the white balance makes the white of the trees look a bit too blue to me. It's way too obvious what the trees are to be an abstract though I can see what you were going for. It's got some nice up&down/left&right lines going on.

1, 2 and three Dog Creek are nice, well shot pretty well composed shots. The only thing I could possibly pick you up on here is the framing (particularly in 1 and 2) where there are a couple of cut off rocks in the foreground. Generally it's better to include the whole rock as a foreground anchor if possible as it makes the whole composition look more considered and more of a deliberate choice. There's just a sliver of material in 3 that I'd have cropped out for the same reason.

Dean_Gretsch · Dec 13, 2017

I would have to say #'s 1 and 6 in the last set are my favorites. I would have liked the waterfall shots more if you had used a faster shutter speed. The silky effect is just overused anymore. This is just my opinion, and I am a hobbyist only, so my opinion doesn't count for a lot lol. The falls looks like a spot I would spend lots of time at.

fishing4sanity · Dec 13, 2017

Thank you everyone for the advice and ideas. I see what you're talking about in the Dog Creek pics with cutting off foreground elements. I miss too much of that just reviewing a photo on the camera's LCD. I'll try and get back over to the falls and try even faster shutter times. I assume the main variable to get faster shutters would be bumping the ISO up? How high is too high an ISO for landscapes?

weepete · Dec 14, 2017

fishing4sanity said:
Thank you everyone for the advice and ideas. I see what you're talking about in the Dog Creek pics with cutting off foreground elements. I miss too much of that just reviewing a photo on the camera's LCD. I'll try and get back over to the falls and try even faster shutter times. I assume the main variable to get faster shutters would be bumping the ISO up? How high is too high an ISO for landscapes?

Well, it depends on the situation. I had a look at the exif data on one of your Dog Creek shots and it looks like it was shot at 0.8s, f11, ISO 64. Raising the ISO would be one option, but at 22mm if you used the hyperfocal distance of 7ft then everything from around 3.5ft to infinity would be in focus at F8, then you could raise the ISO to 500 which should get you 1/15th of a sec shutter speed.

In reality out in the field I'd probably keep the aperture of f11 if there was more in the distance, in which case it pretty much limits to making ISO adjustments.

On the D810 I dare say I'd be happy to go up to ISO 1000 before I'd start getting concerned with noise, but everyone has a slightly different tolerance of it in an image.