Maxwell Falls Hike

[JosephCarter]

...sometimes there simply is no happy medium, such as when the highlights and the shadows are simply too far apart. I believe this image fits that criterion. In such a case, the only real benefit to bracketing is for making a composite image.

Not to mention by the look if it, the chosen exposure appears to be the 'happy medium' in regards to this scene, any darker and you'd loose too much detail in the shadows, and of course any brighter wouldn't help those blown highlights.

It appears I took too long in typing out my original reply as most of the points I made were already pointed out before I could press Enter

I think I prefer the original image to the vertical one, as it is a more interesting composition, rather than just 'a waterfall', though as I said before, if taken from a lower angle, it may have added more interest. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt in assuming if you did have time to find the "perfect" shot, you would have nailed it

 

[Juga]

I don't completely agree with this. Bracketing could have helped find a 'happy medium' to where he can either recover detail from the highlights being blown or some detail from the shadows. So saying that bracketing would only help for combining multiple exposures or HDR isn't 100% true however most of the time that is what it is used for.

I am not a pro but I think a GND would have helped nicely for this situation.

I agree that bracketing is useful when trying to find a happy medium, but sometimes there simply is no happy medium, such as when the highlights and the shadows are simply too far apart. I believe this image fits that criterion. In such a case, the only real benefit to bracketing is for making a composite image.

...and I would agree with that statement but you can't say that it is ONLY useful for that purpose.

 

[Eclectix]

I agree that bracketing is useful when trying to find a happy medium, but sometimes there simply is no happy medium, such as when the highlights and the shadows are simply too far apart. I believe this image fits that criterion. In such a case, the only real benefit to bracketing is for making a composite image.

...and I would agree with that statement but you can't say that it is ONLY useful for that purpose.

Exactly, which is why I said, "Bracketing would only help in this case..." I absolutely agree that bracketing is useful for much more than just HDR-type composites.

 

[Eclectix]

View attachment 53903

Ceeboy- this is a different picture I took as well (where I originally cropped it similar to your edit). What do you think of this one?

I much prefer this photograph.