My waterfall Vacation C&C

[astroNikon]

I took a 3 data photo vacation last week before the 4th. I wish there were more larger waterfalls in the area but it is what it is.
Hope you enjoy them.

# 1 - Brandywine Falls - Cuyahoga Nat'l Park - Ohio


# 2 - Bridal Veil Falls - Cuyahoga bat'l Park Ohio


# 3 - Springfield Falls - Mercer Pennsylvania


# 4 - Blue Hen Falls - Cuyahoga Nat'l Park


Hope you liked the waterfalls .. here's a few non-waterfalls for your (hopeful) enjoyment.

And on my trip home I tried to take some photos while driving, without looking through the viewfinder or anything. I had to throw alot out because the camera focused on the windows versus the subject I was aiming it towards. But here's a few that I like.

# 5 - Detroit Marathon Plant outline


# 6 - That bridge just outside of Toledo. I've been trying to take a picture of this for years but I never stop lol


# 7 - What's a C&C without a firetruck from the 4th?

 

[mmaria]

why vignette so heavy on some of these?

#4 for me but with different processing

 

[astroNikon]

why vignette so heavy on some of these?

Because I liked it ??

photos without vignetting

I thought vignetting helped with this one to lead the eyes to the waterfalls, versus the waterflow up front and the big rock dominating the photo on the left


And on this one I thought it helped remove the kinda unstraight line of the front edge of the truck on the left and the bottom edges .. and thought it helped focus on the bell and the truck windshield and clouds


But then, I've only learned how to use the vignette tool in Lightroom recently when I used it to get rid of my open car door as I took a photo of flowers. My car door was in the upper right (edit: left actually .. lol) and I used a white vignette to soften the photo a bit and eliminate the car door !! here's that photo - you can still see the car door https://flic.kr/p/o6weZR

 

[mmaria]

why vignette so heavy on some of these?

Because I liked it ??

oh lol

ok then... fair enough... it's my personal preference and my honest opinion. I don't like vignette that heavy... and sorry again for not agreeing with you but I also don't like purple water...

don't get angry at me! it's not my fault!

 

[mmaria]

and... I see you edited your reply and explained why you did what you did...

 

[sscarmack]

Some of the photos are broken for me. I'm not sure if it's bc I'm on my phone or not.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[astroNikon]

why vignette so heavy on some of these?

Because I liked it ??

oh lol

ok then... fair enough... it's my personal preference and my honest opinion. I don't like vignette that heavy... and sorry again for not agreeing with you but I also don't like purple water...

don't get angry at me! it's not my fault!

No problem. Just learning Lightroom actually. These were the first photos I've actually fiddled around with alot of settings in lightroom .. like getting the greenery, well robust green lol

So LR is still a *BIG* learning curve for me right now ... and of course LR coloring (for lack of better words).

of course, so is composition, et all ...

purple water ?

 

[mmaria]

purple water ?

even though I'm viewing this on the crappy computer at job I'm pretty sure this is purple or pink or whatever, just not as white as it suppose to be

wb tool is your friend, don't forget it

 

[astroNikon]

okay. WhiteBalance is something I'm learning more and more about. I'm seeing more and more issues with photos as I take in Auto WB.
So I've been adjusting WB in LightRoom. My eye just isn't that good for WB yet and I don't have a good technique flow as of yet.

I went through and redid all my waterfall photos as it was after I learned about Clarity, Vibrance and Saturation.
The other month I learned how to use Highlights & Shadows .. and I went back through my archive and fixed a bunch of photos for myself.

WB was at 6850 ... I pushed it up to 7550 and it does look much better. Going to play with it some more.
For the last couple months I've been using the preset WB settings in LR to adjust things. But recently been using the Custom. Thinking it looks better but there's still alot to learn of what looks better.
Thanks for your input !!

 

[mmaria]

I always adjust white and black in ps, in curves box. I do a lot of editing in curves, because it's my favorite tool.

The thing is, I know I can't believe my eyes because they're able to easily adjust to wrong colors and you perceive black where there's no real black f.e.

I like that particular picture and I think it doesn't need lots of editing or vignette at all

 

[astroNikon]

I also need to stop using just my laptop screen for editing. I hooked it once up to my TV and boy, what a difference !!
If I'm not exactly perpendicular to my laptop screen then colors, etc can vary alot.
just another thing for me to keep in mind.

But I love photography
I just need to watch for purple water more ... lol

I haven't gotten to curves yet ... though it looks like it's the next section that I haven't explored at all.

 

[mmaria]

I also need to stop using just my laptop screen for editing. I hooked it once up to my TV and boy, what a difference !!
If I'm not exactly perpendicular to my laptop screen then colors, etc can vary alot.
just another thing for me to keep in mind.

I use laptop for editing... yeah but... calibration?

I just need to watch for purple water more ... lol

well the most of my waterfalls were green and blue

I haven't gotten to curves yet ... though it looks like it's the next section that I haven't explored at all.

don't go there yet... actually, go, see but the thing is... They're the most powerful tool in ps and in order to get something out of them you have to know a lot, at least that is my experience. I used them and didn't even know what those numbers there mean f.e.... but... now, there's just so much to do there and it happens that all layers I have when editing something are curves layers...

 

[astroNikon]

don't go there yet... actually, go, see but the thing is... They're the most powerful tool in ps and in order to get something out of them you have to know a lot, at least that is my experience. I used them and didn't even know what those numbers there mean f.e.... but... now, there's just so much to do there and it happens that all layers I have when editing something are curves layers...

I don't even know what a "curve" is ... lol
I don't have PhotoShop. I only have LightRoom so I don't know if it's a simplier tool in LR than PS.

 

[astroNikon]

I also need to stop using just my laptop screen for editing. I hooked it once up to my TV and boy, what a difference !!
If I'm not exactly perpendicular to my laptop screen then colors, etc can vary alot.
just another thing for me to keep in mind.

I use laptop for editing... yeah but... calibration?

Yeah, that's on my list.
But I noticed dependent upon my head position colors change. So I don't know now much calibration is going to help. I did realize that I have to keep my eyes perpendicular to the screen for solid consistent colors. I figured the TV I used would be the best bet as it was consistent at all angles. I have a cheap laptop.