Thoughts?

bazooka · Feb 16, 2012

I've been on the fence whether or not I wanted to post this photograph because I've really grown to love it.

I knew what I saw when I took it but the resulting image on my monitor was just terrible. Overexposed rock face, nasty greenish-brown water, poor contrast... I "put it on the shelf".

I've really changed my editing technique over the past several months focusing more on small masked curves adjustments instead of dodging and burning which is what I used a lot in the past. Also, since I took this shot in 2010, I learned that B&W is a great tool to remove color when it only serves as a distraction.

Last month I took it back off the shelf and created a completely new version of this and made an 11x14 which is now on my wall.

What are your thoughts? Do you find the arrangement of the elements interesting? Does it hold your interest? All comments welcome.

Joey_Ricard · Feb 16, 2012

Bazooka Joe! from Houston, home of my relatives that live near Goose Creek in Baytown, near the once mighty Exxon plant..(thought I would throw that in there lol)

Well, typical of why a lot of people use B&W, you mentioned on your Flickr, you could not get color to work. Some images just don't work, could be the angle, perspective, some too contrasty in colors. I don't know. It's well exposed, detailed, even balanced, but there isn't much to this angle as far as you said, holding interest.

hartz · Feb 16, 2012

I keep going back to see whether there is a mermaid on sitting on the rock yet ...... Nope ...... still not..... still not ..... wait .... nope....

Forkie · Feb 16, 2012

I don't think the B&W works for this shot, although you did say the colour didn't work for you either. Any chance of posting the original? I suspect the colour can be manipulated to work without converting to B&W.

Robin Usagani · Feb 16, 2012

I like it.

Derrel · Feb 16, 2012

It *is* interesting. It's somewhat offbeat and unconventional. It has graphical elements and LOADS of texture cues. The angles in the rock faces that form the waterfall and back of the pool are on opposing diagonal slants--way cool! It's small on-screen, but there is one area that needs more life,and that's the water in the pool itself--it seems too uniformly dark. And also the big rock in the pool; I think a bit of careful dodging on both would improve it. It is a neat photo.

sm4him · Feb 16, 2012

I rather like it, but then I'm a sucker for a nice waterfall.
I like the angle of the waterfall coming down from the rocks above, and the smoothness of the flowing water.
Personally, I think it works fine as a b&w.

The one thing I don't like is that rock in the foreground. It draws my attention away from the waterfall. The other, submerged rocks are much darker and don't draw the eye, plus they tend to form a line that leads you right back to the waterfall. But that one big rock just pulls me in, and there's nothing very interesting about it (the foreground rock, that is, not the photo overall).

bazooka · Feb 16, 2012

Thank you all for the comments. Each are considered, especially the mermaid one.

Forkie, I thought I had an original but it looks like I never made a jpg from the raw. It bothered me that much. I'm at work currently so don't have access to the raw.

There are several things that I find interesting in this image and the comments touched on some of them.

1. How the shape of the waterfall interacts with the foreground rock, almost like the fall gave birth to the rock.... I love that relationship but I am still trying to "figure it out". sm4him, I find it interesting that the rock itself is only a distraction for you. To me, without the rock, it would just be another waterfall shot. The rock, to me, is the "catch". How do you feel about this?

2. The upper half of the image has a lot of texture and direction, where as the rock is isolated from it all, floating out there in the blackness. Upon further inspection, there are actually other much smaller rocks submerged and mud-covered. But the large rock "survived". Derrell, you mentioned that the pool looks too uniformly dark to you. What do you think about the shape of the submerged rocks? Are they just not enough?

3. I love how the waterfall changed directions 90 degree, but where it does this is hidden and creates an interesting juxtaposition of rock angle and water angle in that are of the photo... all strong lines at major angles, but then the waterfall from there streams down in an arc-shape. I find that contrast to be interesting.

What do you all think about these three elements?

Frequency · Feb 17, 2012

Simple, beautiful

KenC · Feb 21, 2012

I keep looking at this and trying to figure something out, I'm not even sure what. That's always a good sign for an image. Some of the reaction you've been getting is due to the fact that this really is two images fused together, and sometimes that doesn't end up working and just leads to having to pick one, but here there's a strange mysterious feel to the combination. I'm glad you stuck with it.

My only quibble on the processing is that the spray where the waterfall hits the pond surface looks blown out and a little detail would be better, imo, especially if viewing this as a large print.

bazooka · Feb 22, 2012

Thank you for your comment Ken. I also find myself trying to make connections and such, which is strange to me because I'm the one that took it. The only actual connection I intended was between the waterfall and the rock. But there are other elements that are simply there and draw me in to explore them. I don't know if I saw this subconsciously or if it was just luck. I'll take either.

I see what you mean about the white splash. If I remember correctly, I ran the image through a threshold layer to check any blown or crushed areas and I don't think any of the white went past 250. I'll have to check the raw though because I agree that it does look blown. Maybe there is some detail there I can bring out.

Archer · Feb 22, 2012

It's fascinating looking at it through the eyes of experienced photographers. My initial reaction was that I didn't appreciate the rock. However, I kept going back to look again and again.

I've never noticed a photo directing my eyes, pushing them down the falls to the rock, like this image.