Need input on this waterfall pic.

[Peleg]

Hi all.  This will be my first posting here.  I would like some feedback on this picture as to whether or not it's a good one or are the branches in the foreground are too distracting.  The water itself was my focus here.  Thanks for any and all critiques.

[DarkPenguin]

Try cropping the left just a tad.  Clean up that half leaf.  (Not the one from the top but the bottom one on the left side.)

Otherwise I think the leaves are a net add.

[larkvi]

Hi all.  This will be my first posting here.  I would like some feedback on this picture as to whether or not it's a good one or are the branches in the foreground are too distracting.  The water itself was my focus here.  Thanks for any and all critiques.
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If you want the water to be the focus, brighten it up and back the leaves off--I can't help but stare at the leaves in the upper left, they are so dominant in terms of brightness and vividness.

[kbolin]

I'd also clone out the branch with no leaves on it.  Otherwise great shot.

Kelly

[photographist]

If you want the water to be the focus, brighten it up and back the leaves off--I can't help but stare at the leaves in the upper left, they are so dominant in terms of brightness and vividness.
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I agree with the tact of Larkvi.   I’d deemphasize the leaves and allow them to become a frame as opposed to a key element.  If you could defocus the leaves (via photokit?), even a bit and sharpen up the further reaches of the falls, it’d add some depth of field and change the visual focus to the water fall itself.

My 2 ½ cents

[Ray]

I know it's conventional to use a really slow shutter speed  for falling water, to create a sliky smooth effect which is often preferred, apparently, by the viewer, but it seems odd to me in this shot. I tend to think if I'd been there, I'd have seen a clear, lucid, transparent effect with the rocks clearly visible behind the flow of water (unless it is an extremely polluted brook, which it might be for all I know). Instead, I'm getting the impression of huge vats of spilt milk flowing down the rocky slope.

The foreground is generally too cluttered and I suspect a fast shutter speed (say 1/500th) might have produced a more appealing effect.

[Peleg]

Thanks everyone for your insights!  Great suggestions but some are a bit beyond my post processing abilities and my PhotoShop Elements II.  I'm busy learning.  I have recently started shooting more RAW and have been using RawShooter Essentials.  I'll post some of those and get more good advice.

[jule]

Thanks for posting your first image.

I am not a fan of the white running water thing - it has been done to death over the years and can be a bit cliched. I'm sorry but your image just doesn't do anything for me.  It doesn't seem to have a clear focus on what you are trying to convey. You mention that the water was your main focus, but there is so much else going on - the vivid leaves.....the scruffy nature of the debris, roots ....rocks....lines of branches and sticks going everywhere.... Just my opinion.

I sometimes find this helpful; Print it out or if that is not possible, look at the photograph on screen - as if someone else had taken it - and allow yourself to respond to it as if you had never seen it before. This requires a bit of practice and ruthless honesty. Be aware of your thoughts and emotions. Ask yourself what the photograph is conveying. That should help sort out the keepers.

Thanks again
Julie

[ray905]

Nice lighting and exposure on this shot, but the leaves, particularly in the left foreground are a bit distracting for me. I found myself drawn to the area of rocks and water in the center that is framed by the branchs.  That area with the play of the water on the rocks cropped out and viewed by itself is very interesting to me.  It seems to be the strongest part of the image.  I have no problem with branchs or trees framing a stream, but the stream is usually the focal point for me not vice versa.  Also, if you can go back to this spot, I would be curious to see a very low angle shot under the leaves from this same spot.  Might be interesting.  My 2 cents.