These are 2 more test shots of this fall. I'll be back out to this area tomorrow but there will probably be even less water than in these shots as it hasn't rained in 2 weeks (the shots below represent lack of rain for 1 week). So Tomorrow I most likely will be shooting other things in the gorge unless we get a thunderstorm to fill the creek (lets hope we get one :-), 20% chance or rain tomorrow).

Nevertheless, I'd like crituques on which has the best composition and why. Feel free to talk about color and contrast and the like. Both shots were processed with the same image curve and stauration levels.

View of the gorge and fall:

Tighter view of the falls:

Whassup NelmR.

My choice would bethe first picture...on one condition: that is if the branch leading out to theright from the treeis eliminated. I don't knowwhy I find it distracting but it doesn't work for me. It seems to upset the vertical lines too much. My immediate senses are telling me, even after viewing it a few more times, that it in fact does upset the rhythm here.

I scrolled the branch up to the top of the frameto make it almost unnoticeable but once I did thattoo much valuable space at the top of the scene was wastedbecause there the branches filled in more of the scene. :-)

The second picture offers a nice touch but my eye was continually drawn to thatslender tube-like tree between thetwo big ones which are framing the falls. And I have to tell you, honestly, I didn't notice it at all in the first picture.

As a landscape/nature photo it should be left alone I guess. On the other hand, as a photographer, you,it seems that nature has to be overidden, in this case position-wise, at least to me.I'm trying to fit it in but I can't do it correctly. There may be another answerfor my uneasiness about the little dude but...

...maybe the answer is simply because the three are at odds with each other and should be recognized as such. After all nature has its oddities, good photography notwithstanding.

Maybe if the waterfall had a lot of water cascading over it my eye wouldn't have been drawn to the tiny tree. I'm just grabbing at straws here.

Andrew,

I fell almost the same way about these. In the first picture the small light color branch in the bottom left is distracting to me as well.

What I find difficult is that this fall is not going to be easy to photograph as the angles are difficult do to the 120+ foot drop down from the trail. In some areas the trail has no railing so I can't play with fate too much to get a good position. It's not worth it for a photograph. Fortunetly this location is home to 3 other named waterfalls and many unnamed ones. The one in the photo is the highest at 80 feet or so. The others are around 50-65 feet. The unnamed ones are even smaller.

So I will try to hunt done the other ones if weather is condusive to waterfalls. Maybe i can get some better photos. 2 of the falls have a trail leading to them at the canyons base. That should give me a better perspective. Unfortuneltly no trail in the canyon leads to the waterfall in this post and going off trail is illegal and dangerous in this park as I understand.

I guess I could always ask for permission if I really wanted to hike up to it in the caynon's creek bed. Again, it is only worth it to me if it wouldn't be dangerous (there could be no trail due to a tendency to have falling rocks and such, who knows, but the first pic does show many huge rocks at the bottom).

THe weather for tommorrow looks like it will be sunny so most likely I'll be photographing other things because I bet the waterfalls will have even less water than in these pictures. At this point I'd call these things drippings instead of waterfalls.

Nevertheless, I look forward to the photo opportunites at this newly found park (to me at least). I'll post anything that i find interesting.

For what it's worth I like the second. The first one pulls my eye down to the brown pool and pile of rocks, which aren't visually interesting.

The second one seems to be focused on the water and reminds me of the Frank Loyd Wright house in PA.

yep its the second one for me

i actually didn't notice the water in the first one until i looked closer.

the second one is a much nicer pic

nice shot

bodge