# Help editing a waterfall photograph.



## dearlybeloved (May 1, 2013)

I was wondering if I could get some help editing this photo. I've been playing with it for an hour or so but it still doesn't look right to me. 

A waterfall at Chewacla State Park located in Auburn, Alabama. To give an idea of the scene, it was about 5-6pm this afternoon on an cloudy moist day. I wanted to get the flow of the falls coming down and I felt like the rock leading under the falls gives it a nice touch. 

19mm f/20 iso 100 @ 1 second. I used a 4 stop nd filters.  Feel free to comment on ways you would have captured this too, I can always go back and take another crack at it.

Here's my edit





And here's a link to the original raw and feel free to edit it and post back if you feel like giving it a shot. 

https://www.box.com/s/ox3bxxrraet28vzv2bfs


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## Desi (May 1, 2013)

It feels a bit too dark for me, especially with the brighter foreground rock and greenery competing for attention.  Compositionally, the foreground rock acts as a leading line going out of the frame.  Not sure how I would compose it differently, though.  If you burn it and brighten the falls, that may balance the composition a bit.

Hope this is helpful,

Desi


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## 480sparky (May 1, 2013)

A bit too dark for my tastes. I brightened up the water a bit, as well as took out a little of the blue. Then increased the brightness of the shadows.  I also edited out the post or whatever at the top left.  Then finished with a crop.


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## bianni (May 2, 2013)

Selective adjustment of colors and exposure.


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## rokstomper (May 2, 2013)

Here is my try.


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## amolitor (May 2, 2013)

You gotta decide if you want it dark and moody, or bright and cheerful. The sky is flat and has a really ugly color. and there's a lot of shadow, so bright is gonna be tough. I'd go dark and moody, myself, because I always go dark and moody.


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## Ysarex (May 2, 2013)

I'm at work right now on one of the lab computers with some time to kill -- lab computer means calibration is shaky.

Joe


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## dearlybeloved (May 3, 2013)

Ysarex said:


> I'm at work right now on one of the lab computers with some time to kill -- lab computer means calibration is shaky.
> 
> Joe
> 
> ...




wow, I really enjoy looking at that. Can you tell me what you did there? I really like the blue in the sky and the vibrancy. 

i really enjoyed everyone's edits and think this scene represents what I want it to. These falls aren't really that big and I wanted to capture it in a perspective that made the look bigger than they are. great job guys and thanks!


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## Ysarex (May 3, 2013)

dearlybeloved said:


> Ysarex said:
> 
> 
> > I'm at work right now on one of the lab computers with some time to kill -- lab computer means calibration is shaky.
> ...



Glad you like it. Actually I'm a tad embarrassed -- as I said I was at school using one of the lab computers that aren't well maintained and the school only has Adobe so I only had ACR/LR to work with. Back home this morning I ran it through again and I did a better job. I converted the raw file through Photo Ninja and then used Photoshop to finish up.

As for the approach; I opened up the shadows in the converter to the point where the photo was too flat overall. I set the white balance from the water going over the falls.

In Photoshop I built the contrast back in with a Soft Light blend but I created a mask for the shadows so that I could protect them and raise the contrast disproportionately more in the midtones and highlights.

I did a little burning work (hand brush) on the big rock, foreground water and the far waterfall.

Then I added the fake sky. It's just a gradient. I added a blank layer. Laid the gradient on that layer and set the blend mode to Multiply. Then I selected the sky in the original and used that selection to create a mask on the gradient layer.

Joe



P.S. I temporarily saved the full-res version let me know if you want it.


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## George Griffeth (Mar 20, 2016)

Ysarex's last edit is my favorite out all the versions of this picture.


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## snowbear (Mar 20, 2016)

George Griffeth said:


> Ysarex's last edit is my favorite out all the versions of this picture.


Three-year old thread.


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