first attempt at milky water

[alexharrison101]

milky waterfall by alexharrison101, on Flickr

i have no ND filter for this lens, so this is about the best i can get. i have one for my other lens, but that wasn't long enough to frame the water. be kind - it's my first try!

[Jediboy]

As a first effort you have done well. Especially as you had no ND filter. My only observation other than that, is the composition seems a little off. The waterfall almost seems a little lost at the top of the frame, and I feel that you're losing the main focus of the photo a bit. Just my observations of ourselves.
Overall good effort.

[alexharrison101]

thanks - i was fairly pleased with it in the end. had to try and fix the exposure a bit in pp (which i'm still learning with too...this whole photography thing is a steep learning curve all round!!).

i know what you mean about it getting lost at the top - i didn't think of it at the time, but if i get another go some day i'll try and make it more balanced. although i think there was a reason i set it so high in the frame...maybe something on the bank. don't know.

the 'waterfall' was about 8 inches tall lol...

[DigiDiva]

I slightly disagree (sorry Jediboy). You have used the rule of thirds and the reflection leads you into the waterfall. If anything, I would have moved the waterfall further left or right. Or maybe an envelope (or letter box..I never remeber which) crop would reduce the amount of lake on show. Hope this makes sense Im pants at critique

[Jediboy]

Originally Posted by DigiDiva

I slightly disagree (sorry Jediboy). You have used the rule of thirds and the reflection leads you into the waterfall. If anything, I would have moved the waterfall further left or right. Or maybe an envelope (or letter box..I never remeber which) crop would reduce the amount of lake on show. Hope this makes sense Im pants at critique

No need to apologise. Good points made.

[StephenBatey]

Q. (This is completely serious - if it seems barbed or frivolous you've misunderstood the intent). What's the subject?

Edit. I felt on reflection (no pun intended) I had to come back to explain. On the face of it, the photograph was posted as a purely technical exercise on capturing a milky effect in water, and as such any comments at all on composition or artistic merit are out of place. If it wasn't so intended, and if the subject were something other than "attempt at milky water" than other comments are in order and relevant. I've been slated on other forums for inappropriately assuming that photographers were aiming at art rather than record photos or technical exercises, and I have no intention of falling into that trap here.

If more than a technical exercise was intended, thinking through the question I posed should be of great help in clarifying Alex' thoughts.

[Jediboy]

Originally Posted by StephenBatey

Q. (This is completely serious - if it seems barbed or frivolous you've misunderstood the intent). What's the subject?

Edit. I felt on reflection (no pun intended) I had to come back to explain. On the face of it, the photograph was posted as a purely technical exercise on capturing a milky effect in water, and as such any comments at all on composition or artistic merit are out of place. If it wasn't so intended, and if the subject were something other than "attempt at milky water" than other comments are in order and relevant. I've been slated on other forums for inappropriately assuming that photographers were aiming at art rather than record photos or technical exercises, and I have no intention of falling into that trap here.

If more than a technical exercise was intended, thinking through the question I posed should be of great help in clarifying Alex' thoughts.

I have to disagree.
My take on this section is that when people post a photo, the photo is then open to all aspects of critique, comment, observation, call it what you will.
I look at the photo as a whole, and can't understand why' anybody would look at a photo differently.
I wouldn't take a photo of a landscape, and then say that I'm only interested in what people think of the tree in the middle. Surely the point of posting a photo to a forum is to get observations/critique on the whole photo, therefore improving every aspect of a photo, from subject, compositon, focus, exposure etc.....

If I'm wrong then I will apologise and withdraw my comment.

[alexharrison101]

ok. when i posted this picture i hoped for feedback of all sorts - composition, technique, exposure...yes, the effect i was going for was a technical one, but i still wanted to get a nice photo out of it too. i think these forums are a place to get feedback on everything, including artistic merit (or lack thereof!). so, i welcome all the comments i've had on this photo, irrespective of their topic. i assumed this is what these forums are for...

i was limited when i took the shot by several things, including the height of the moving water, the width of the river and the length/quality of my lens, as well as the fact it was raining so the position i took the shot from was a small bit of cover on the opposite bank(!). the subject (StephenBatey) was the small waterfall type thing, with the focus also on the small rock just in front of it.

i'm aware it's not great...but i am still learning, and these forums help me in that.

[markgozz]

Originally Posted by alexharrison101

milky waterfall by alexharrison101, on Flickr

i have no ND filter for this lens, so this is about the best i can get. i have one for my other lens, but that wasn't long enough to frame the water. be kind - it's my first try!

The best thing to do is to carry on with what your doing , each time you try something new you will learn from it and the more often you do it the more you will remember for the next time .

As a technical exerciser this shot has worked , you've slowed the shutter down to produce a nice milky movement in the water fall and smoothed out the water in-front of it to give some really nice reflections . For me the composition doesn't quite work and I think a little selective boost in contrast would help lift the shot .

I hope you don't mind but I had a little play with your shot to show what I mean , I have to upload images to my gallery before posting them so if you rather I didn't I will delete it .



Mark

[alexharrison101]

now that's nice...might have another play with my original and see what i can do.