‘Niagara Revealed’ - Horseshoe Falls, Niagara Falls, Canada-USA border
photo by Christoph Fischer
website - https://beautysurroundsyou.com/
original image - https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50452656382_91b0634dc2_b.jpg
Niagara Falls are grand just by themselves, but this moody lighting and great camera angle makes them spectacular.
I removed the sun from behind the mist, it was looking like white blotch.
Kirkjufell mountain and Kirkjufellfoss waterfall at Grundarfjörður, Snæfellsnes peninsula, Iceland
photo by Michalakis Ppalis
website - https://twitter.com/michalisppalis/
original image - https://www.dreamstime.com/kirkjufell-mountain-kirkjufellfoss-waterfall-grundarfjordur-iceland-kirkjufell-mountain-kirkjufellfoss-image182501893
Another example for my case against gratuitous long exposure. It's almost impossible to find a photo of this location from this angle that isn't taken with long exposure, and doesn't have the resulting ugliness of a smeared waterfall. This is the best that I ran into, and even here we're talking about the exposure that was barely short enough to preserve some detail in the stream. I did what I could to remove the motion blur.
Other than that, I wanted the mountain to be green as it usually is and not brown, so I changed that. Also fixed the contrast.
Panther Creek Falls, Wind River Valley, Washington, USA
photo by Cliff Estes
website - https://www.facebook.com/cliff.w.estes
original image - https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-panther-creek-falls-one-washington-s-most-photographed-waterfalls-despite-climb-to-get-to-image93767184
This is the best example against my Pet Peeve #1 - overuse of the long exposure. It is practically impossible to find a photo of these awesome falls that is not done in the said long exposure, turning them into ugly white mush. But I did find this one. Please, tell me how the white mush looks better than this wonderfull detail stopped in time, the countles exquisite dropplets suspended in the air. Because I won't listen.
I adjusted the contrast to bring out as much detail as possible. You're welcome.
‘Waiting for the Midnight Sun’ - Seljalandsfoss waterfall, South Region, Iceland
photo by Alex Armitage
website - https://www.alexarmitage.com/
original image - https://i.redd.it/63pi3kq0ak961.jpg
Quite a few photographers covered the same subject. I like this one the most. Wonderful backlight and great atmosphere. Also, no long exposure! See my Pet Peeve #1, and tell me that the intricate shape of this waterfall stopped in time doesn't look better than the ugly mush that you'd get with long exposure.
This is another photo where I only did the basic adjustments.
‘Moody Day in the Swiss Alps’ - Swiss Alps near Appenzell, Switzerland
photo by wolfix17
website - https://www.reddit.com/user/wolfix17/
original image - https://i.redd.it/07rq8qab06c71.jpg
Love the sense of scale here. And you can feel the cool atmosphere.
Like in the previous photo, I only did some slight sharpening.
Proxy Falls, Willamette National Forest, Oregon, USA
photo by Jon Gales
website - https://www.instagram.com/tookthescenicroute/
original image - https://i.imgur.com/7cOw8fW.jpeg
A nice close-up of the mossy hexagonal columns at Proxy Falls. The photo is mostly a texture, but works nicely as a wallpaper. Sometimes, simplicity works the best.
Processing-wise, I only sharpened the image slightly.
Bruarfoss waterfall, Brekkuskógur, Iceland
photo by Jacob Vizek
website - https://unsplash.com/@jakevizek/
original image - https://unsplash.com/photos/Fhjxr14xa30
Now, I am going to rant at length about a pet peeve of mine, feel free to skip. When and who decided that photos of waterfalls have to be shot at long exposure?! Was there a memo? I guess it was interesting the first time - it does give the waterfalls a certain dreamlike quality - but now it’s almost impossible to find any photo of a waterfall that doesn’t look like white mush. Long exposure has just become a lazy shortcut - use it, and you’ll get a decent picture without much effort. Waterfalls frozen in time with a short exposure can look weird, but when done right, the result are spectacular, and no mush can compare. The photo above is a case in point. I had a hard time finding it. End rant, but I’ll be talking more about this again.
This went through a lot of processing. The original photo was a portrait, and when reframed for the 16:10 screen the part I focused on was much too bright by itself. I had to bring it down, and bring out the detail. The colors themselves should be plausible, as the main thing about this waterfall is that the water does look bright blue in real life.
There’ll be more Iceland. Much more, because Icaland is photography on easy mode - the place looks amazing wherever you point the camera. So that’s what photographers do, when they get there - point their cameras wherever.
