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Posts tagged ‘waterfall’

Covering the Bases

An invaluable rule for photographers is to look up, down, all around and when they’ve done that, turn back in the opposite direction of where they’re shooting. I don’t always remember the last part when a trail is steep and difficult. I tend to forge ahead to reach my destination and only photograph scenes in front of me. But this time, I had the rule in mind and came away with two different compositions of this waterfall. Black and White thanks to Topaz B&W Effects. (Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park)

Rocky Mountain Iris

When I photographed this scene, it was glaringly bright so I knew it wouldn’t make a good print. But the flowers were wonderful so I shot anyway figuring I’d have a good memory of it. I also had in mind playing with the image in various creative software with hopes I could rescue it. Topaz Simplify did a great job toning down extreme hightlights. I adjusted just to the point where the super bright highlights disappeared. I then applied Nik Glamour Glow to soften even more and bump up the color. Still not great so I decided to try Dynamic Auto Painter on it. I love this software because it allows you to save your creation as layers for future work. Voila! Fun process 🙂

Lower Pine Creek Falls

Lower Pine Creek Falls in Zion National Park. Another challenging (got wet) but extremely worthwhile hike. No sun so I shot in HDR which worked really well to brighten everything up. Please overlook the over-sharpening. (Note Chris at top right).