This morning, we headed to Opaeka’a Falls for our shoot. This was my 3rd time to the falls and I was determined not to come back with the same crap I’d captured before. I looked at my images before coming over of the falls and they really suck. Too much PS used to make up for piss poor technique. It was pitiful!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP9327hdr.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
The light was kinda flat but the greens have all sorts of shades to them lending to lots of color contrast. So the trick was to first decide on the subject, include those elements that support it while excluding those that don’t. Then it was time based on that info to make the shot.
The top image is a 7 image HDR. It’s OK. The 2nd image is a single image clicked finished in ACR and then using Nik’s Color Efex Darken/Lighten Center.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP92571a.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
Next is a single image clicked finished in ACR and then using Nik’s Color Efex Darken/Lighten Center. With the next a 7 image HDR finished with a little Glamor Glow.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP96291.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
This last image which is my favorite (and vast improvement over my last visits) is a single click finished in PS using Darken/Lighten center.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP96461.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
I moved about 80feet is total changing the view of the falls, including and excluding elements and working HDR. As I talked about with the DLWS gang, zooming in on the falls doesn’t talk about place. If you want a waterfall in HI, you need to include HI. That was the challenge and I’m glad I stuck to my guns to make an image happen. I always feel I’ve accomplished something when I’ve take a bad shoot from the past and erased it with the present. Might be a small step forward, but it’s going in the right direction.
Photos captured by D3x, 24-120VR on Lexar UDMA digital film