Thunderous Serenity

[Octane]

On the drive down the west coast of New Zealand, along the Haast Pass, I stopped by this magnificent waterfall. I tip-toed out into ankle-deep water and set up, waiting for the sun to be partially covered by some low-lying cloud. I couldn't have timed it any better as just after I made this image, it started to rain.

This magical place is called Thunder Creek Falls. I feel the title chosen for this image is befitting of this beautiful site, as it was, quite clearly, as you're probably able to discern, rather serene.

Again, this is the natural colour of the water, due to glacial melt. The sound of the water was incredible; once again, dynamic.

Having used such a small aperture has worked in my favour as the softness prevalent evokes a dream-like quality to the image. I can guarantee you that in the large-format print, that it is crisp, sharp and the soft glow over the rocks and water looks like magic.

Inspired by Slowdive's soothing shoegazing aural wonder.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
4s f/22.0 at 17.0mm iso100

Slightly higher resolution image can be seen here (http://users.tpg.com.au/octane2/ts.html).

Comments and critique is most welcome.

Regards,
Humayun

[troypiggo]

It's beautiful. Love the foreground interest, milky water, and as you mentioned the light is nice and soft.

[iceman]

Stunning image, H.

LOL it almost looks like a geiser!

[jjjnettie]

Once again you've come up with another beauty.:)
Thanks for sharing.

[BerrieK]

Humayun you always seem to get the perfect balance of foreground, mid and back in your images to show lovely perspective and depth. Thankyou for sharing your work with us.

Along with the things described in other's comments, I really enjoy the rich colours in the wet pebbles and the way those colours expand into the larger rocks...the mix of wet / dry and strong / soft colours in the larger rocks smoothly transit to the colour and 'feel' of the milky water and beyond......ahhh beautiful.

Kerrie :)

[lacad01]

Captured nicely :thumbsup:
Is that Frodo I can just make out on the other side of the bank ?;)

[Liz]

Yes, another beautiful shot Humayan :)

[dpastern]

I like it Humayan, although I feel that there's too much going on at the bottom of the frame. The lighting is quite nice. Oh, I personally feel the image is a bit too centered. I personally would have cropped a bit tighter, see the attached image for what I mean. I guess it's very much a personal preference.

Dave

edit: I also meant to mention that you'll see that I've used the rule of thirds for both the water and the waterfal. Whilst these are rules (and rules are meant to be broken), they generally do work well with landscapes from my experience.

[Ric]

Great image Humayun, I like the effect with water, very surreal.

Cheers

[astroron]

Dave , Your rendition looks too squashed in My opinion.
I prefer the more open version.

[Octane]

Troy,

Thanks, mate. :)

I found a whole bunch of other shots that I also took of the same area and I look forward to processing and presenting them soon.



Mike,

Thanks! You're the second person to mention to me that it resembles a geyser. :)



Jeanette,

I didn't do anything -- it was all New Zealand! :)

Thanks for viewing and commenting. :)



Kerrie,

I think you're seeing what I intended -- I do try to have foreground/middle/background subjects wherever possible so that the eye can roam around the image and find something to concentrate on! :)

I have more to come, soon. :)



Adam,

Cheers, mate. Haha, yes, the whole country could be turned into a Lord of the Rings theme park! :P



Liz,

Thank you. :)



Dave,

Re: rule of thirds. I'm not sure if you've been viewing my other images that I've been posting, but, I do use the rule of thirds (use it in my wedding photography as well). This image is somewhat an extension of the rule in that there wasn't enough water in the image to form thirds and so the image was composed in roughly a 50/50 split, with the bottom half forming its own set of thirds.

I don't mind other people's interpretations of my own images (in fact I'd love to see what other people can do), but, to be honest (with no offense intended) I don't think your crop works. It's removed the visual impact of the juxtaposing elements as Kerrie's mentioned above.

I do have a version of the image which was composed with the waterfall off to the side, but, it's got some blown-out sky in it which I'll have to fix somehow.



Ric,

Thank you. I think it's the colour of the water and the glow over the rocks and water, which helps with the surreal feel. When I look at the high resolution images, I like to think of them as paintings. I can't paint or draw for crap, but, I can pretend that it's my painting. :)



Ron,

I agree. Cheers. :)



Thank you everyone for looking and commenting.

Regards,
Humayun

[dpastern]

Ah well, each to their own. That's the beauty of photography! You should be able to replicate a ND in Photoshop and bring some of the detail back in that sky too.

Dave

[Quark]

Another most interesting and creative image Humayun,

I must admit that I have come back to this image several times, unsure of what to make of it. I agree with Mike that it looks like a Geyser, it seems to be more of a vertical column going up than water falling down.

I wonder if you also imaged it to show it as a waterfall. It may just be something that is unique to this particular waterfall, particularly at the top of it, that is giving me this, monolith type impression.

It looks such a stunning region and I love the effect and colour of the water flowing in the stream over the rocks.

Well done again
Regards
Trevor

[Octane]

Dave,

I double-checked and found that I bracketed my shots, so, I can salvage it. :D

Trevor,

Does this (http://users.tpg.com.au/octane2/ts2.html) help, at all?

Cheers! :)

Regards,
Humayun

[Dennis]

Hi Humayan

That is a stunning photograph, visualized and composed so well and executed to perfection!

Cheers

Dennis

[dpastern]

That's excellent news. Looking forward to see the final shot.

Dave

[Kevnool]

Awesome Shot H.
They all are.
cheers Kev.

[Octane]

Dennis and Kevin,

Thank you both, gentlemen. I appreciate the feedback. :)

Regards,
Humayun