The Silver River

[CapturingTheNight (Greg)]

Hello all,

I recently treated myself to a camera upgrade and once it arrived I was very keen to get out under the stars to try it out. Last weekend I headed off to one of my favorite locations- Paddys River Falls in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains. The air temperature was about minus five Celsius and due to the mist from the falls, ice formed on any part of my camera equipment that I didn't have covered or heated.

Paddys River Falls, NSW, Australia 3/08/2014

Canon 6D, 14mm, F/2.8, ISO 6400, 20 seconds exposure. A work light on a jump start pack was used to illuminate the falls during the exposure.



Comments or critique always appreciated.

Cheers

Greg

[iceman (Mike)]

Beautiful shot Greg. A Gibbs classic.

[Ross G]

What a beautiful photo!

Ross.

[Saturn%5 (Graeme)]

That is pretty sweet

[dutch2 (Ingrid)]

Beautiful shot, fantastic location.

[gregbradley]

That is just divine!

Wow.

Greg.

[batema (Mark)]

Lovely image. You must be very happy with the camera.

[matt34 (Matt)]

Nice work Greg. To me the foreground isnt lit evenly enough. It maybe the bright white of the waterfall or the rock top left but it seems a little unbalanced with the right side & the beautiful milky way.

It's a great location. I like the sky better in this shot but think I prefer the foreground from the previous shot there.

Can't wait to see how you push the 6D

[PeterEde (Peter)]

That is stunning
Totally worthy of a wall

[CapturingTheNight (Greg)]

Thank you so much everyone

Originally Posted by matt34

Nice work Greg. To me the foreground isnt lit evenly enough. It maybe the bright white of the waterfall or the rock top left but it seems a little unbalanced with the right side & the beautiful milky way.

It's a great location. I like the sky better in this shot but think I prefer the foreground from the previous shot there.

Can't wait to see how you push the 6D

Thank you so much for the honest critique Matt. I really appreciate it and know exactly what you mean.
Artificially lighting this location is a bit tricky especially for a timelapse sequence which this was, were the lighting needs to be consistent over hours (but I failed so don't expect to see the sequence from this night). The previous startrail image from here was all lit up by the Moon so there was reasonably consistent illumination across the whole foreground. In this field of view the cliff in the upper left is about 4 meters away from the camera and the section of valley where the light runs out is about 100 meters away. To evenly illuminate this I would need to setup a second light further up the valley but this would then be in the frame.
I have certainly not finished with this location (I still have not nailed the timelapse I want to do here) so next time I will try and come up with a different lighting solution to try and get a better result.

[hotspur (Chris)]

looks great!,and foreground looks neatly lit,the bush is uneven,it not a photo studio.Well done on an amazing capture!

[OzStarGazer]

I love it. It is beautiful and very artistic.

[Carl]

Lovely shot as usual

Welcome to the 6D Club, the power of the chip!

Carl

[matt34 (Matt)]

Originally Posted by CapturingTheNight

Thank you so much everyone



Thank you so much for the honest critique Matt. I really appreciate it and know exactly what you mean.
Artificially lighting this location is a bit tricky especially for a timelapse sequence which this was, were the lighting needs to be consistent over hours (but I failed so don't expect to see the sequence from this night). The previous startrail image from here was all lit up by the Moon so there was reasonably consistent illumination across the whole foreground. In this field of view the cliff in the upper left is about 4 meters away from the camera and the section of valley where the light runs out is about 100 meters away. To evenly illuminate this I would need to setup a second light further up the valley but this would then be in the frame.
I have certainly not finished with this location (I still have not nailed the timelapse I want to do here) so next time I will try and come up with a different lighting solution to try and get a better result.

I've found some my own experience that artificial lighting is tough with hot spots, and dull areas especially in a valley like that. I had a ok result (expect for the right) with this pano however I know what you mean about keeping the light even the spot is still on the visit again and retry list to improve the lighting. What type of light are you using? I use a video light (there is a pic in the link above) with a diffusion filter. Even still it can be tough to light a valley while not burning out the foreground areas. maybe a couple lights are the answer, I know thats what alot of the yanks do for the big scenes, however also seems like they have many hands to help out with the big desert locations.

It would make it tough to try and manage the light for a timelapse as well as best light for a single frame. One suggestion (without knowing where the light was facing) was maybe direct it into the valley more, I've found that the white of the waterfall will pick up the light well even if its not directed at it.

I've learnt from a number of your shots sometimes the best even light is the rising/setting moon.

Looking forward to seeing more results from this location looks like a great place to be at night.

[CapturingTheNight (Greg)]

Thank you so much everyone

Originally Posted by matt34

What type of light are you using? ........One suggestion (without knowing where the light was facing) was maybe direct it into the valley more, I've found that the white of the waterfall will pick up the light well even if its not directed at it.
.

For this shot I used the work light on one of those SCA jump start packs. If I aimed it directly into the Valley it is way to bright, so I had it pointing the other way into the cliff face and used the cliffs as a giant reflector to diffuse the light back towards the falls.

[dylan_odonnell (Dylan)]

Great image, really nicely captured and processed.

[johnnyt123 (John)]

I was captivated by the beauty of this picture and wondered off in admiration....

keep them coming....

John

[Irish stargazer (John)]

Beautiful shot

[CapturingTheNight (Greg)]

Thank you very much everyone