JD and I just got back from a short vacation in Oregon. I have never spent much time in Oregon and this was my first trip in which I really did much photography in the state.
I believe it is a state law that you cannot officially say you have photographed in Oregon if you do not have a photo of Multnomah Fall that is along the Historic Columbia River Highway (Oregon Route 30) that runs parallel to I-84 east of Portland. The falls has a 620’ drop from the top of the upper falls to the pool at the bottom of the lower falls. It is the tallest falls in Oregon and the fourth tallest in the United States.
To me, the bridge between the upper and lower falls is what makes this fall so interesting. Speaking of the bridge, it is slightly uphill, so please do not write that I need to make sure that my camera was level. I used the leveling function in the Nikon D3 to make sure that everything was level and then made sure by using the leveling function in LIghtroom 3 (based upon the fall of the water).
The image is an HDR one. And, to answer the question, possibly before it is asked, I used Photomatix Pro 3 to convert the image. I tried Photoshop CS5 to convert it but I was not able to get the details and controls that I wanted. This may be due to my lack of familiarity with CS5’s HDR functions and the saved settings that I have developed in Photomatix. Although I shot five frames, I only used three of them (-2 EV, -1EV and 0EV). The overexposed frames blurred the water too much and made it completely white, which was not what I wanted. In addition, the overall scene is slightly dark and that is the way I wanted to present it.
Enjoy.
Camera settings: Nikon D3, Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 at shot at 24mm ISO 200, f/11 and 1/15th, 1/8th and 1/4th of a second.
Post Processing:
Lightroom 3—Set black and white points, added clarity and mid-tone contrast.
Photomatix Pro 3—combined three frames into an HDR image and tone mapped the overall image.
Photoshop CS5—removed a few distracting elements within the photo and balanced the colors within the image.
Being from Oregon I must say this is one of the best photographs that I have seen of Multnomah Falls that I have seen. You seem to have got both the beauty of the falls and the overall tone of the environment.
ReplyDeleteBill S
Beautiful photo. I feel like I can walk right into the scene.
ReplyDeleteDebbie
Makes me feel like I'm standing there seeing what you saw. I like the amount of blur you created with your shutter speeds. It's pleasing to the eye.
ReplyDeleteGreat photo. I feel like I am there.
ReplyDeleteMel
Cool photo of a much photographed scene. Your photo seems to bring the waterfall to life.
ReplyDeleteSya
Very nice photo, I like the amount of blur you have set for the water. A very good setting.
ReplyDeleteI find waterfalls very difficult to photograph. After seeing this one, I would like you to teach me your technique. Excellent example of a waterfall photo.
ReplyDeleteTaylor