Molten Rock, Molten Water

[schmoo]

One of the highlights from our weekend trip to the Mt. Shasta area is Mossbrae Falls. Thank you to the Dgrinner who introduced me to this place - I saw a thread here in Landscapes months ago and the image never left my mind. As soon as I saw it I said "We have to go there!"

It's a wonderful little corner of gold rush California, seemingly on it's last legs but with obviously it's own little gems to offer.

TS pano:
http://www.schmootography.com/photos/677479726_xvWjD-XL-3.jpg

Lightspills and the curtain call:
http://www.schmootography.com/photos/678019749_SLtfW-L.jpg

And just for fun, here were my companion adventurers. Tilt-focusing not quite right :lol3

http://www.schmootography.com/photos/678015116_TiLmC-XL.jpg

There are several falls of this type in the area, created by water flowing through lava rock, but we only had time to hit this one. And it's so beautiful, but a real doozy to shoot. :rolleyes

[raebrown]

Wow...excellent captures Schmoo.

[dlplumer]

Great set Schmoo. I especially love that second one :clap

Danny

[Snowgirl]

Great set Schmoo. I especially love that second one :clap

Danny

Ditto!:thumb

[rwells]

Schmoo,

That second shot is amazing :thumb


Great comp, colors, patterns ~ complete eye candy!

[RBK]

Loved the 2nd one.... And could you please brief me more on Tilt-focus, I mean the technique used..

RBK

[schmoo]

Thanks for the comments, everyone. And RBK the main reason why the tilt function was created was to tilt the plane of focus such that you can get things in the foreground and background in focus at once. However it's kind of hard to do, especially at the distance I think I was shooting. But hey isn't the rule "focus on the eyes"? :lol3

[coscorrosa]

Love those seeping waterfalls, awesome! Glad you're having fun with that tilt-shift lens - I think I'm going to try the poor mans version of that (take two exposures with narrow DOF and do a gradient mask exposure blend - I have no idea if that will work, but I might try it out).

My favorite shot is probably the first, really cool. I also like the second, but I think it might benefit with a little more horizontal separation between the primary waterfall and that awesome foreground rock (i.e., move to the left a little).

[chrismoore]

Love those! I think the first would look great in color??

[RBK]

Thanks for the comments, everyone. And RBK the main reason why the tilt function was created was to tilt the plane of focus such that you can get things in the foreground and background in focus at once. However it's kind of hard to do, especially at the distance I think I was shooting. But hey isn't the rule "focus on the eyes"? :lol3

Thanks for the info... interested to see more of this kinda stuff!! I shall give a try on the poor man's version.

[rainbow]

Beautiful shots of an obviously beautiful place. Glad the trip went well.

And the third shot is really cool to give a taste of the potential of what you were after.

Looking forward to other shots from your trip.

[ian408]

You need to visit Burney Falls....these are great.

[schmoo]

Thanks, all! Yeah I agree the place is a breathtaking green but it's so hard to capture accurately in-camera. I don't know what is up with that, but most of the shots I tried processing of the falls were a weird crazy concoction of too cool, too warm, and under/over-exposed all at once.

Waterfalls are the post-processor's nightmare! :splat

Love those seeping waterfalls, awesome! Glad you're having fun with that tilt-shift lens - I think I'm going to try the poor mans version of that (take two exposures with narrow DOF and do a gradient mask exposure blend - I have no idea if that will work, but I might try it out).

My favorite shot is probably the first, really cool. I also like the second, but I think it might benefit with a little more horizontal separation between the primary waterfall and that awesome foreground rock (i.e., move to the left a little).

Thanks for the great feedback, Ron! And a TS is a nice lens to use and if you're curious, then renting one for a couple of weekends is a good way to go. It's a special tool that can be really frustrating at times, but it's a lot of fun especially after you take it as your only lens and force yourself to get acquainted with it. :lol3

Funny you mention that about the rock, because I took the shot from that viewpoint specifically to get the falls to line up with the sunspot on the rock. But I'll go through my shots and see if I took any with that suggestion. I'm pretty sure I did. :D

In the meantime I'll throw forth another one that I'm kind of on the fence about:

http://www.schmootography.com/photos/679771547_N4rF8-L.jpg

[Cuong]

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Cuong

[redleash]

#2 :bow :bow :bow

Excellent shot, Schmoo!

[coscorrosa]

Thanks, all! Yeah I agree the place is a breathtaking green but it's so hard to capture accurately in-camera. I don't know what is up with that, but most of the shots I tried processing of the falls were a weird crazy concoction of too cool, too warm, and under/over-exposed all at once.

Waterfalls are the post-processor's nightmare! :splat



Thanks for the great feedback, Ron! And a TS is a nice lens to use and if you're curious, then renting one for a couple of weekends is a good way to go. It's a special tool that can be really frustrating at times, but it's a lot of fun especially after you take it as your only lens and force yourself to get acquainted with it. :lol3

Funny you mention that about the rock, because I took the shot from that viewpoint specifically to get the falls to line up with the sunspot on the rock. But I'll go through my shots and see if I took any with that suggestion. I'm pretty sure I did. :D

In the meantime I'll throw forth another one that I'm kind of on the fence about:

http://www.schmootography.com/photos/679771547_N4rF8-L.jpg

Wow, this one is my favorite of the series!

As for waterfalls the only time I can shoot them with any results at all is during an overcast day, or if they're completely in shade (and then warm them up in post). They look better after a good rain too.

The compositional suggestion is somwhat arbitrary (see my updated signature), I just feel that the two primary objects competed with each other more than complimented, though I could look at the composition I had in mind and come to the reverse conclusion too. This is why I try every permutation of every possible composition and pick the good ones later :D I have the 24mm T/S but it's collecting dust. Time to pull it out or sell it!

[schmoo]

Wow, this one is my favorite of the series!

As for waterfalls the only time I can shoot them with any results at all is during an overcast day, or if they're completely in shade (and then warm them up in post). They look better after a good rain too.

The compositional suggestion is somwhat arbitrary (see my updated signature), I just feel that the two primary objects competed with each other more than complimented, though I could look at the composition I had in mind and come to the reverse conclusion too. This is why I try every permutation of every possible composition and pick the good ones later :D I have the 24mm T/S but it's collecting dust. Time to pull it out or sell it!

:lol4 I love your new sig although I don't agree with it!

I have to admit that while I was out shooting I was thinking about the workflows of the landscapers on Dgrin like you, Danny, Mahesh, etc who go out for a weekend and do nothing but shoot-shoot-shoot, and come back like an hour later with some perfectly processed photos! I can only think that part of this success is that you guys shoot a lot so you have a lot of choices on what to pick. (there's other stuff there like light and weather mojo and good ol' know-how, but I can at least work on my input/output ratio)

Anyway, it's a good lesson to come back here and see what other Dgrinners have been doing, especially as not all of us made it to a workshop or shootout this month. :lol3