Natural Bridge

[Manta]

Quick trip up to Natural Bridge National Park on the way back from Kingscliff today. C&C welcome.

[the foto fanatic]

Nice images. You have managed to capture some foreground detail too. That isn't an easy thing to do. Have you used flash?

I'm surprised that water is still flowing there, given the dry weather.

[Manta]

Hi Trevor.

No flash. These were both combination shots of bracketed exposures, two images each; one for the waterfall and one for the cave interior. I'm still experimenting with getting the mix right.

[zafra52]

Very good work. It is a technique I yet have to try in due time, but it certainly paid off for you. Of the two images I prefer the first one because I can see more detail in it, but both of them are excellent pictures so thanks for sharing them and explaining to us how you got them.

[Manta]

Thanks Zaf.

Photoshop has a tool called "Merge into HDR" but I find it has very inconsistent results. I find I get a better outcome if I just do the merge myself and use a layer mask to wipe out what I don't want.

[sirhc55]

Pro’s

#1 - the balance of contrast in this pic is just right
#2 - the ripple effect in the water enhances this pic

Con’s

#2 - top of water fall is a tad too blown

On balance prefer #2 as it is a more powerful image

[NJ]

looks like a hard shot to get a good exposure of, being able to get the highlights and all of that shadow. did u burn the highlights in #2? i think it might look a bit better without the highlight burning because it just makes them grey and un-natural looking. I think these would also look great in b&w, and then the burn tool work work a treat! thanks for sharing, they are beautiful captures!

[gstark]

Simon,

Great work. I love the depth of colours in #1.

[Manta]

Thank you Chris Nathan and Gary (Manta who?? )

Chris - you're spot on - I just couldn't get the waterfall to expose correctly without making the wall behind it almost black. It was a shocker, made even worse by Ashleigh and Emily giving me those teenage smirks as they say "Can we go now?"

Nathan - not sure what happened with the burning - I only ran the brush just along the edge of the overhang to get rid of some flare. I'll certainly give them a crack in B&W!

Gary - p[leased you like it mate.

[Slider]

Nicely done Simon.

Did exactly the same thing a few weeks ago and was disappointed with the results. It is not an easy shot .