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Andrew McLachlan
05-09-2013, 07:05 PM
One from my trip to Port Antonio, Jamaica in February. This one is of a small section of the Driver's River in the John Crowe Mountains. After walking down through this cascade to the very edge of the next cascade I realized that I needed a wider lens than I had. I chose to use my Nikon DX 12-24mm lens on my Nikon D800 in full frame mode and clone out some of the vignetting that was inevitable to capture this view. I selected ISO 400 so that I could achieve 0.4 second shutter speed for my preferred definition to the flowing water in the dark, jungle environment.

Nikon D800
Nikon 12-24mm lens @ 17mm
ISO 400
f16 @ 0.4 second
tripod
Nikon polarizer
Live View to manually fine tune focus

Look forward to comments.

128125

Morkel Erasmus
05-11-2013, 03:27 PM
Nice scene Andrew. I like the dynamic flow of the cascade, though I'm unsure whether I would have liked to see more jungle surrounds (whether the cascade is a bit TOO prominent)? Undecided...
I do feel some of the BG vegetation is borderline crunchy ito sharpening? Do you agree?
Love the hue of the water to the left. I was wondering about your lens choice for the D800 here before I read your explanation. What is your preferred landscape lens on the D800?

Welcome to the mod squad here in Landscapes, I am looking forward to helping the community improve their photography with you. :5

Rachel Hollander
05-12-2013, 08:29 AM
Hi Andrew - Congrats on becoming a moderator. Nice use of ss to blur the water. I do wish there was a little more of the beautiful water on the lhs and I like the leaves floating for a bit of different color.

TFS,
Rachel

Andrew McLachlan
05-12-2013, 07:14 PM
Thanks very much Rachel and Morkel...much appreciated. Rachel I really did want to include more of the scene here but I was quite literally teetering on the edge of another cascade behind me :Whoa!:

Morkel, I do agree on the crunchiness...I have been playing around Nik's Detail Extractor lately and perhaps went a tad heavy on the BG here. I have been slow to upgrade my lenses for the D800 so I have been playing around with both the full frame and the DX crops on the camera. I do like the DX crop as it is kinda like having a built-in tele-canverter, especially for wildlife work. I find I am getting excellent results from my old 80-400, which is probably my favorite, I usually manually focus the lens in Live View for the landscapes and I will often use the DX 12-24mm as a 24mm full frame lens, but will trade this lens out for the new 18-35mm lens later this week...I have been hearing wonderful things about it.

Anette Mossbacher
05-13-2013, 10:49 AM
Hi Andrew,

congrats for being a moderator :S3:

The little waterfall looks great. Just wonder what a Big Stopper would have done here! Love Big Stopper, sorry :w3
With the crop and BG I agree with Morkel and Rachel. I assume some rubber boots would not have done a difference. When I have that prob I sometimes swop to 70-200mm and look for a better place to stay. But jungle, oh well, not to easy to do. The color of the water LHS looks like here the glacier water here in Swissyland. This gives a very nice touch to the image.

Have a great day

Ciao
Anette

Vivaldo Damilano
05-13-2013, 12:03 PM
Congrates Andrew on new moderator :S3: I really like the huge amount of water flowing through the image but would have preferred to see more as it's a little tight. Slow SS work very nicely to blur water.

John Ippolito
05-13-2013, 01:48 PM
Hi Andrew, a big congrtulations on the moderator position:S3:

I like the falls, shutter speed, and the tropical feel to the jungle edges, though I agree this is a bit tight. The ultra beautiful backwater in the pool on the left draws the eye - I think because we all want to wade into it.

Jay Sheinfield
05-13-2013, 05:38 PM
Nicely seen Andrew, the energy of the water is strong, and I love the curve of rocks into the pool. Well done.

Andrew McLachlan
05-13-2013, 07:48 PM
Thanks Anette, Vivaldo, John & Jay...much appreciated. I will most certainly go wider upon a return trip to this river...hopefully next year...while composing the scene I did wish for something much wider. Anette, you are right rubber boots would not have helped as I was bare foot in the water and unable to take a step backwards:Whoa!:

Morkel Erasmus
05-14-2013, 02:21 PM
Andrew, do check out the sharpening actions I linked to in the sticky thread at the top of the main landscape forum. I use them for most of my landscape shots and love the results.

I would recommend you get a high quality FX wide-angle like the 14-24mm or 16-35mm or even an ultra-wide prime in order to get the most out of that immense sensor :Whoa!:

James Fuller
05-26-2013, 04:59 PM
This looks like a great location! I like how the water appears to be running right over the viewer. Cool perspective.