Panorama - McArthur Falls

[Andrew McLachlan]

80088

Here is a panoramic from my recent fall color trip. As can be seen many of the leaves are already gone. I thought this scene had enough of a sprinkling of color to work. McArthur Falls is on the Little Mississippi River in Ontario's Ottawa Valley. It isn't really much of a waterfall, as can be seen, but I thought perhaps a pan was the best way to capture it.

The original captures for this pan consisted of 6 horizontal photos. There is another small cascade to the right of the rocks on the right, but I felt it was too insignificant to keep. As a result, I stitched this pan from 4 photos rather than 6.

Nikon D200
80-400mm VR lens @ 80mm (effective focal length 120mm)
ISO 100
f16 @ 0.4 sec (manually set)
Polarizer
Tripod with ball head (leveling base between tripod and ball head)

[Rene Quenneville]

Beautiful colors and falls. Nicely stitched together.good job!
I wish that the comp would show more of the trees and less of the water. I feel that the picture lacks a foreground element which could be compensated by lowering the shore line in the frame.

[Judy Howle]

I like the colors and you did a good job on the pano. I'd also like to see more of the trees and less of the water. Lack of foreground doesn't bother me in this instance.

[Robert Amoruso]

I feel the same here, more trees less water would have improved the composition.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Andrew,
Yep....another vote for more trees and less water.....but that may have intoduced sky.....which would help IMO. What to do? In this case a slower SS......since the falls arent that dominant.....to smooth the FG ripples in the water would have made the FG water more pleasing and harmonious to the scene. A ND filter definitely helps but I do wonder if the polariser was crnanked down as there is still a bunch of glare on the water. Just some food for thought for next time out. Excellent job on the stitch BTW.

[Arthur Morris]

While I love the side to side arrangement of elements I am in the more trees less water camp. A much longer ss might have given you some silky water.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Andrew, Good offset placement of the falls and I like the big rock anchoring the left. I also like the detail in the water(I've always been prone to detail there) and agree on a bit less water and more trees. You don't have alot of water to begin with so I wouldn't take a great deal out. I too wonder about the polariser pertaining to the glare in the water...

[Andrew McLachlan]

Thanks for all the comments. I agree with everyone that I will have to crop out some of the water. Roman is right that if I tried to add more trees I would have introduced some sky. As for polariser, I think I cranked it, but can't be certain. It is possible that I tested the pan out with verticals and then switched to the horizontals and had a brain cramp forgetting to crank it. I had a 3 stop and 10 stop ND with me and should have used them too. Ain't hind-sight wonderful!

Thanks again to everyone for comments, much appreciated.