Widow's Creek Falls

[Dennis Bishop]

In addition to its hiking trails, North Carolina's Stone Mountain State Park has a number of waterfalls. This was rated the nicest, but it was the close-ups that appealed more to me than the wider shots. We arrived at this park well before closing time, so there was lots of time to explore the falls.

Nikon D3S, ISO 200, f/22, five-exposure HDR at 1 EV increments (1/4 through 1/60 sec exposures), zoom lens at 130 mm

processing highlights

• Topaz Simplify -- Watercolor II at reduced opacity
• I'd also shot the same scene in an HDR series at ISO 6400 and the same aperture setting. In order to add some texture to the smooth water from the ISO 200 HDR series, I applied a shot from the ISO 6400 series with a 1/200 second shutter speed over the Simplify layer (reduced opacity and Lighter Color blend mode).
• Shadows/Highlights adjustment to a stamped layer (adjusted shadows more than highlights)
• Nik Silver Efex -- converted to B&W with a selective color adjustment to bring back the yellowish green
• Kim Klassen texture -- masked with a uniform gradient from full visibility at the bottom to none at the top
• Fractalius -- three B&W presets at Multiply blend mode (one of them used only as a uniform gradient vignette)
• Alien Skin Snap Art -- Stylize Line Art B&W layer at Multiply blend mode

[Bob Miller]

Dennis...Do I see a wailing woman? I will have to try some of these closeups! Love your image and processsing! TFS

[Dennis Bishop]

Dennis...Do I see a wailing woman? . . .

It wasn't that this view resembled a face that drew me to it, and I never made the connection between its resemblance to a face and the name of the falls. My hat's off to you.

[John Ippolito]

Hi Dennis,
I like your composition and processing here. My eye stays involved in the frame, but I haven't found that mysterious riddle of form in the falls that I JUST KNOW is there. It is interseting that I know I will find it if I concentrate or... squint maybe. Seems Bob has found his interpretation. Nice work.

I saw an abstract piece a while back with the title: "What's it to You".

[Dennis Bishop]

Hi Dennis,
I like your composition and processing here. My eye stays involved in the frame, but I haven't found that mysterious riddle of form in the falls that I JUST KNOW is there. It is interseting that I know I will find it if I concentrate or... squint maybe. Seems Bob has found his interpretation. Nice work.

I saw an abstract piece a while back with the title: "What's it to You".

John, I'm not sure if you want the challenge of finding the woman's face, or not. If you do (or if anyone else reading this does) close your eyes when you get to the next post in this thread.

It's certainly interesting what different people see when looking at images, clouds, and other things. The falls gets its name from the creek, but it's wonderfully ironic that the face can be found, there. I wonder how many people who have been there, or who work in the park, or who have written about the falls have seen the face.

[Dennis Bishop]

Here's the face.

[Cheryl Slechta]

I just finished watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy so I saw an Ent I like the flow on this one, Dennis.

[Nancy Bell]

Amazing, I saw the exact image that Bob describes, even before I scrolled down to the comments! Great processing, as usual. Love all the lines and subtle variation of grays with slight color.

[Kerry Perkins]

Very nice interpretation of the falls Dennis. I really like the notion of seeing things in different ways, and the close-up allows for an alternative way at looking at waterfalls. What my mind made of it was a "Wampa", from the Star Wars ice planet of Hoth, but that's just me... Very interesting and engaging.

[Paul Lagasi]

I saw it, interesting work, Dennis, I love your mastery of techniques and effects.