My favorite color and favorite place

[LinzRiverBalmer]

Okay well this one is good for the theme I think.

I did not turn this photo this color.

This is Ruby Falls, an underground Waterfall inside Lookout Mountain on the edge of Chattanooga Tennessee.

When you walk into the cavern, led by a tour guide, all you can hear is the roar of water. I think it's something like 10 stories underground (elevator goes down).

It is completely dark. You just feel this rush of air and cool and hear the water which is very loud inside the cavern even though the pool is fairly small.

They have a short light show with soothing music to illuminate the falls.

Goes through many colors but I chose this as my favorite since purple is my color.

Being OOTB I did go in and extract some details from the walls, played a bit with the water sharpness.

This is full frame from the top of the falls.

It comes down over 100 feet to a pool that you get to walk behind, though they warn not to drink the water (high magnesium).

It was found accidentally and they still have never found the source of the water.

Camera Specs

Sony CyberShot DSC HX100V

handheld, burst mode, auto, flash fired burst synchro

specs I'm unsure of, need to find my original file, here's a guess from knowing my old camera...

auto f/5.6, probably high ISO, shutter for sport mode 1/2000

please excuse my copyright, minor program issues.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Neat perspective and I LOVE purple too. I like the feel and the light in this one.

[Nancy Bell]

Very surreal with the lighting of those deep purple & blue tones! Very dramatic composition with the curves in the rocks highlighted behind the vertical drop of the water falls. The continuing lower vertical lines in the rocks carry your eye all the way down. I like that the falls are on a diagonal. I'm thinking about the darker right side and maybe you might want to experiment with bringing back just a bit more detail as it feels to be too much of a very dark expanse.

[Anita Bower]

For me, the lighting is just right for this image--the highlighting of the water and nearby areas. Love the color. The darkness and the diagonal give it an unreal feel. I'd crop off some of the dark area on the left as it doesn't contribute to the image. Nice work.

[Marina Scarr]

This is very cool. I have actually been there but never took any pictures. I would have thought you did work on this. Love the surreal feel and the colors and angle really make the image look ominous.

[Christopher Miller]

Wow! What a cool place! Very strong composition with all the diagonal lines, and I love the lighting and color. It looks like a scene from a science fiction movie. Very nice!

[LinzRiverBalmer]

Thank you all very much, so glad you enjoyed it.

Was hoping you would, its just very far OOTB so had fingers crossed.
I will go try some of the suggestions and be back later.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Linz, this looks like a VERY cool place to go. The purple is perfect for the image and I love the diagonal lines. I don't mind the darker right side. I think it looks like what you'd expect in a cave although I do think you could crop a little (not much) from the right

[gary ellwein]

Linz, this is an attention grabbing image. The layered arcs of the step-like waterfall gives the image depth. The arcs blend nicely with the diagonal lines of the rock chute. The water looks like a laser beam.

[Diane Miller]

Very nice! I like the colors and composition. I'd agree that some crop from the right would be good, as there is a lot of noise there. Any camera will have some degree of noise at high ISO. I don't know the one you are using but I expect that would be something to be aware of. And it's made worse if you do any lightening of dark areas.

[LinzRiverBalmer]

Thanks again for more input and suggestions.

I really am thrilled at how this photo is being viewed and liked.

Will work on the right hand side and crop a bit.

There is a bit of noise in the darks as I brought out the detail some.

However a lot of that is also rock texture as well, so I will try to differentitate from other photos and try to reduce the noise.

[Judy Howle]

This is beyond cool Linz! I never would have guessed where this was and why it was purple! I have seen signs for Ruby Falls going thru Chattanooga to the Smokies but we never stopped and did any sightseeing there since it's a 7 hr. drive to Townsend TN. I would like to see Rock City there also. You might try using the Median filter in Ps. Jack Davis uses it a lot for getting rid of small details, and use a layer mask to just apply it where you need it and you can lower the opacity of that layer if it's more than you need.

Tip: Jack Davis uses the median filter on portraits and other "paintings" to get rid of some fine detail before using the Oil Paint filter and sometimes it works well as it is and other times using it as a Smart Filter I go in and reduce the opacity a bit. Works best on hi-res images before other processing and resizing "for the web".

[LinzRiverBalmer]

Thank you Judy..... please do plan some time if possible to see both, Ruby Falls only takes 2 hours or so, it's guided.... stay at the back of the pack of people, they do limit so not too many...but if you stay at the back you can pause for picture taking.

Rock City I would plan at least a half day, its directly on top of Ruby falls, you can get a cheaper combo ticket through the website. If you need to stay somewhere I would stay on top of lookout mountain rather than down in Chattanooga.
The energies around the mountain are very interesting, magical maybe, peaceful, lots of native American history.

Onto your suggestions, I do use median filters sometimes, usually on backgrounds that I want smoother. Are you talking about using one here such as on the RHS as suggested by others for this picture?? Have never tried it as a mask, will do.
Thanks for the tips.