Colorado Rocky Mountain Waterfall Photo

Photographer’s Note

One of my favorite waterfalls in Colorado's beautiful Rocky Mountain National Park which is an easy 1 3/4 to 2 hour drive from Denver. This is "Horseshoe Falls" which was created in 1982 when an unstable earthen dam was destroyed during a torrential rainstorm. Several people were tragically killed when this dam suddenly broke and a wall of water came rushing down the mountainside. They probably were campers camping below the earthen dam. This is also the same series of waterfalls from my previous post with the fisherman in the photo. The huge boulders created from the flashflood make this a great place to take "closeup" studies for photographers. "Horseshoe Falls" is located in Horseshoe Park which is located not too far from the Fall River entrance to the park on U.S. highway 34. I was again faced with the TE dilemma of how much sharpening to do. I may have sharpened this too much, but only by a "smidgeon". I don't like oversharpened moving water photos.

A brief note. I debated whether to post this image with the full Sunlight and the high contrast or the same scene shot a few moments later with some clouds hiding the Sun, making a softer less contrasty rendition. I liked the vibrancy of this higher contrast photo better.

The actual date of the flood was on July 15, 1982 and three people were killed when 29,000,000 gallons of water flooded the valley below. The area where this falls is located is called the Horseshoe Park Alluvial Fan (caused from the flooding).

Kevin64, feather, Photo65Net, jean11-3, jwmunro, Floydian, leo61, gary91, enedimd, WepWaWet, isabela_sor, zeca, Hellas, emjleclercq, gunbud, dospordostres, plimrn trouve(nt) cette note utile

Critiques | Translate

mehr (1358) 2007-05-01 8:36

Hi Stan,
great capture of this scene with wonderful composition, light, colors and sharpnes.
Excellent photo job.
Thanks for sharing.
Bahram

Bruno40 (6442) 2007-05-01 9:01

Hi Stan,
Another nice shot from you.. same beautiful place as before.
Nice scanning work..
TFS
Jorge

Kevin64 (138) 2007-05-01 9:28

This shot has an almost playful ook to it. The alternating vectors of the water makes your eye "scoot" around. Your note was great also. It must have been awful for the community and the families of the campers who died. Thanks for this shot. Have a great day!

AROBN54 (10789) 2007-05-01 12:05

Hi, Stan,
nice job on this water fall scene. I love the colors and light play on the stones and the smoothness of the water flow. I think you made a good choice with this lighting. It's excellent!! Great shot! Regards,
Shelly

feather (49986) 2007-05-01 12:08

You should have put the alternative in the WS to see which one people liked best. This one is certainly a good shot with water seeming to cascade from all directions making a very dynamic image. The sunlight has caused one or two spots of oe, but nothing too bothersome as this is inevitable when taking waterfalls in sun. Your friend John taught me a lot about photographing waterfalls. It doesn't seem over-sharpened. I didn't know about the tragedy you talk about in your note; dreadful for the people involved!
Kath

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carper (65426) 2007-05-01 12:17

well Stan,
I suppose that this one is scanned, well for a scanned one it is not a bad one at all. The point of view is nice and the freesing water of the speed, is nice, good quality, not to sharp, just enough sharpnes I think, good frame and a nice photojob, have a nice day
gr. jaap

Photo65Net (43096) 2007-05-01 13:42

Stan,
Beautiful catch !
Technically perfect, it is also very pleasant fir the eye.
I like this one a lot,
Regards,
JB.

jean11-3 (2799) 2007-05-01 15:56

Hello Stan,good tight composition with all the different levels of falls for us to focus on.The waterfall in the f/g is beautifully shot.I like the ochre coloured rocks in the centre and there is good texture displayed on the other rocks.
Your note is very informative,I had no idea that anything like that had happened.
TFS, regards Jean.

jwmunro (6373) 2007-05-01 16:43

Hello Stan -

Wasn't the dam collapse the "Big Thompson" tragedy in 1975?

I would like to have seen the lower contrast image in the WS to see the differences. I have never really had very much luck with waterfalls in direct sun light. This one suffers from the contrast with several of the cascades OE'd and a bit too large to over look. Otherwise, the rest of the cascade is very attractive and properly exposed. Maybe this image can be saved by cropping out the offending OE's (left side) and making the image a little smaller by about 30%.

Thank you for sharing.

John

Floydian (30970) 2007-05-01 18:07

Hi Stan,
Indeed, Rocky Mountain N.P is beautiful. I was there in 1994 with perfect weather.
Your note is very interesting, just as the picture is. The framing is tight, all focus on the water but i like that. Most people would choose for a wider frame, but you show us just what's it all about.
The deep colors are probably from the slide film and you know i like that.
Not much wrong with this one...good work..!!!
Regards, Henk

leo61 (43562) 2007-05-02 0:06

Hi Stan!
Well done with the focus on the water and the exposuretime.It realy looks like frozen and I like the yellow/brown tones of the rocks.
Regards,Leo

DarkoG (2284) 2007-05-02 1:59

Hi Stan

Nice waterscape, well composod and very very vivid, almost too strong contrast (that's purely my impression). It would surely be fine if you post softer version you mentioned in your note.
Anyway good work and interesting photo.

Regards Darko

gary91 (15321) 2007-05-02 2:08

Hello Stan,
I like very much the tight framing you adopted here. It gives more attention to this wonderful waterfall and the braown colors shinig in it. You certainly had to manage a difficult light because it is very contrasted and were certainly better in this case with a film than now with a sensor.
Nice image and very ointeresting note as well.
Have a nice day.
Best regards, Christian

enedimd (1528) 2007-05-02 14:43

Hello Stan,
Same place, but different view, again SUPERB. Good composition and colors.
Well done job.
Very nice waterfall.
TFS
Have a nice day.
Emir Nedim

WepWaWet (3973) 2007-05-03 5:58

Hello Stan,
Perfect captured and composition. Great colors and sharpness. Regards,
Seref

JorgeCK (2598) 2007-05-03 21:09 [Comment]

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zeca (20026) 2007-05-05 0:44

Beautiful composition of waterfalls! The exposition is perfect, Stan! The water looks nice! The lights are very good! Nice POV and framing!
Regards,
Zeca

isabela_sor (42337) 2007-05-05 3:40

Great water effect,excellent point of view and very nice framing.Good timing on the exposure.
A nice weekend
Isabela

ahmetgedikli (22040) 2007-05-08 3:30

Hi Stan,
Beautiful waterfall composition. Wonderful capture and excellent colors and very good POV. Well done.
Best regards.
Ahmet

Hellas (5153) 2007-05-08 4:04

Hello Stan,
I am so sorry about the sudden catastrophe you told us about. I would like your photo to be a little less sharp but I like very much the movement of water and the P O V. Thanks for sharing. Be happy,
Athanasios.

emjleclercq (14428) 2007-05-08 16:47

Very nice view with lots of movement and an excellent light. You have manage to catch several step like mini-falls which is very nice. Very good sharpness.

All the best,

Emmanuel

gunbud (28073) 2007-05-10 0:49

Hi Stan,
Excellent capture of this falls moving helter skelter over the yellow rocks. Great details and brilliant light to this tragic work of nature. Very informative note.
Regards, Tom

plimrn (19688) 2008-05-01 12:07

Hi Stan,
You certainly have found the perfect shot for a waterfall photo; the many angles of flowing water make a lovely compo; as many comment, yopu framed this beauty perfectly. I think the sharpening is right on and did't really notice the OE until I read John's note.
HLJ, Pat