The Slap, Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia, 2005 photo

Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Eighteen: Light and Landscape – combining personal vision with nature’s gifts > The Slap, Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia, 2005

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07-SEP-2005

The Slap, Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia, 2005

Veliki Slap, the "big waterfall," dominates one end of Plitvice Lakes National Park. Its cascades were smashing into the ground only a few yards from where I was standing. I tried to make a landscape photograph that would be primeval in nature, comparing the gentle cascades and surrounding plants in the foreground to a thundering tapestry of natural power of “The Slap” in the background. I exposed for that background, and then recovered the important detail, such as the light shimmering on the small cascades in the shadowy foreground, later in Photoshop.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20
1/800s f/5.6 at 10.5mm iso80 hide exif

Full EXIF Info
Date/Time	07-Sep-2005 13:19:41
Make	Panasonic
Model	DMC-FZ20
Flash Used	No
Focal Length	10.5 mm
Exposure Time	1/800 sec
Aperture	f/5.6
ISO Equivalent	80
Exposure Bias
White Balance	(10)
Metering Mode	multi spot (3)
JPEG Quality	(6)
Exposure Program	program (2)
Focus Distance

other sizes: small medium large original auto

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Guest		19-Jun-2019 14:47
Beautiful

Phil Douglis		18-Jul-2006 19:09
I'm not into hobbits, Ceci, but I can see where your fanciful imagination is going on this one. You also underscore the importance of the contrasting rates of flow to this image -- there is the gentle movement of water filling the foreground and middleground here, and a powerful contrast of flow on the wall of the waterfall itself -- the wispy, almost ephemeral flow at left and the forceful torrent of the Big Slap at right.

Guest		18-Jul-2006 18:17
This is a marvelous composition, capturing two different "rates and types of fall" in one shot, along with the vivid background light not obliterating the foreground. It has the feel of a Hobbit landscape, as though an entire village of beings inhabit the lush green plateau, fed by abundant cascading water -- surrounded by a massive wall, down which cascades pour. I see faces and figures everywhere. The scene appears to be alive. It is an other-worldly picture in which I searched diligently for Frodo and his friends.

Phil Douglis		24-Jan-2006 04:38
Thanks, Celia for your lucid and eloquent appraisal of this image. I felt "genesis" here too -- it is was one of those primeval moments for me. I am so glad I did not accept the abstracted version that came out of the camera, and instead slowly brought back the detail I had lost by using Photoshop's "Shadow/Highlight" feature. The image is full of electronic noise because of it, but it is virtually invisible in web use, and even if we could see it, it could only make it more impressionistic, which is fine.

Cecilia Lim		07-Jan-2006 18:43
A tapestry indeed! There is such a tactile feel to this image, with every inch of the image oozing an intricate mix of texture, tone and colour. Even the water weaves through the land in and out of rocks and foliage like a tapestry. I really liked the fact that you chose not to show us horizons and skies. By abstracting it this way you bring us to focus on the primordial forces at work on earth, with water and light moving, changing, shaping and giving new life to the land around it. I also like how you've used the layers to give us a sense of time and change too. The background is where it all begins, illustrating the raw power of water and shimmering light. As the water moves to the middleground we see an emergence of plant life, ending in the foreground with a burst of lush, larger, healthy green plants. You've given us a beautiful and visually poetic tapestry of Genesis, Phil!

Phil Douglis		04-Oct-2005 17:21
Kal, get Photoshop Elements 3. It has the shadow/highlight control. As for increasing noise by lightening shadows, yes -- that can happen. I deal with it by striking a happy medium in my use of the shadow/highlight control. I bring the detail out to the point where it can be seen, and if noise becomes a distraction, I slowly restore shadowing until it is not. Another factor is how the image will be presented. I use my images to teach here on the web. It is entirely possible that I have added noise to the foreground of this image by lightening the shadows to show detail. But since this image is used here on the web, the noise does not make any difference as far as meaning goes, because of the sizing involved. It would take a highly skilled eye to notice any noise here, and if so, so what? The only time noise would become a factor is if I wanted to blow up this image and make a huge print of it. Which is not why I make my pictures. So final presentation becomes a major consideration in terms of whether or not we need to avoid noise at all costs. I, for one, do not.

Kal Khogali		04-Oct-2005 11:26
I don't have PS CS, and so recovery of shadow detail is manual. The price generally for me is noise. How do you deal with that?

Phil Douglis		03-Oct-2005 17:18
Thank you for being first to comment on this one, Kal. I worked on it in Photoshop for a long time -- trying to strike the right balance between abstraction and detail. My choice of exposure was instantaneous -- I always use a spot meter and expose for the brightest highlight to minimize burnout. I knew my image would begin as an abstraction, but I also knew that the "shadow/highlight" option in Photoshop would later magically allow me to bring back as much detail as I wanted to hold in the foreground, without losing any highlights. It was simply a question of how much detail did I want to make visible, and how visible should it be. Just enough to give it that painterly feel, to recreate a sense of genesis, to express the primeval. And that's what took the time.

Kal Khogali		03-Oct-2005 15:46
A painterly feeling here Phil. Almost a feeling of genesis. So you have succeeded in your primeival goal. This image is made what it is by your choice of exposure, retaining the detail in the subject.

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