Iguazu Falls on the border between Argentina and Brazil

Submitted by admin on Tue, 08/03/2010 - 3:08pm
in
Iguazu Falls on the border between Argentina and Brazil
Photographer Name: 
Ajit Gokhale
Camera: 
Sony DSLR A350
Category: 
Landscape
Prize Level: 
Honorable Mention
Image Caption: 
Please explain the location, your thoughts, notes and technique used. What do you like most about this image. Iguazu Falls 1 These spectacular falls are on the border between Argentina and Brazil. The mist generated by all the rushing water gives rise to rainbows when the Sun hits the mist at the right angle. When you think about Iguazu Falls you think about large falls of a kilometer length that have been photographed many times. I found this small section of the Falls during my exploration. The lush tropical vegetation has the glowing green color. But what made the image for me is the Zen painting like look and of course, the rainbow. In this image the water is flowing away from us. There are other images of the Falls with rainbows on my website (http://www.AjitPhoto.com) in the South America Gallery
Lens: 
Sony lens DT 16-105 (not the kit lens)
Technique: 
Two shots at different exposures were made in Aperture priority, RAW format. The focal length was 26mm (equivalent to 39mm in 35mm format). A Singh Ray warming polarizer was used. A Slick Carbon Fiber tripod with an Acratech ballhead was used. Image editing was done on my wide gamut 24 inch HP monitor that can rotate from landscape to portrait mode. The monitor is calibrated with X-rite’s i1Display 2. I did not use any image editing software other than the HDR Photo Studio to process this image. The RAW images were input to HDR Photo Studio and all the controls were used pretty much in the easy sequence they are laid out: Veiling Glare, Brightness/Contrast, Shadow/Highlight, Sharpening and Saturation. In the Veiling Glare I used the black rock at the bottom left of the image (the darkest portion) to set the base point. The amount was -100. Most other controls were set by visual feel of the image. I have used other HDR software but HDR Photo Studio gives me more natural colors, avoiding the unnatural "HDR look" from other HDR software. Unlike other HDR software I do not have to process the RAW images first in Camera Raw, saving me time.