Nature's Textures Photography Challenge LIVE Wrap-Up

We have completed the Nature’s Textures Photography Challenge! Thank you to everyone who has joined our challenge and to those of you who have been following along on our Facebook group. During this LIVE event, Matt, Tom, and Paul go through their top 10 picks and announce the three winners.

We have received the photo’s back story from the winner of the challenge. Take a read below:

“The image you see is really only a segment of a high-volume cataract waterfall that cascades from the 300-foot cliffs in Keystone Canyon near Valdez, Alaska. The cascading lace-like water sheaths give it its name: Bridal Veil Waterfalls. It is gorgeous in its entirety but what really caught my attention was the lighting on that day. The canyon is narrow and light like this does not stay long, we talk maybe minutes. It was not my first visit to the waterfall and I usually stop every time I drive by and take some photos. Frankly, I have never been happy with any of the prior photos and I have photographed the waterfall many times. I was scanning the cascading water up and down, from a distance and from closer up, all the while thinking about how I could do something differently. My eyes caught this particular segment that was briefly highlighted by the afternoon sun and I was actually reminded of a nebula from another galaxy. The brief illumination highlighted the sheer power of water, only enhanced by the sound that came with it. A lot of thought went into this moment, let me tell you. I teach Mythology and couldn’t help but be reminded about the ‘creation of earth’ (Hesiod) in Greek mythology (I am a teacher in my other life, can you tell?). From that second forward and in my mind, I saw that image long before I actually took it and it was different from what I had done before. I wanted it to be almost 3D-like so the droplets are coming toward me (suspended animation) because I do not care for creamy or silky-looking waterfall images with a long shutter speed that turns the water into an indistinguishable white pasty substance (I call that fondant, like what you use for cake making) or fog, I just don’t see water like that; but that is a purely personal preference.

This image I captured with a Nikon D750 and a Nikkor 28-300mm, at f/60, 1/1600 sec, and 400 ISO; RAW. The file was edited in Lightroom with minimal changes. Along with my preference for motion freeze, I like minimal editing. I basically just played with light enhancement and contrast to underline what I want to be the attraction of the image, but generally, I just pull out what is already there. On a side note, this image has also a sister image. “