Help with rejection due to "exposure problems"

[ptadeb]

This is my first venture into the critique forum and gladly looking for input. I had a series of these pictures from a flooding mill, and several were rejected due to exposure problems. But, there is no highlight or shadow clipping, and overall I think the images look balanced, but these two, along with many others, were rejected and I'm not sure what exposure problems they are concerned about. All input welcome, thank you!

[ricky336]

Hello, I can't see any exposure problems specifically, however, the whites/hightlights (the water spray) in your 2nd picture could be reduced a bit.

Overall I think, your pictures are a bit flat. They're more of a mid-tone grey. Hence the exposure rejection reason. I think you need to look more at your white and black points.

[joanH]

Hi, I lived near this waterfalls and it is a deep winter day. There is actually little color on a day like this and photo would need to be enhanced if color is needed. Very nice photos. Regards, JH

[ptadeb]

Thank you very much for your feedback. The falls certainly aren't looking like that right now, with all rivers well-below normal. But that's another story. I did play around with saturation a little bit, toning down the oranges, upping the green, then played with blacks, shadows and dehazing. I posted the revised images in previous reply.

[ricky336]

I think so. Try not to clip your shadows too much though. I think you have a bit more depth now in your pictures.

Though, on a day like this, you have diffused lighting, so images will look flat anyway.

[ptadeb]

Thank you. They are flat, and I had hoped that would add to the "mood" of the image, dismal gray Oregon winter day. But, clearly that vibe did not move them. I deepened the blacks and that did add some depth, thank you for that. It does put me in clipped shadows, but overall improves the images. Any better? And thank you for your feedback and critique!

[Abambo · Accepted solution]

There is no real exposure problem with these pictures. But yes, you can improve the pictures to give a different appearance.

I think, however, that the image show misses some sharpness. If you shot the picture in raw, what I suspect, you will have some reserves for the final tweaking as even the JPEG files still have good hope.

As for sharpness f11 may not be the sweet point of your lens. Expect the sharpest moments around f8 and that would have given you the opportunity to lower the ISO. The EOS 80 does has quite some noise at higher ISO values, so best is to stay at 100-200 (even that 320 is not the most noisy situation for this camera).

[ptadeb]

Thank you for your response. I did shoot in raw so definitely have room for edits. And your edits to the jpeg look great. I appreciate the feedback very much. Maybe I'll try resubmitting.

[Abambo]

ptadeb  wrote

Thank you for your response. I did shoot in raw so definitely have room for edits. And your edits to the jpeg look great. I appreciate the feedback very much. Maybe I'll try resubmitting.

I was sure that you shot RAW. People shooting manual shoot also raw!

And as for my edits: I just clicked the Auto button... That's a good starting point. But I rarely keep the settings as they are. Just keep an eye on the noise when adding sharpness.