I am sharing one moody monsoon evening from the Jaintia region of Meghalaya, which is known for its countless pristine waterfalls and vast forests.
As for the place, Kudengrim Falls in this image is a relatively newly discovered waterfall, and the route to reach here means making one's way through dense foliage, sharp declines and countless leeches. But once you are at the base of the falls, the effort gets rewarded to the core. Blame it on the sheer height of the plunge in an absolutely secluded setting.
That evening was a grey and grim one with imminent rains; hence, making some intimate moody frames in addition to the wide-angle compositions was always a calling.
As I ventured closer to the fall, navigating carefully on the slippery rocks, I zoomed in on the scene and observed a clear shape getting defined by the water flow against the rocks and a huge cover of spray. This made sense as a composition depicting the fury of the flow (hence the image title).
Choosing lower ISO of 200, a narrow aperture (F13) to render frame entirely sharp as well as to enable some slower shutter speed was an automatic call. As for the shutter speed, I wanted to capture the flow of water as well as retain some texture. So I decided upon 5 odd seconds of shutter instead of a very long exposure. A 3-stop ND was used to prevent overexposure, as the frame was made in daylight.
Later in processing, basic adjustments to tune contrast, colour and sharpness were performed in Adobe Photoshop.
Selective dodge and burn were applied to elevate the tonal contrast in the image. So, here's the outcome.
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Dimitri Vasileiou • Editor