Flat Creek Falls, NC

right off the bat, i have to state that i think that water-as-cotton is an overdone photographic cliche. that said, however, there is something in this image that starts to transcend the cliche.

in part, i think the light that you said was "the worst possible" is actually working well in this image. the light-to-dark-to-light-to-dark and back again effect cascades down the mountain in complimentary sympathy with the water itself, helping to create a palatable sense of depth and motion, top to bottom.

the individual strings of water-as-cotton reinforce the motion as well. i think that it is this "stringiness" that saves it from the amorphous blob of water-as-cotton cliche.

so, yeh. i think your work has not been in vain.

Cliche or not, I like the look of the water. The only nitpick I have of this shot is that the water at the top of the waterfall is a little hot. Otherwise, I think it looks great.

Dan, I like this a lot! I agree that the top is a bit hot, but not too bad for the harsh light you liked. The shafts of light at the top make this one much different from other waterfall shots. The rich, saturated colors are very nice too.

Nice waterfall shot in the sunlight. Great shadow detail and I like the sunlit trees as well.

Thanks for the all feedback. Since this image is so different from any of the individual exposures that went into it I was having a hard time judging if I was getting a result that still looked natural. I'll try fine tuning it a little more. I guess "worst possible lighting" might not accurate since it was a beautiful scene to see in person. Maybe "very difficult to photograph lighting" would be more accurate.