Please help with water picture

A6000
16-50 PZ
f22
2 sec
100 ISO
-2EV in LR, Highlights -100 Shadows +10 whites -38 Blacks -33
Slight crop

It seems like every time I see someone post a waterfall picture, it is always way better than what I do.

Things I like about it
1)It was a nice location (almost something I don't like about it since it is not the quality I was hoping for)
2) It is in focus (not hard to get everything in focus a f22)

As you can see, there isn't much I like about this. I guess I just thought it was going to be breathtaking and it isn't, so I'm pretty disappointed.

What could be done to improve:
1) Move to a lower point of view (as close to water as possible?)
2) learn to frame better - On the crop I just took a little off the top since there was a small patch of sky showing that was so small it didn't seem to add anything. It was also an overcast day so it was boring sky. There has to be a better way to compose this. Maybe portrait would have been better showcasing the sky more than the rock wall?

Is the unnaturalness of it due to my PP and psedo HDR?

To me, the biggest problem is the lack of water. There is just too much other stuff going on in the picture to keep me focused on the water.

Your ideas of getting lower to the water and using a portrait orientation would really help.

I took a huge crop and boosted the saturation and came up with this:

thebigz wrote: I was at f22 so I could have as long of a shutter as possible.

I see ND filters are not easy to use with the 16-50PZ or your Samyang 14/2.8. Perhaps concoct something to keep the knock-off Cokin style filters in place, maybe even try hand-holding in front of the lens.

Edited by niji - 16 May 2015 at 11:18

First, there are no "right" answers - there might be as many ideas as there are folks to generate them. For me, here are the problems, given your statement that this is an image of a waterfall. It isn't an image of a waterfall, it's an image of a huge, busy scene that happens to include a waterfall that is lost among the rocks, etc. Its at least as much about the rocks as it is about the flow of water. I'd start by comparing your image to the ones you say you like and consciously evaluate the differences and maybe that will guide you in the future. Given your goal, I'd fill the frame with the water, meaning eliminate about 7/8's of the image and take a much tighter shot of the part of the water flow that resides in the lower left quadrant (i.e., in Basil's crop eliminate the top half, and some from the right and some from the left). This small area is very interesting and could make a great waterfall image. As to shutter speed, you can hold an ND filter in front of the lens; I find a 3 stop ND works in most situations and you can adjust ISO and aperture up or down to get the look you like. In short, get a LOT tighter on this scene if you want to emphasize the flow of water.