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This water swirl is a classic photo composition that is really easy to do but hard to get a really nice one. While I like this photo it could be better. I’ll critique my own photo for you:

Notice that the swirl is a bit ragged looking. This is because the shutter speed was only 6 seconds. I know that sounds like a long time but for this type of shot the longer the shutter speed the better the swirl will come out. In my seconds the leaves and white foam didn’t have enough time to make a complete revolution so the resulting shape looks broken and incomplete. I needed a darker day or a neutral density filter to really slow the speed down.

the other obvious flaw that I see are the dry rocks that line the stream. Given the choice I will always choose to photograph rocks when they are wet because wet rocks have more saturated colors and are prettier. In the photographs in the previous posts the rocks are all wet and the image is richer and more uniform. The dry rocks in this photo are okay but if they were wet the photo would be better. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to go back and try the shot again.