No Bathing

When I checked Google Maps for the location of a waterfall in Burrillville, it lead me here. This, however, was not the waterfall I had in mind. I'm almost positive there is a nice multi-level falls in the area and that's what I originally sought. When I saw the sign, though, I knew it was today's photo. The "Keep Off Dam" part makes sense. "No Swimming" is a bit redundant, since you can't very well swim if you can't get to the dam. But "No Bathing?" Seriously? Is that such a problem in Burrillville that they need a sign to prohibit it? I've lived in Rhode Island all my life and I can honestly say I've never seen anyone in the state show up at a lake with soap and shampoo, hoping to take a bath. It does make you wonder...

This photo was shot with a 10-stop ND filter at ISO 100, f/16 and a 20 second exposure. It was a perfectly calm day and I took advantage of that to get the crisp background with such a long exposure. Post processing started with a photo pop filter in Topaz Adjust. I then adjusted adaptive exposure, contrast, boost highlights, and adaptive saturation. I applied a levels adjustment in PSE and then applied a deep blue photo filter just to the white areas to eliminate their warm tones and bring them back to a pure white. (The ND filter tends to shift the exposure to the warm side.)

[Melissa Pike]

LOL! I know, I've always wondered about those signs. Was it really enough of a problem at one point in time that they felt the need to post a sign prohibiting it?