Lost World at Night + EDIT II

Beautiful. Amazing. I love the colors, clarity, overall impression and mood.

Normally, I don't care for star trails, but here they really add to the scene almost like they are raining light down on the mountain. There's a magical, fairyland quality to this image that I really like. The light, the clouds, the waterfall, and the star trails just come together nicely. Well done, Edward.

Remarkable shot Edward. The composition is excellent and I really like how you've captured what appears to be nearly the full height of the falls themselves. The star trails also work very well here but I do think the overall image might benefit from toning down the brightness of the sky somewhat.

Beautiful! Definitely a surreal feel to this. I like it alot.

Neat. The stars actually feel like raindrops. Could see cropping a bit more off the bottom or bringing out more detail in the texture.

A wildly different and exciting image from one of the world's most awe-inspiring locations. The mountain areas would look better quite a bit darker, and the blending/halo needs to be cleaned up IMO, but this really has some potential.

Very interesting image-the fog is too bright and i'd like the foliage a little brighter in the left hand side

Thanks for the comments!

Here is an update incorporating some of the suggested changes: crop from bottom and bit from top, work on the haloing, and darkened a bit more the sky and mountain.

I think it is a cutting edge, mind bending shot

But with substantial processing issues. If you can tackle the issues raised (mainly the major haloing) then it would be more than worth it here! I'm cool with the first version, but that halo is intense and the blend between land and sky looks funky. Looks like two images merged together vs captured in one shot. It does not matter to me how it was caught, but it just looks that way...

Thanks Mark for your comment, I appreciate it.

I am not an expert in post-processing, but it is being hard processing this one.
It all comes from a single exposure, but in my intent to process the sky by itself and getting rid of the yellowish cast in the sky (to move it to a more natural blue looking sky) it had resulted in the haloing which I greatly reduced in the 2nd post. I will work a bit more on it until I get it right.

Very lovely impressionistic take. I like this a lot.

i really like the concept here

this is very different

well done

Hamed

I understand. That is the tough thing today. Where are the digital labs? I do this service near full time (and sometimes more than full time) now for various artists, but I run into so many photographers these days that have unbelievable raw shots but have yet to get their development skills up to the point where they feel they can "master" their files. It is a huge learning curve and I think sometimes frustrating for people. This is one of those images IMHO that is mind numbing awesome but is going to take some really careful work to get it to look right/or its best...

Do a 10-20% layered highlight burn in LAB on the fringe around the mountain's edge. Done.

I like this shot so much more than the first one you posted, Ed. This is absolutely amazing!
I agree with the elimination of the halo and cropping the bottom, but I greatly prefer the rich detail you have on the face of the cliff in the first version. In darkening that area, you also lost the detail in that graceful tree to the right of the falls.
An amazing capture of an amazing evening in an amazing place, amigo!

Marc,

Thanks a lot for the guidance to process the image, and how to handle the halo (burning highlights in LAB mode works great). Here is another version based on the original post, and hopefully better in terms of post-processing. So many things to learn in photoshop, that when you get images like this is when you want to know more in order to get the best out of the RAW file.

John, Hopefully this one still incorporates the detail in the rock, but still manages the other shortcomings. Thanks!

Fundamentally I think this is an amazing shot, and clearly a tricky one to process. The original works best for me, although the haloing did improve in your latest version. Even though there's nothing along the bottom to drum up interest, for whatever reason I prefer the wider view versus the tighter crops. I can't really offer any advice beyond what you've already been given, aside from saying to keep at it. Definitely worth the effort it takes to get this one to perfection.

Edward,

Both of these captures are fantastic. If I had a preference, it would be this version, and the repost to top things off. What an exotic and phenomenal place you've captured and you've put your own take on it. Well done.

Lon

I remember this scene from the Planet Earth show. Looks like they forgot to include your take on it Ed. Is it me or do I see a quarrel between two wooers dueling for you appreciation I wouldn't mind seeing the edges of the cloud darkened. It seems to magically disappear where mountain meets sky on the upper left. Other then that I think the shot works great!

Incredible!!!

Wow, this is really fun to look at. Very cool picture, Ed. Nice work getting this one.

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

"Do a 10-20% layered highlight burn in LAB on the fringe around the mountain's edge. Done. "

Fixing it can certainly work, but I'm curious what is causing the haloing in the first place?

Mark,

The haloing came from treating the sky independently from the rest. I shifted the color, and did a darkening of the sky but it resulted in the haloing because of the way I did that. Even though all elements came from the same RAW image, I treated the image as 2 parts (sky and land) with masks. Obviously, not a good job from my side on that part. The burning highlight in LAB mode in the almost final image definitely helped. I may need to start all over from the RAW file at some point.