Hi all!
This is my first post and I feel a bit intimidated about it because of the incredible work I have been viewing. Wow...you all are amazing photographers! I'm playing with the big guys now

!
I took this at the Dallas Divide (in case you didn't recognize it

) this past fall. It's was taken as a RAW capture with a Nikon D300, Nikkor 24-80mm, F2.8-4D lens @24mm,ISO 200, F9 1/30 (Insane wind, therefore F9), Circ Polarizer and split ND filters used on a Manfrotto tripod. Processed in Photoshop CS4 with adjustments to levels, curves and saturation.
I've been here a few times to photograph and each time, there was very little snow, if any, on the mountains and pretty clear skies. I felt pretty excited that I was able to get both clouds and the unusual mix of fall and winter in one landscape. Sunrise light on the mountains was ruined by a few low clouds in the eastern sky, but thankfully as the morning progressed the sun broke through.
Any comments welcome....I'm looking forward to growing!
Comments
35 commentsI like the comp. a ton, and the mixture of seasons. I might try to tone down the highlights in the snow a tad, IMO, but the shadow detail in great. Looking forward to future posts!
Great shot, exposure and color balance look good on my screen... and the scene is wonderful.
Very nice job.
I have only been on NPN for a few months, and I agree with you about the quality of images posted here...
I have learned a LOT in those months, folks on here are not only excellent photographers but are willing to take the time to assist and evaluate those of us with less nature photgraphic experience. I think you'll like it here.
EDIT: Debbie, I just got home and viewed this and it looks much less blue than it did on my work monitor, but it still looks slightly bluish, but overall a truly pretty image.
Welcome to NPN and the Landscape Gallery! What a gorgeous landscape for your first post! What's not to love here? A great combination of late autumn and what was probably the first snow of the season? Just beautiful!
Can't think of too much to add, but do have a small wish that there was a bit more room up top, but that's minor. also, very minor suggestion to burn down the brighter snow in the LRC (lwr right corner) Other than that, this should make a wonderful print!
Welcome aboard! We look forward to your images and participation in the forums and galleries!
Lon
contrasty, i think backing off on the highlites would help. Looks good otherwise.
Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI
I agree with the comments about pulling in the blues (and the highlights), but neither is particularly bothersome. It's such a strong image that it's easy to look right past those nits. Frankly, the contrast of warm and cool is enhanced by the slight bias towards the blue, and if it were mine, I probably wouldn't change a thing.
Great first post. Welcome!
(Also like the quotation in your signature
I find it a great and frustrating challenge to deal with colors, especially when it comes to printing profiles. Do most of you print your own? I have been getting my smaller prints up to10x15 printed on a Frontier machine and the red tones go completely flat and washed out, if I go from a straight convert from what looks good in Adobe RGB to the Frontier profile. I usually have to go into selective color and really mess around with the reds to give them back their contrast and punch and I still can't totally get it where I want it..
I see what some of you have said about the cyan/blue tones. I will attempt to work on those a bit to see if I can maybe tone them down. I like the contrast of the blue and yellow/orange, so it may be that I just tweek it ever so slightly. I, also, do see what you mean about the highlights. I 'll work on toning them down a bit. Thanks to all of you for your kind words, great suggestions and warm welcomes. I look forward to meeting some of you at the shindig.
@ David Edwards ...Part Australian myself, mate..."Yarra" like the river. My Dad is from Melbourne. Never been down there, but would love to visit
@Nathan Apodaca...I'm not quite sure about some of the abbreviations yet. What is IMO? Thanks for your sweet comments
@ Josua Hardin...You know, I don't normally put copyright symbols embedded in my pictures, but I was reading the posted article about copyright protection on NPN and the article talks about using this. Anyway, I hate the way it looks too. So, I won't post anymore with it. Just the signature at the bottom. I've had one of my images stolen off the internet and used multiple times in blogs and other sites. I discovered this when I used a wonderful site called Tineye, which crawls thousands of sites looking for an uploaded image.. So you can upload one of your images and then it will find where it's posted on the net. After 72 hours, Tineye deletes the uploaded picture from its site. http://www.tineye.com/about. Thanks for the kudos!
@ Didl...I like the film look too! I lean towards higher contrast in my work
@ Lon...Thanks for your kind comments. I am so excited about belonging to this group. It's given me a new jolt of energy for my photography. I look forward to really getting involved with the group.
@Vance... I love your quote about God. I feel the same way. When I was at the Dallas Divide there were about 20 other photographers there and it was biting cold with gusty frigid winds. But despite our runny noses and frozen fingers, I think we all left there feeling like we were touched by the hand of God and so much richer having seen that beauty first hand! I love photographing God's artwork!
Thanks again for all your kindness. I thought that I would be getting notices when comments were made on this photo. So when I didn't see any emails, I reluctantly went to the gallery to see if anyone had said something...I was blown away when I saw all the comments. Looking forward to looking at all your work and posting more of mine.
The thumbnail caught my attention as I was scanning over the page and I had a bit of a subliminal recall. I've been lucky to have visited this area the last two years and was in fact there just this last fall. There had been no real snow up to the dates I was there, but I left just prior to the storm that probably provided the amount you've captured here......
Welcome aboard!