Autumn WarmtW Edits

Really nice Chris. I love the light and these colors feel so nice to me. It really is a pretty spot, and one I hope to visit one of these day!

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Chris,

I'm hesitating being the first to comment here and put a damper on this lovely El Cap Meadow landscape. A familiar site indeed and a beautiful rendition.

Right away though, I gotta say that the color is off, IMHO. Which I find uncharacteristic of your processing. Actually the meadow, grass and even the gray fallen trunk all look pretty good. It's the granite wall that has me thrown for a loop. The granite is too yellow/red in my book. Interesting too, go back and look at my image and where you commented, "The color of the background wall looks perfect to me." Between the two images I don't see them as being close. Now I won't claim that mine is correct, in fact it might be too blue, but at least for me, these cliffs, and on the shady side at that, are at a minimum more gray/neutral, if not leaning blue than they are brown/yellow. Now, I would grant some influence from El Cap, especially if it's in full sun reflecting a warmer light, but still, it looks off to me. the other clue for me are the black oak trunks - a little on the red side.

Having said that, it's amazing how much the oaks changed in those 4 days! Note the absence of green leaves from my image to yours.

Anyway, sorry for the lengthy nit... I do love the scene, but I think needs some color work.

Lon

Very pretty indeed Chris, what grabs me right off is the warm appealing mood it carries, along with the beautiful color and comp.I would definitely like to make it there someday.
John

Well composed and very pretty.

Lon,
I see what you mean. Although the granite walls are rendered much lighter and warmer in my raw file than your image portrays. But, lke I said, it looks right on to me in your image. I have included the raw capture converted to jpeg. I did my normal adjustments in raw before hand.

I'm also including another rework from scratch. I think I went a little too far in the first. Also, a little lazy in the masking. So I painted out 100% of any of the color adjustments I made out of the granite, and the tree trunks. The granite is still quite a bit lighter, and warmer than in your capture. But I think it's true to the original capture enough. The white balance was captured at 5750. 5500 is auto, and daylight rendered it at 6100. So the 5750 original capture with a curves adjustment to bring it down a bit, and some burning to deepen the greys.

I think this is a big improvement, so thanks, I think!

Chris

Here's the reworked version.

Not knowing the light conditions and actual colors at time of capture, I like this Chris. A beautiful autumn scene. The granite backdrop seems a touch light but easily corrected. This is the biggest dilemma I have with digital (regardless of the # of stops of dynamic range)..... You start with a very bland RAW image and need to get back to what you thought you saw and give it life. Film on the other hand, has life (albeit, a life of its own which may need to be toned down at times) and you do need to deal with the possibility of blocked shadows (as in my latest post). I like your original post best BTW.

Chris,

The overall color balance certainly looks much better. I apologize up front if I'm being overly critical or picky... but I always say I'll be the most picky on images that deserve to be their best. ;-) The last version I think reveals another suggestion. I think in general it's a little bright. The wall is perhaps even a full stop over and the meadow/oaks maybe a 1/2? Perhaps not best to describe in terms of stops, but if you took the richness and exposure of the original and matched it with the color balance of the repost, I think it would be better yet.

I'll stop here and hope that someone else chimes in. I'd like to think I'm not all that far off in my view of this. Am I just seeing things? Tell me I'm not crazy. Wait, don't answer that.

Lon

I don't usually read through others' comments before commenting on an image but I did this time for some reason and while I can't speak to the color temperature of the granite wall the color in the foliage looks appropriate. I think the background could benefit from a little additional contrast, but that's pretty minor. I like your composition and the way that you have arranged the elements in the scene. Without knowing how the scene actually looked, I would say that the original posting looks good and believable to my eye even if not completely accurate.

Great take on this Chris. I too feel the color is bit wild in the first post and better controlled in the rework. The granite wall does seem a bit to bright in the rework, but not the trees or meadow. Mask off the trees and bring the wall down a bit and I think your golden, to use a pun.

I appreciate you inclusion of so many versions of this scene, especially the "unprocessed" jpeg. I found the color discussion very interesting and informative. So thanks for that.
This really is a lovely scene and I do like your second version just a touch better than the first. The warm fall foliage is most alluring with the deep green of the conifers as 'back-up'. Nice work

Chris: I do prefer the rework a bit better but I like the original as well. Wonderful scene superbly captured. >=))>

The arrangement of the trees in the comp is sweet, Chris. I'll stay out of the color discussion since the closest I've been to Yosemite is watching Sam on Saturday mornings. That being said, I prefer the reposted version but I've been in a blue processing mood lately.

I love the comp and indeed it's a great landscpae. I'd prefer the repost though it's hard to tell not knowing the light conditions. Both are good but it goes in different ways.

Thanks everybody for the input.

Lon,

Remember that conversation we had about histograms? That's how we(digital shooters) judge exposure. I don't know if there are those digital shooters that still use a light meter or not. I don't, I just review my histogram. This exposure was pretty even and displayed no loss or detail in highlites, or shadows. So I never really considered doing any luminosity adjustments. So, that goes to show that sometimes you need to trust your eyes more than the technology, I guess.

Don't sweat the nit picks, I appreciate it. I guess this was just going to be one of those that I was going to make a mess out of! Kind of reminds me of tha Bridal Vail Creek shot from a while back. But with the help of some of my friends, we managed to get that fixed up.

So, here's a final adjustment with some curves. I think it brought out more color also, that I like. If this doesn't get it, I'll probably set this image aside for a while, and go ack to it later with a fresh start.

Thanks,
Chris

Nicely composed image. It is definitely the trees' diagonals that is the eye grabber, but the overall composition and colors are striking. The last version is most pleasing to me, a little less intense in the yellow/orange.

I really like your take on this Chris. The horizontal wider view allows all of the parts to have their own space without feeling cramped. I like the original version, but then I tend to go overboard a bit anyway.

Chris,

This last repost is the best - and getting closer (closer to my opinion anyway.... )

So, that goes to show that sometimes you need to trust your eyes more than the technology, I guess.

Interesting that you bring this up because I was going to mention it earlier on when you were talking about color temperatures and numbers. IMHO, our "mind's eye" is the ultimate arbiter of whether or not something is right. Just because a histogram is real pretty, doesn't mean the color is accurate, does it? I can say the exact same thing about film. We all know that different sensors may have different electronic responses to different color temperatures and frequencies; toss a lens over the top of that and you're altering color again (not to mention contrast, saturation, hue, DR, etc. etc.) Put our brain on top of all that, and it explains the hugely diverse response to color, and our opinions and interpretations of it.

While I think it's essential to understand the numbers, and know the why's and how's it works to help your decision making process, ultimately use those numbers to guide you and more importantly help confirm the decisions of your mind's eye.

This has been a very interesting discussion and a perfect example of how an image evolves in terms of color, luminoisty, and contrast.

This last repost is the best - and getting closer (closer to my opinion anyway....



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So, that goes to show that sometimes you need to trust your eyes more than the technology, I guess.
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Interesting that you bring this up because I was going to mention it earlier on when you were talking about color temperatures and numbers. IMHO, our "mind's eye" is the ultimate arbiter of whether or not something is right.

I agree with Lon's comment, here. The latest version works the best, in my opinion. I also agree, whole heartedly, that our mind's eye is the final arbiter. The RGB histogram, while it doesn't really lie, shows only the distribution of pixels at a given luminance level (0-255) within some standard deviation. The same is true for the histograms for each of the color channels. Therefore, they can give a reasonable approximation of color and their respective luminance, but they are not as discerning as our own eyes, and our emotions.

It's a very nice image, Chris, and I applaud you for 'keeping after it' in order to realize it's potential.

--P

Chris, your last - and maybe final - version is a great experience for me. The separation of colors is spot on to my eye and I really enjoy the interplay of warm and cool tones. The opposed diagonals in the rock face add a lot of interesting tension for me. It will certainly be a pleasure to look at this as a large print.

Peter

Nice comp. and colors

The colors were captured just at the perfect time. What a stunning backdrop to the scene...

Repost is real nice, Chris. A classic Yosemite fall meadow image.

I love the fg--bg seems a tad soft. the last post is getting close, still seems a tiny bit flat to me. Nice shot tho.

Very beautiful Chris. I love the rich saturated color - the warm tones are highly appealing! So saw Lons comment and your rework. Well I guess I would like something in the middle between the two. I think your rework looks closer to "reality", but it comes across as flatter. I am not suggesting anymore because Lon already gave you a hard time...
Seriously, as an unbiased spectator I do like the first one very much and I don't see much to improve. My perfect version would be to dial down the saturation a tad and work on the color balance of the granite - a little bit more blue.

Beautiful Chris. In addition to the light on color, the BG in the original image is a perfect complement to the trees IMO. Actually, my favorite of all the posts. Wonderful capture of the valley.