More from my recent visit to Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada.
I was struck by the odd colors at a cloudy, golden sunset here. I also PS'd this in B&W and will post that below.. and I'll be interested to see which people like best.
D200, 18-200 at 38 mm, polarizer, tripod.
Exposure time: 1/20
F-stop: 18.0
ISO speed: 100
Focal length: 38.0000
And in B&W - I'll be interested to see which people like better..
Posted by Mike Dawson on October 4, 2006 at 10:08 AM
I think I like the color version better although the sky looks odd, over polarized perhaps, might have been better without the polarizer. Compositionally great the other thing I notice is a bit more shadow detail on the b/w on the right side
they are both great. I relate to color images better, tho, so will say I like that one better. This is an image I would be happy to have in a place where I could look at it a lot. There's a lot to see: warm tones, cool tones, sky, water, reflections, dusting of snow on the peaks, color striations in the land formsÉ It's a visual symphony.
Posted by Randy Hanna on October 4, 2006 at 1:28 PM
I'm not sure I agree that the photo is over polarized. I think there are lots of colors and actions going on in the cloud base. That is what makes this attractive for me.
Sandy, as you are a Nikon fan, there are some tricks in Nikon Capture and NIK that you can do to add or remove a degree and direction of polarization before sending the output file to PS for further work. You most likely received a trial copy of Capture with your D200. Drop me a line if you need more data on the use of Capture to support NEF images. I now almost always start with Capture unless there are some very serious color balance shifts that I need to do. We can (with right mouse click) send the image directly to PS from Capture. Al this said, I have been playing with the new beta 4 release from Adobe. I see a big change in my work flow in the near future.
Posted by John Lehmkuhl on October 4, 2006 at 5:51 PM
Sandy, I love this shot a lot. Those clouds are rally sweet - The color balance seems off here so there is a strong yellow cast on the image. If you have Photoshop CS2, do this:
Select Levels and click the little grey eye dropper and click on the greyish rocks on the montain until you get a color balance that works for you (not very scientific, but I'm a believer in the happy accident way of fixing things sometimes).
After you get close, the whites are still off so choose Selective Color, go to the Whites and set them up something like this:
Cyan: +70
Magenta: -08
Yellow: -58
Next call up Color Balance and try this:
Shadows set Cyan/Red at +3
Midtones set Cyan/Red at +10
Highlights set Cyan/Red at -10 and Yellow/Blue at +4
And here is the result - color casts are gone from what I can tell. Anyway, season to your own personal taste but this is a great shot that deserves a little fixing.
Kind Regards,
John
PS - I can remove your image if it is not ok with you that I did an edit to it and posted it.
Posted by Tim Goodspeed on October 4, 2006 at 6:05 PM
Sandy, I looked at your post earlier today and did not comment because I was not moved to do so, but based on John's adjustments, I really like this shot. I had not noticed the incredible sky. I couldn't get past the yellow cast.
Posted by Darren White on October 4, 2006 at 7:32 PM
Sandy....Great comp on the shot....color is off a bit but you could call it morning light or evening light.....its warm and nice!!!
All this is very interesting and I appreciate all the input! - but it calls into question a few things for me..
The original color version I posted is nearly identical to what was in the odd sky that i wanted to capture - including the yellow tint from the golden sunset behind me.I actually pulled off the road quickly and ran about 500m to the shore to get this. The last color version from John is great - but it makes me wonder if what we are after is a true version of nature or a PS'd version of what would "improve" nature to our (or saleable) standards. ??
Sorry for raising moralistic questions, but i alway wonder where the "line" is. i'm sure we could do anytghing we wanted with PS but how far do people feel comfortable going? I'm certrainly not sure for myself.
SAndy
Posted by John Lehmkuhl on October 5, 2006 at 1:20 AM
Sandy,
Only you were there so only you can make that call. Others commented on something being off and I did an edit that makes it a very nice and more neutral scene. But again I was not there - so the season to taste suggestion could mean to not take any part of the my edit. The color cast from the sunset was very strong it appears.... since I wasn't there, I could push the envelope farther than I would if I took it since I'd know what I was trying to match.
If the image you posted matches what you remember seeing there, and you're happy with it, then that's all the matters. Keep it as is, print it if you wish and enjoy it.
John, I loved your edit and the instructions with it, and certainly agree it looks "better" - just made me think and wonder what others thought about the limits (if any?) to PS'ing images. Sandy
Posted by John Lehmkuhl on October 5, 2006 at 11:15 AM
There was a guy that posted some pretty amazing sunset shots that were shot in harsh mid-day light that he manipulated to where they looked like sunset. That was too much if you ask me
That's what i mean, i think - I'm sure with excellent PS skills, we could even start with a blank page and import bits of 20 images already taken and make a composite that is stunning but totally fake. Tht feels pretty fruadulent, to me. S
Discussion
13 repliesI was struck by the odd colors at a cloudy, golden sunset here. I also PS'd this in B&W and will post that below.. and I'll be interested to see which people like best.
D200, 18-200 at 38 mm, polarizer, tripod.
Exposure time: 1/20
F-stop: 18.0
ISO speed: 100
Focal length: 38.0000
Full frame, levels, sharpened
Keep up the good work.
Sandy, as you are a Nikon fan, there are some tricks in Nikon Capture and NIK that you can do to add or remove a degree and direction of polarization before sending the output file to PS for further work. You most likely received a trial copy of Capture with your D200. Drop me a line if you need more data on the use of Capture to support NEF images. I now almost always start with Capture unless there are some very serious color balance shifts that I need to do. We can (with right mouse click) send the image directly to PS from Capture. Al this said, I have been playing with the new beta 4 release from Adobe. I see a big change in my work flow in the near future.
Select Levels and click the little grey eye dropper and click on the greyish rocks on the montain until you get a color balance that works for you (not very scientific, but I'm a believer in the happy accident way of fixing things sometimes).
After you get close, the whites are still off so choose Selective Color, go to the Whites and set them up something like this:
Cyan: +70
Magenta: -08
Yellow: -58
Next call up Color Balance and try this:
Shadows set Cyan/Red at +3
Midtones set Cyan/Red at +10
Highlights set Cyan/Red at -10 and Yellow/Blue at +4
And here is the result - color casts are gone from what I can tell. Anyway, season to your own personal taste but this is a great shot that deserves a little fixing.
Kind Regards,
John
PS - I can remove your image if it is not ok with you that I did an edit to it and posted it.
The original color version I posted is nearly identical to what was in the odd sky that i wanted to capture - including the yellow tint from the golden sunset behind me.I actually pulled off the road quickly and ran about 500m to the shore to get this. The last color version from John is great - but it makes me wonder if what we are after is a true version of nature or a PS'd version of what would "improve" nature to our (or saleable) standards. ??
Sorry for raising moralistic questions, but i alway wonder where the "line" is. i'm sure we could do anytghing we wanted with PS but how far do people feel comfortable going? I'm certrainly not sure for myself.
SAndy
Only you were there so only you can make that call. Others commented on something being off and I did an edit that makes it a very nice and more neutral scene. But again I was not there - so the season to taste suggestion could mean to not take any part of the my edit. The color cast from the sunset was very strong it appears.... since I wasn't there, I could push the envelope farther than I would if I took it since I'd know what I was trying to match.
If the image you posted matches what you remember seeing there, and you're happy with it, then that's all the matters. Keep it as is, print it if you wish and enjoy it.