Posted by Grant Collier on January 2, 2007 at 5:44 PM
I was out at the Teapot in 2005, but it didn't look like I'd get much in the way of light. So I took a few shots and left early, figuring I could return later. But that's obviously no longer possible now that the Teapot has been toppled. So I've made a number of Photoshop adjustments with one of my images, trying to get it to look decent. I did some blunt force adjustments on a lo-res image, so there's some halos and chrom. abb. But I'm curious what people think of the image overall. The dark shadows still bug me (and this is about all the detail I can get out of them). If I'm out that way again, it may be tempting to try and duplicate the image of the foreground in better light and try and combine it with the Teapot in this image.
Ok, i can gather that this is a sandstone formation somewhere in the 4 corners region. Beyond that, you'll have to educate me since im not a long time resident: where is this teapot and how did it topple?
As for the image, looks good to me, tho i personally would remove one-quarter of the right side where the extra sky is, which i think distracts from the focus (on the teapot).
Posted by Grant Collier on January 2, 2007 at 8:00 PM
Stan, the Teapot was in northeast Utah. In recent years, it had become an increasingly popular photographic icon. Here's a link to the BLM news release on its collapse: http://www.ut.blm.gov/NewsReleases/sep28c.html
BTW, the BLM's statement that the Teapot had stood for more than 50 million years has to be grossly overstated. Entire mountain ranges can erode away in 50 million years, but according to the BLM the fragile, easily eroded Teapot had stood there for more than 50 million years.
That's really sad, but the Mother Nature keeps on grinding away at the landscape. A couple of days ago I was in Page, AZ looking at Fatali prints of the Teapot framed with a crescent moon.
Posted by Todd Caudle on January 2, 2007 at 9:54 PM
Oh yeah, Fatali's double-exposure that he insists isn't.
Posted by Bill Pelzmann on January 2, 2007 at 11:12 PM
I like the image. The shadows don't bother me. On my laptop LCD I just tilt the monitor until it looks great. I would clone out the small patch of sky in the upper right.
BLM article: “Was it the hand of man or the forces of nature that caused the Teapot formation to come tumbling down from where it had stood for more than 50 million years?”
I agree with you about the age. The writer obviously did not distinguish between the depositional age of the rock (50my) and the age of the erosional feature, which formed relatviely recently. You'd think their geologists would have caught that.
What version of PS are you using? I'm wondering if some Shadow/Highlight adjustments wouldn't bring out the shadow details, but I know my old version didn't have that available. I've also discovered a sharpening trick using a downloadable action called Gothic Glow. It creates a duplicate image at full force, then you drag/drop it into your edit and scale the fill back to about 20%. This isn't exactly a RMNP style photo, but it was refusing to be sharpened after resizing until I tried that method:
(It's a close to home post-blizzard shot using a polarizer and wide angle, with grayscaling and a hard light overlay to deepen the contrast, plus a smidge of shadow/highlight to bring out the dark branches that were disappearing into the sky.)
Edited: I was bored enough to try a quick edit myself: http://highdesertarts.com/Junk/teapot.jpg
Shadow/Highlight, a warming filter to treat the green and cyan tones, the GG technique I described above, a hue shift in the blue channel, and some smart sharpen. If I had a full-sized copy to work from, I would have attacked the sky and artifacting with some Neat Image. Some ideas for you to play with.
Posted by Grant Collier on January 3, 2007 at 12:23 AM
Ah ha. I think I've figured out what was missing in the photo. Here's the new version:
I didn't clone in the moon ... I'd just forgotten that I had another version of this image with the moon .
Thanks for the feedback. Cloning out the top-right sky may not be a bad idea. I did use shadow/highlight in this image and pushed it more than I usually do. Pushing the shadows even further just made everything muddy and unrealistic looking. I did paint in a little color so that it isn't pure black. The sharpness isn't ideal. I think this was handheld, as it was an awkard place for a tripod and I was really just experimenting with possible compositions for when I came back later and reshot it (oops!). I did a High Pass with soft light on the foreground areas. But for now I don't think I'll mess with the sharpening much more in case I do wind up reshooting the foreground.
Posted by Momo Vuyisich on January 3, 2007 at 12:56 AM
I think this is a very challenging shot to work on, mostly because of the deep shadows that lack detail. I am sorry I cannot help.
I am also very sad that Teapot fell. I drove through Vernal in April '06, but blizzard prevented me from seeing the structure. Very sad.
Posted by Todd Caudle on January 3, 2007 at 1:09 AM
That's more like it!
BTW, don't fret too much, I think it's a killer shot as is, black shadows and all.
Posted by Nat Coalson on January 3, 2007 at 1:13 PM
You've gotta check out the Fill Light tool in Lightroom and ACR in CS3 Beta. There might be more detail in there than you think, though it's hard to tell from this file.
I don't have any issues with the composition but the foreground being slighty out of focus distracts my eye a bit. Maybe tighter cropping would allow the teapot to be more dominant. And cropping would also eliminate the distracting white hole at the top right.
Also, I understand this is just a test but the image has the appearance of being overworked.
Posted by Jody Grigg on January 3, 2007 at 3:16 PM
The whole thing looks real soft to me, needs sharpening.
Posted by Joshua Hardin on January 3, 2007 at 5:09 PM
I don't mind the shadows as they are now Grant, except that they seem to have a slight bluish/magenta cast. I have a feeling if you try to bring more out with the shadow/highlight tool the halos between the sky and rock will get worse. I agree that the sky on the right side is a little distracting, especially in the top corner. It can stand to be cloned or cropped out. Otherwise, this is an awesome shot.
Be happy that you were able to see the teapot standing. I haven't been able to get to photograph Fantasy Canyon yet. I hope that the teapot toppled naturally and wasn't pushed by someone. It really ticks me off to think someone tried to tear it down.
Discussion
12 repliesAs for the image, looks good to me, tho i personally would remove one-quarter of the right side where the extra sky is, which i think distracts from the focus (on the teapot).
BTW, the BLM's statement that the Teapot had stood for more than 50 million years has to be grossly overstated. Entire mountain ranges can erode away in 50 million years, but according to the BLM the fragile, easily eroded Teapot had stood there for more than 50 million years.
BLM article: “Was it the hand of man or the forces of nature that caused the Teapot formation to come tumbling down from where it had stood for more than 50 million years?”
I agree with you about the age. The writer obviously did not distinguish between the depositional age of the rock (50my) and the age of the erosional feature, which formed relatviely recently. You'd think their geologists would have caught that.
http://highdesertarts.com/PhotoEssays/12-30-06/9635-snowfence-dpc.jpg
(It's a close to home post-blizzard shot using a polarizer and wide angle, with grayscaling and a hard light overlay to deepen the contrast, plus a smidge of shadow/highlight to bring out the dark branches that were disappearing into the sky.)
Edited: I was bored enough to try a quick edit myself:
http://highdesertarts.com/Junk/teapot.jpg
Shadow/Highlight, a warming filter to treat the green and cyan tones, the GG technique I described above, a hue shift in the blue channel, and some smart sharpen. If I had a full-sized copy to work from, I would have attacked the sky and artifacting with some Neat Image. Some ideas for you to play with.
http://www.gcollier.com/teapot2.jpg
I didn't clone in the moon ... I'd just forgotten that I had another version of this image with the moon
Thanks for the feedback. Cloning out the top-right sky may not be a bad idea. I did use shadow/highlight in this image and pushed it more than I usually do. Pushing the shadows even further just made everything muddy and unrealistic looking. I did paint in a little color so that it isn't pure black. The sharpness isn't ideal. I think this was handheld, as it was an awkard place for a tripod and I was really just experimenting with possible compositions for when I came back later and reshot it (oops!). I did a High Pass with soft light on the foreground areas. But for now I don't think I'll mess with the sharpening much more in case I do wind up reshooting the foreground.
I am also very sad that Teapot fell. I drove through Vernal in April '06, but blizzard prevented me from seeing the structure. Very sad.
BTW, don't fret too much, I think it's a killer shot as is, black shadows and all.
I don't have any issues with the composition but the foreground being slighty out of focus distracts my eye a bit. Maybe tighter cropping would allow the teapot to be more dominant. And cropping would also eliminate the distracting white hole at the top right.
Also, I understand this is just a test but the image has the appearance of being overworked.
Be happy that you were able to see the teapot standing. I haven't been able to get to photograph Fantasy Canyon yet. I hope that the teapot toppled naturally and wasn't pushed by someone. It really ticks me off to think someone tried to tear it down.