Posted by Dan Truong on January 15, 2007 at 8:55 PM
It was cold in Yosemite this week-end, closer to zero than comfortable :)
Anyhow, I took a few photos and I'd like some opinions on how to post-process them. I'm test driving LightRoom now. I also calibrated my screen finally :)
This is a photo of 1/2 dome reflections on Mirror lake.
I wish to make it somewaht abstract, and hard to read for the viewer so the broken geometry of ice, water and the rust-color ground looks similar to cristal diffractions close ups. My problem is I feel that adjusting the colors too rich make it too easy to decode the photo. The 2nd photo (link) is raw, and looks very unsaturated. I want to capture the cristaline effect of the ice. I figure it's done by keeping it on the blue side (colder temperature), and making shure its highights are bright.
More pics:
It was so cold we actually walked onto the iced rivers and lakes.
We also climbed at the base of El Capitan. It is a little dangerous
as there's ice falls from 1000s of feet up as the wall warms up. So avoid doing the same thing :) Every 1/2 hour we could hear the rumble of large falling icicles in the distance. We could see it too bouncing and shattering off the wall. We got some ice falling on us too but luckily small cubes only.
Feel free to add comments, good or bad on any of the pics of that series. It'll help me out to improve on these subjects.
Posted by Warren Xato on January 16, 2007 at 11:33 AM
I agree with you on (. . .20G) the more saturated photo of Half Dome. Otherwise its too gray.
Warren
Posted by Lon Overacker on January 16, 2007 at 9:37 PM
Dan,
I like the idea and forethought of the image. To be brutally honest, the image doesn't work for me for a couple of reasons. Actually, the colors and saturation are good and much improved over the posted raw image. I'm distracted by the sheet of ice on the left and especially the broken pieces of ice on the surface, which tells me some folks had already been playing around in the area with the ice. So my eye bounces back and forth between that and the reflection. Also, the shoreline in the lower left takes away from the reflection.
The wonderful thing about Yosemite is there are countless opportunities for reflections and frozen stuff and you're certainly on the right track in finding those.
Lon
Posted by Dan Truong on January 16, 2007 at 9:50 PM
Brutaly honest is what I'm looking for
...but also, I'm looking for ideas and solutions... How can I make the best of that shot?
When it is seen as a thumbnail it looks more like a diffracting crystal than big. So how do I do it.
The images from LLNL are 'thin sections' photographed at high magnification under polarized light, or UV. For an effect different from what you've done, you might try using a polarizer. Another solution might be infrared.
You might also be able to use selections in PS to work with different areas of the image independently of one another to achieve the effect.
Ice is very difficult to work with because it absorbs and reflects light. It sure is nice when it works, though. Keep after it!
-PB
Posted by Lon Overacker on January 17, 2007 at 12:51 AM
Dan,
Thanks for the clarification of your intent. The only ideas I can offer would be for some exteme PhotoShop manipulation or some extreme macro work on ice crytals themselves. I can understand viewing the thumbnail getting close to what you intented - unfortunately once it's viewed larger, the abstract nature of what you see in the thumbnail is lost when the recognizable components come in to view. I'm just having a hard time visualizing going from the current image to the examples you posted from LLNL without some PS manipulation.
Sorry I couldn't offer more,
Lon
Posted by Dan Truong on January 17, 2007 at 4:27 PM
Thanks for your time. I will try to work this photo some more, see if I can get something better.
Discussion
6 repliesAnyhow, I took a few photos and I'd like some opinions on how to post-process them. I'm test driving LightRoom now. I also calibrated my screen finally :)
This is a photo of 1/2 dome reflections on Mirror lake.
I wish to make it somewaht abstract, and hard to read for the viewer so the broken geometry of ice, water and the rust-color ground looks similar to cristal diffractions close ups. My problem is I feel that adjusting the colors too rich make it too easy to decode the photo. The 2nd photo (link) is raw, and looks very unsaturated. I want to capture the cristaline effect of the ice. I figure it's done by keeping it on the blue side (colder temperature), and making shure its highights are bright.
2nd version:
http://rock-climbing.kicks-ass.net/Miscellaneous/yosemite/1134021_G
More pics:
It was so cold we actually walked onto the iced rivers and lakes.
We also climbed at the base of El Capitan. It is a little dangerous
as there's ice falls from 1000s of feet up as the wall warms up. So avoid doing the same thing :) Every 1/2 hour we could hear the rumble of large falling icicles in the distance. We could see it too bouncing and shattering off the wall. We got some ice falling on us too but luckily small cubes only.
Frozen river.
http://rock-climbing.kicks-ass.net/Miscellaneous/albums/yosemite/1134007_G.jpg
http://rock-climbing.kicks-ass.net/Miscellaneous/albums/yosemite/1134001_G.jpg
Frozen Mirror lake
http://rock-climbing.kicks-ass.net/Miscellaneous/albums/yosemite/1134028_G.jpg
Reflections at sunset
http://rock-climbing.kicks-ass.net/Miscellaneous/albums/yosemite/1134061_G.jpg
Long exposure
http://rock-climbing.kicks-ass.net/Miscellaneous/albums/yosemite/1134063_G.jpg
Feel free to add comments, good or bad on any of the pics of that series. It'll help me out to improve on these subjects.
Warren
I like the idea and forethought of the image. To be brutally honest, the image doesn't work for me for a couple of reasons. Actually, the colors and saturation are good and much improved over the posted raw image. I'm distracted by the sheet of ice on the left and especially the broken pieces of ice on the surface, which tells me some folks had already been playing around in the area with the ice. So my eye bounces back and forth between that and the reflection. Also, the shoreline in the lower left takes away from the reflection.
The wonderful thing about Yosemite is there are countless opportunities for reflections and frozen stuff and you're certainly on the right track in finding those.
Lon
...but also, I'm looking for ideas and solutions... How can I make the best of that shot?
When it is seen as a thumbnail it looks more like a diffracting crystal than big. So how do I do it.
Example of the style I'm looking for:
http://www.llnl.gov/str/JanFeb06/gifs/Deyoreo6.jpg
The images from LLNL are 'thin sections' photographed at high magnification under polarized light, or UV. For an effect different from what you've done, you might try using a polarizer. Another solution might be infrared.
You might also be able to use selections in PS to work with different areas of the image independently of one another to achieve the effect.
Ice is very difficult to work with because it absorbs and reflects light. It sure is nice when it works, though. Keep after it!
-PB
Thanks for the clarification of your intent. The only ideas I can offer would be for some exteme PhotoShop manipulation or some extreme macro work on ice crytals themselves. I can understand viewing the thumbnail getting close to what you intented - unfortunately once it's viewed larger, the abstract nature of what you see in the thumbnail is lost when the recognizable components come in to view. I'm just having a hard time visualizing going from the current image to the examples you posted from LLNL without some PS manipulation.
Sorry I couldn't offer more,
Lon