Based on comments received in the ESS forum, i reworked some of my dunes photos from the other day; here's a repost of my ESS post with white balance corrected. Im pretty sure the colors are on target since i shot a snow scene (looking east to the sierra blanca) seconds before this! let me know what you think-S
Stan,
Nice shot! I like the light, the reflection, and the fact that you have some detail in the dune faces. The clouds to the left look like they have a cyan cast but based on the sunset and water content that's probably OK and looks natural.
Good Job!
I agree this looks better than your first one. The color balance looks a lot more natural. There is some more noise visible in the shadows of the dunes and the clouds however. That's a pretty easy fix though.
I think this image is really beautiful... and it occurs to me that moments like this one are perfect times to practice "looking closer" and making more close-up, isolated compositions from within the larger picture.
Within this one frame, there are dozens of other opportunities for strong photographs. The elements of photographic design are all present in this scene... and the challenge for landscape shooters is to make pictures of landscapes that don't always necessarily include a true horizon.
As gorgeous as this traditional approach may be, there are other, more intimate images available when you look closer. Experiment with using your longer lenses to isolate parts of the scene that are more expressive of "what it feels like" to be there, in that moment. IMHO, anything with less attention to the details is just grabbing a postcard snapshot.
Good points, Nat, thanks, although as i recall my only concern at the time was to quick get some shots quick before the sun set, and to get out of that bitter cold wind! But i agree, anticipating the event beforehand i could have planned for some more insighful ops.
Momo-thanks, its for sale, a mere $2000 for a 11X14
If you have Photoshop CS2 or 3 there is a noise reduction filter (Filter > Noise > Reduce Noise) that you can experiment with. There are also other programs such as Noise Ninja (my personal favorite) and Neat Image that do a good job. Be careful because you can loose sharpness if you go overboard. Noise Ninja is my favorite program because it has a brush where you can select the parts of the image you want to run the reduction on, while leaving other parts alone. Most other programs reduce noise on the entire image at the same level. Hope this helps.
Discussion
8 repliesNice shot! I like the light, the reflection, and the fact that you have some detail in the dune faces. The clouds to the left look like they have a cyan cast but based on the sunset and water content that's probably OK and looks natural.
Good Job!
Ken
Within this one frame, there are dozens of other opportunities for strong photographs. The elements of photographic design are all present in this scene... and the challenge for landscape shooters is to make pictures of landscapes that don't always necessarily include a true horizon.
As gorgeous as this traditional approach may be, there are other, more intimate images available when you look closer. Experiment with using your longer lenses to isolate parts of the scene that are more expressive of "what it feels like" to be there, in that moment. IMHO, anything with less attention to the details is just grabbing a postcard snapshot.
Momo-thanks, its for sale, a mere $2000 for a 11X14