One

Please give me your feedback on this photo. I'm struggling a bit with the processing. I'd really appreciate your honest evaluation.

This was one of the most frustrating evenings of taking photos for me. I'd been up to Sparks no less than 14 times trying to get a sunset just to get skunked by clouds on the West side of the mountain. This evening I could just tell was going to be spectacular. I got to sparks about 30 minutes before sunset, setup all of my equipment for this shot and began planning out my movements during the sunset so that I could get several other shots I'd been wanting.

I got the tripod in position and looked through the camera to frame the shot. I had left my SD memory card at home in Bend. I was SO DISAPPOINTED! I was going to stay and just let mother nature rub salt in the wound but, I realized that the Palm I carry had a small SD card. It was enough for just ONE shot. Once the sunset show began it was exceedingly difficult to choose whether to keep a shot or delete it and try for another.

This is what I came away with. The exposure was very difficult with the split sky...dark on one side and bright on the other. This was the same night that Marc shot his epic flowers/Broken Top shot.

D80, 18-70mm @ 25mm, 1/1.6 - f11, 2 or 3 stop gnd, iso 100, nothing drastic but, still a bit of fine tuning in PSCS2 (curves, TLR Velvia (2), sharpening, dodging.

Thanks

That's a great story, Hans. Sort of like being one of those nineteenth century photographers with a giant glass plate and one shot to get it right! This is really nice - especially the foreground composition. The detail in the grasses is especially nice against the reflection of the clouds. Well done!

Tom

Excellent title! Hell I'd buy it just for the story and the title! :)

I have but ONE (sorry for the pun) minor nit, and that is that I wish the FG had a tad more detail. That said, I think it's a hanger. you did a great job handling the exposure, and I like the grassy island. Great comp.

WOW Hans, that is a compelling story. You must have been AGONIZING over whether to delete and shoot again! But you came away with a beautiful shot. Two things that stick out in this photo that I like are how the clouds almost have the appearance of coming out of the mountain, and the green area in the center has the same rolling appearance that we find attractive on a golf course or a nice lawn--but it's wild.

Excellent shot Hans, especially considering your constraints in getting it!

Hey, pardon my ignorance, but what is "TLR Velvia (2)" referring to?

I'm assuming it's a PS plug in of some kind?

Thanks,
Edward

The processing looks spot on to me. Great capture.

Excellent work here!!!!

Beautiful shot and great story. I only have one little nit...the two things on the bottom edge that look like grass sticking up, I'd clone those out or burn them down so they don't pull your eye out of the frame.

Hans,
WOW! what a dilema... I ran out last night without my compact flash cards and had to run home to get them, and try and capture the lightning.
The exposure is amazing, considering you got it in one frame. I second Eric's cloning suggestion, and I'd also add that you orange/pink up the cloud's reflection as it seems way yellow compared to the sky's colors.
This is a hanger for sure...

It's a great image - but as Rick points out, the reflection is slightly yellowish - something you might correct in PP. Overall a good image.

- pradeep

What a story, that must have been so tough. If it was me I probably would have turned the camera around and taken a picture of myself frowning

I think you chose a great shot to keep. Love the clouds and mountain. The bottom does need brightness help, I would crop some of the dark nothingness down there out, and leave the grass rock and reflection in albeit with a slight boost in brightness. Great stuff.

The uneven cast and lack of contrast on the mountain is my main nit on this otherwise excellent offering.

Yea, the mountain (that isn't hood is it ?) has a different contrast feeling compared to the rest of the shot. Fix that and the yellow water reflection and you're good to go.

Quite a story!

I'm torn between cropping the whole bottom half out though. Right now, and maybe it's just me, but I feel like I have too much to look at. A crop of almost half, maybe including a bit of the grass, implies the bottom half but leaves it to my imagination, maybe, imho, of course, making the photo more compelling.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. That color cast on the bottom half is what was bothering me the most. A slight global adjustment of hue to just the bottom half seems to have solved the problem.

Edward: TLR Velvia is a free PS action. I use it occassionally but, less for saturation and more for the color correction (mostly skies) and lightening/sharpening effect it has.

I don't see the contrast difference on South Sister, or a different look. It could be because it is completely shaded during a sunset.

Mark, et. al.: I've thought about cropping but, instead I've lightened the bottom portion a little. This wasn't the shot I was eager for this evening. I had the camera set up here because it was the first shot of the linear progression I was planning that evening. I stayed at this shot because I felt so defeated when I realized I'd forgotten my card. Mark, I think your crop idea is good. I'll give it a try next time I'm there for a sunset.

Ahh, it looks like that was you on the shore, Hans. Quite an amazing shot you have here even under the crazy circumstances.

Amazing you pulled off such a killer image under the circumstances. Congratulations on your perseverance.