Posted by Derek Sedillo on January 23, 2008 at 1:54 AM
It was a COLD morning in the Garden today. I almost didn't leave the house. But since there was no more snow in the forecast for the next week I wanted to get out there before it melted off.
Also there was some really cool fog that never quite made it into the Garden. It was so cold that the fog turned into micro snow flakes - kind of surreal as it fell. I tried to capture it. But I was shooting directly into the sun. So it doesn't really do it justice: http://landandseaphoto.smugmug.com/photos/246419472-XL.jpg
Posted by Bret Edge on January 23, 2008 at 4:08 AM
Derek: Killer light on Pikes in the first two. The compo of the 1st one is really nice. A little more work to correct for the ruddy and somewhat dark colors of the red rock and it will be super.
Posted by Derek Sedillo on January 23, 2008 at 11:26 AM
Thanks for the input Bret,
I know what you mean about the first one. It was tricky trying to maintain the mood and add detail to the foreground. I worked on a couple subtle blends which I think maintain the mood. Let me know if you have a preference: http://landandseaphoto.smugmug.com/photos/246507312-XL.jpg
Posted by Stan Rose on January 23, 2008 at 12:11 PM
Nice, Derek--i think your 'reposts' are much better. That snow was weird--it was snowing but there wasnt a cloud in the sky!
Posted by Mel Ladewig on January 23, 2008 at 1:35 PM
Derek, I like the first repost of #1 and the pano crop. Good work on those.
Do you know what color temp the shots were processed at? #1 and #2 seem a little warm. I'd expect the shaded snow to reflect quite blue on daylight film or at a white balance of 5100-5500K.
The cloud on Pikes Peak and the snow on the branches in #3 make for a real nice shot of that spot.
Posted by Derek Sedillo on January 23, 2008 at 1:54 PM
Thanks Mel,
With regards to white balance on all the shots I just went with auto white balance. Then during RAW conversion I left WB as default as well. I even added a slight blue filter in PS to one of the shots because I intially noticed the same thing. But in the end I liked the sky and rock color better in the original.
And I *really* did try to do some different comps this time. But since I was on the south end of RR anyway, 'The Tree' was calling my name. So I ran over to it just to check out the frost and snow levels. That thing is like a magnet or vortex, I tell you!
Posted by Derek Sedillo on January 23, 2008 at 2:13 PM
Just as a side note regarding the 'Cold' when I arrived at the Tree I met another photographer who I have seen there before. When I mentioned how cold it is he said 'If you think this is cold you should have seen the Sand Dunes a couple of weeks ago.' He said he was shooting over there in -30 degree weather with his 4x5!
I had no idea it could even get that cold in the winter at the Dunes. Florida and Calif. beaches they are not!
Posted by Mel Ladewig on January 23, 2008 at 3:20 PM
As Todd mentioned to me in a recent post, a blue color will often emphasize the cool feeling, but also the sky looks a little better blue than gray. One thing you might consider is processing the raw file with two different color temps and blending them in the image.
There have certainly been some very cold mornings in that area recently, like Stan's trip over to Westcliffe.
Mel-
Posted by Derek Sedillo on January 23, 2008 at 4:32 PM
Mel,
I think I'll give a different temp. a try during raw conversion to see how it looks. I agree about the grey sky. I noticed when I applied the blue filter in PS it also reduced the orange in the clouds around the peak and the foreground looked a little too blue for my taste. But this is really about fine tuning. So I appreciate the ideas, especially to give that 'cold' feeling of winter which it definately was.
Posted by John Klotz on January 23, 2008 at 6:22 PM
Derek, Nice comps, I love that tree dude! They all look hmm, a bit flat, or muted uh... maybe muddy is the word I'm looking for. The tree shot would be awesome if you can make it pop. The snow is too gray I think. It looks like there was some fog/haze? I would try playing with the white point side of levels and see if that brightens it up a bit.
John
Posted by Derek Sedillo on January 23, 2008 at 10:02 PM
Ok,
I added a bit of 'blue' to these. See if you like either better.
Discussion
12 repliesHere are a few of the shots from sunrise:
http://landandseaphoto.smugmug.com/photos/246404874-XL.jpg
http://landandseaphoto.smugmug.com/photos/246405748-XL.jpg
http://landandseaphoto.smugmug.com/photos/246413918-XL.jpg
Also there was some really cool fog that never quite made it into the Garden. It was so cold that the fog turned into micro snow flakes - kind of surreal as it fell. I tried to capture it. But I was shooting directly into the sun. So it doesn't really do it justice:
http://landandseaphoto.smugmug.com/photos/246419472-XL.jpg
I know what you mean about the first one. It was tricky trying to maintain the mood and add detail to the foreground. I worked on a couple subtle blends which I think maintain the mood. Let me know if you have a preference:
http://landandseaphoto.smugmug.com/photos/246507312-XL.jpg
http://landandseaphoto.smugmug.com/photos/246507759-XL.jpg
Thanks Rene. I kind of like the pano idea as well. Here is a quick crop of the first one:
http://landandseaphoto.smugmug.com/photos/246516545-X2.jpg
Do you know what color temp the shots were processed at? #1 and #2 seem a little warm. I'd expect the shaded snow to reflect quite blue on daylight film or at a white balance of 5100-5500K.
The cloud on Pikes Peak and the snow on the branches in #3 make for a real nice shot of that spot.
With regards to white balance on all the shots I just went with auto white balance. Then during RAW conversion I left WB as default as well. I even added a slight blue filter in PS to one of the shots because I intially noticed the same thing. But in the end I liked the sky and rock color better in the original.
And I *really* did try to do some different comps this time. But since I was on the south end of RR anyway, 'The Tree' was calling my name. So I ran over to it just to check out the frost and snow levels. That thing is like a magnet or vortex, I tell you!
Here was another 'shameless' quick grab I took of it just before the clouds lost their color:
http://landandseaphoto.smugmug.com/photos/246413107-XL.jpg
I had no idea it could even get that cold in the winter at the Dunes. Florida and Calif. beaches they are not!
There have certainly been some very cold mornings in that area recently, like Stan's trip over to Westcliffe.
Mel-
I think I'll give a different temp. a try during raw conversion to see how it looks. I agree about the grey sky. I noticed when I applied the blue filter in PS it also reduced the orange in the clouds around the peak and the foreground looked a little too blue for my taste. But this is really about fine tuning. So I appreciate the ideas, especially to give that 'cold' feeling of winter which it definately was.
John
I added a bit of 'blue' to these. See if you like either better.
The first one I simply added a blue filter to the sky:
http://landandseaphoto.smugmug.com/photos/246680912-XL.jpg
The second one is reprocessed started with a bluer white balance (5700K):
http://landandseaphoto.smugmug.com/photos/246685529-XL.jpg