Posted by David Summers on January 26, 2008 at 9:23 PM
Here is a shot from my trip to Coyote Buttes last fall.
The scene was absolutely spectacular in person. The clouds parted in the west just in time to give me a few beams of glorious golden light on my foreground (and the tepees in the background).
The sky seemed very dramatic at the time, but it just seems a little "blah" in my captures from that day.
So what do you think? Dramatic or dull?
Does anyone have any tips for making this one better?
Thanks!
Posted by Dan Walters on January 26, 2008 at 10:02 PM
I think think the image looks very dramatic on my monitor. Cannot really think of anything to make it better. I really like the rich light and the dark clouds.
Posted by Todd Caudle on January 26, 2008 at 10:25 PM
I'm not sure you could do much to make the sky look any more dramatic than it already is. I think it looks fantastic as is. In other words, you fix is really easy, as it just calls for doing nothing at all.
Posted by James H Egbert on January 26, 2008 at 11:34 PM
If it aint broke, no need to fix it!
Posted by Ken Wyatt on January 27, 2008 at 12:05 AM
It couldn't be more dramatic as-is. I wonder how it would look if you opened up the shadows just a tad (mainly at the top of the formation)?
Ken
Posted by Momo Vuyisich on January 27, 2008 at 12:11 AM
I agree with Ken. I would like to see a bit more shadow detail. Otherwise, the comp and light are great.
Posted by Jeff Hackett on January 27, 2008 at 12:11 PM
I think 'dramatic'. I like the strong contrast.
Posted by Kalin Wilson on January 27, 2008 at 2:04 PM
Wow, this is beautiful! Great light on the formations. I think it works well as is. If you wanted to try anything, I think I would open the shadows a tad, as Ken suggested, and maybe lighten the clouds above the formation just enough to build the contrast between the clouds and the rock so the formation stands out more. If you did that you'd have to be careful to make the adjustment consistent across the clouds and avoid halos, use a luminosity mask.
Good job holding the saturation in the rock colors!
This is really nice!
Posted by Paul Wegemann on January 27, 2008 at 4:05 PM
As some of the others have said, perhaps open the shadows a bit. Otherwise, nice work!
Posted by David Summers on January 27, 2008 at 8:22 PM
Maybe I'm just being too hard on myself. Thank you for the compliments.
I'll try to see if I can get any more detail out of the shadows. My scanner doesn't have the best dynamic range so I might have to spring for a drum scan to get more shadow detail.
Kalin,
I'll have to play around with lightening the clouds using luminosity masks. It's been on my list of things to learn, but I haven't used them for anything before. Could you give me the short 5 bullet version of the technique you are thinking of to lighten the clouds without affecting the rocks?
Posted by Kalin Wilson on January 27, 2008 at 10:03 PM
1. Check out Tony Kuyper's tutorial on Luminosity masks. Following his technique, or using his actions, generate a 'dark darks' and/or 'shadow darks' mask. I usually play with a couple of different masks to see what they will affect.
2. Generate a composite stamp of all of your adjustments at the top of your layer stack - cntrl-alt-shift-e on the PC. This will make a layer that duplicates what your final image looks like.
3. Switch the blend mode of this new layer to 'screen'. This will have the initial effect of significantly lightening the entire picture.
4. cntl-click on the luminosity mask to turn it into a selection, choose your stamp layer and click the layer mask icon in the layers panel to turn the selection (from the l-mask) into a layer mask. Now the lightening will be applied through the mask which exposes the dark areas of the original image but smooths the transitions between regions.
5. Usually adjusting the opacity of the stamp layer will suffice to get the effect you want. Sometimes , If I don't want the effect to apply to the whole image but want the benefit of the luminosity mask, I'll paint out the areas that I don't want the effect applied. Use a black brush, size 200-400px, on the layer mask, over the areas that you don't want any lightening at all. The luminosity mask will help the lightening effect look more natural in the areas where the original mask remains.
Hope this is easy to follow. Ask away if not!
BTW, I sometimes scan transparencies at different exposures, using Silverfast, to get more detail in the shadows. If there is detail on the film, sometimes a single scan doesn't do it justice. You can scan multiple times and do a blend just as you would multi-process a raw file or shoot bracketed exposures.
Good luck! We'd love to see what you come up with if you keep working with this image.
Posted by Amy Lindsey on January 28, 2008 at 5:59 PM
i think it looks great! the first words out of my mouth were "woah", "cool", and "i love that"!!
Discussion
11 repliesHere is a shot from my trip to Coyote Buttes last fall.
The scene was absolutely spectacular in person. The clouds parted in the west just in time to give me a few beams of glorious golden light on my foreground (and the tepees in the background).
The sky seemed very dramatic at the time, but it just seems a little "blah" in my captures from that day.
So what do you think? Dramatic or dull?
Does anyone have any tips for making this one better?
Thanks!
Ken
Good job holding the saturation in the rock colors!
This is really nice!
Maybe I'm just being too hard on myself. Thank you for the compliments.
I'll try to see if I can get any more detail out of the shadows. My scanner doesn't have the best dynamic range so I might have to spring for a drum scan to get more shadow detail.
Kalin,
I'll have to play around with lightening the clouds using luminosity masks. It's been on my list of things to learn, but I haven't used them for anything before. Could you give me the short 5 bullet version of the technique you are thinking of to lighten the clouds without affecting the rocks?
2. Generate a composite stamp of all of your adjustments at the top of your layer stack - cntrl-alt-shift-e on the PC. This will make a layer that duplicates what your final image looks like.
3. Switch the blend mode of this new layer to 'screen'. This will have the initial effect of significantly lightening the entire picture.
4. cntl-click on the luminosity mask to turn it into a selection, choose your stamp layer and click the layer mask icon in the layers panel to turn the selection (from the l-mask) into a layer mask. Now the lightening will be applied through the mask which exposes the dark areas of the original image but smooths the transitions between regions.
5. Usually adjusting the opacity of the stamp layer will suffice to get the effect you want. Sometimes , If I don't want the effect to apply to the whole image but want the benefit of the luminosity mask, I'll paint out the areas that I don't want the effect applied. Use a black brush, size 200-400px, on the layer mask, over the areas that you don't want any lightening at all. The luminosity mask will help the lightening effect look more natural in the areas where the original mask remains.
Hope this is easy to follow. Ask away if not!
BTW, I sometimes scan transparencies at different exposures, using Silverfast, to get more detail in the shadows. If there is detail on the film, sometimes a single scan doesn't do it justice. You can scan multiple times and do a blend just as you would multi-process a raw file or shoot bracketed exposures.
Good luck! We'd love to see what you come up with if you keep working with this image.