Colorado Monuments

Here's a shot from my trek up into Colorado National Monument a few days ago. This is three exposures, merged with HDR in PS CS2. Tough range of light on this one.

Critiques most welcomed on comp, lighting, whatever. Don't hold back, I'm kind of new to this and very open to instruction. The ESS folks did a good job pounding away on a different shot I posted the other day.

BTW, this is my first post in RMNP. Thanks!

Paul

Canon 5D
70-200mm 2.8, shot at f/16

Paul,

we both know that every shot posted anywhere by anyone has room for fferent opinions. So with that in mind, I'll give you my opinon. I like it! It's not something I would see at a wedding or a bar and it's definately better than a hamburger without the meat. So I'll agree with Randy and Paula and say it's quite good.

Paul, looks good to me especially considering you used PS, this is one thing that PS doesn't do as well as other software, consider Ferrell McCollough's book on HDR, it is in Barnes and Noble etc now. He shows the difference he found between different sw packages. PS wasn't the best. Photomatix was. I like FDR Tools.
Bill

This is nice by me. I was somewhat neutral over your ESS post and like this much better. I really like the warm light on the towers.

A very natural HDR effect here.
I wouldn't have known you used it if you hadn't have mentioned it. That's good!

This is a fine composition, and you got a good sky to go along with it.

Are the 'speckles' in the foreground vegetation present in the full res. version?
I might add a bit of warming effect myself.

I really like the colors and the light. Very dramatic!

I think you did a good job with the HDR. The rocks have a great clarity to them. I do think the trees in front look a little funky, but maybe that's compression. I like your comp too. Nice job!

Very impressive! I too would never have known it was an HDR.

Thanks all. Doing the HDR part was not fun, it's hard to get a handle on it. I guess I need to learn more about it, or check out other software. The HDR result image was this contrasty mess, and somehow I was able to bring it under control. But, the trees in the foreground didn't do well in the HDR processing... they DO have a spotty weird look. I actually prefer to just use a Singh-Ray grad ND, or just layer two exposures and paint away the unwanted parts, but this one was a bit more complex. To be honest, I forced myself to use HDR with this image to see if I could get a handle on it.

It's encouraging to hear that people aren't crazy about PS CS2's HDR... I thought it was just me being incompetent.

I like this image; it's got a nice balance, with lots to look at. I don't know what you started with, but it looks to me like you used the HDR to your advantage with some restraint. I like how it still has plenty of contrast, and I do like the pitch black in the foreground trees. It puts the focus on the sunlit rocks all the more.

Paul, beautiful work and excellnt light!!! I have only seen HDR images. This one is better than anyone of them, they usually are over saturated and unnatural. I really like your composition also.... regards, Rajeev.

Great light and comp here, Paul, i like this much more than your ESS post. I would try less contrast on the fg trees, but thats a personal preference.

Jack & Rajeev, thanks, that's encouraging. I guess this one's a keeper!

Stan, the trees were the one area where I didn't win the argument with HDR. I'll definitely rework this, and take this output and blend it with another copy of the RAW file where I only work on the trees. We'll see what happens.

I never made it over to Mesa Arch like I had hoped. There just wasn't time during my stay in GJ, so as long as I was in GJ, I ran up into the Monument a couple of times to get what I could, hence the above image. I have several more that I'll drip out if they come out decent after PP. Anyway, thanks for sending the info about Mesa Arch last month. Maybe my NEXT business trip to GJ will include a jaunt over to the Arches.

Anyway, thanks for your input!