I made this image late July 2007 at Minnesota's Cascade River State Park, but just got around to scanning it the other day. The "problem" that I was facing, was that the slide film that I used to capture this (Fuji Provia 100f), simply did not have the dynamic range to capture the entire scene - even with a 3 stop GND. The trees and dark lichens were blocked up in one slide, and the highlights in the sky were blown in another. Until this point, I did not know of a good way to register the scans in Photoshop. Thankfully, I discovered the "align layers" function the other day, and decided to give it a whirl. It's based on the same process that PS's "photomerge" does, from what I can tell. It did a nice job and made my life about 100% easier. Slide film (which I prefer for sunrise-sunset shots) has less dynamic range than digital capture, so I've been thinking of ways around this.
How does it look to you? The shoreline was left intentionally dark, since the rising sun was actually behind the shoreline trees rather than being out over the lake. Thoughts?
Looks fine to me. I like the color of the sky and the lichens. I may have to try working on my images with more PP.
Posted by Ken Bachofer on November 17, 2008 at 12:15 AM
Great work Joel - the lichens and pre-sunrise colors in the sky are awesome. But it's hard to truly enjoy the details with the bright white background. As you've mentioned before, a black background option is important for this forum.
Joel - that is 2 separate slides that you scanned separately and then merged? That's awesome, and something I'm gonna have to keep in mind. I've thought about doing that before but didn't figure I'd be able to align things given the inherent difficulties based on possible differences in film registration, scanning registration, etc. COOL! You'll have to tell me how to find the Align Layers thingy....(technical term)
It's a lovely shot as well - I really like the foreground rock.
CJ
Posted by Jack Graham on November 17, 2008 at 1:43 PM
NIce job JT. I'll have to try this sometime as well.
JG
Posted by Toni Lankerd on November 17, 2008 at 8:56 PM
Good thinking, Joel..works for me!
Posted by Bernie Kasper on November 19, 2008 at 10:58 PM
Beautiful work Joel, I love the fg rocks and lichen, the colors are amazing !!
Posted by Mitch Erwin on November 20, 2008 at 10:54 AM
Joel, the comp and colors in this capture are striking. I real winner here!
Posted by Darren Huski on November 22, 2008 at 10:11 AM
Joel-
I think this one looks great. It has a very natural look to it. I know when folks start working with DSLR's, multi processing RAW, HDR, etc you can get more dynamic range. But more does not mean better.
I like the fact the the shoreline trees have a hint of detail but not full detail. I like the foreground too as the orange is more important than the green. The sky and water are, of course, perfect.
You did a nice job.
In fact about the only thing I'd like to see are the two scans you did this from.
Another very nice image!
Posted by Tim Mulholland on November 24, 2008 at 3:12 PM
Hi Joel,
I think that you have a great photo here. I wasn't aware of the "align layers" function, but now I'll go and look!
Another very exciting tool that I've only recently (in the past couple of months) discovered is Tony Kuyper's Luminosity Masks - I can't rave about them enough. I used them a fair amount on my Grand Canyon photos because of the high dynamic range in many of my photos (and, only having a single image). I've known Tony for about thirty years (hard to believe!) and he has an excellent eye for detail and doing things very well!
Thanks for the comments everyone. There's more shadow detail than what appears on here - the white background is messing up the overall look of the image, and I was to lazy to make a second image for the MWNP site.
Tim, while I don't use Tony's masks per say, I do use very similar techniques. My scans usually have 15-20ish adjustment layers by the time I'm done fine tuning them. Masks are really the way to go in my opinion - I agree that Tony's a great craftsman! Thanks.
Discussion
10 repliesHow does it look to you? The shoreline was left intentionally dark, since the rising sun was actually behind the shoreline trees rather than being out over the lake. Thoughts?
Technicals: Tachihara 4x5, Fujinon 90mm, Fuji Provia 100f - 2 exposures merged and blended, 3 stop GND (hard)
It's a lovely shot as well - I really like the foreground rock.
CJ
JG
I think this one looks great. It has a very natural look to it. I know when folks start working with DSLR's, multi processing RAW, HDR, etc you can get more dynamic range. But more does not mean better.
I like the fact the the shoreline trees have a hint of detail but not full detail. I like the foreground too as the orange is more important than the green. The sky and water are, of course, perfect.
You did a nice job.
In fact about the only thing I'd like to see are the two scans you did this from.
Another very nice image!
I think that you have a great photo here. I wasn't aware of the "align layers" function, but now I'll go and look!
Another very exciting tool that I've only recently (in the past couple of months) discovered is Tony Kuyper's Luminosity Masks - I can't rave about them enough. I used them a fair amount on my Grand Canyon photos because of the high dynamic range in many of my photos (and, only having a single image). I've known Tony for about thirty years (hard to believe!) and he has an excellent eye for detail and doing things very well!
Good luck,
Tim!
Tim, while I don't use Tony's masks per say, I do use very similar techniques. My scans usually have 15-20ish adjustment layers by the time I'm done fine tuning them. Masks are really the way to go in my opinion - I agree that Tony's a great craftsman! Thanks.