I don't shoot many icons, but with no clouds in the sky this morning, I figured I'd fill the sky with some rocks. The mountains always get the short end of the stick with the wide angle shots of the alabama hills... I tried to give Whitney a bit more presence here with a longer lens. 2 images stacked in Helicon Focus (I wanted the immediate foreground OOF, but the arch and whitney in focus).
Posted by Derek Sedillo on December 12, 2009 at 8:10 PM
Floris,
Overall this is a nice iconic capture. Although I've seen this perspective many times I still enjoy it.
One thing I would like to see is a bit more contrast and saturation on Whitney itself. Based on the image we saw of you walking back which Eric took it looks like the color and contrast was there at least at that time. But for some reason this one seems a bit more flat, washed out. Of course this might just be a preference thing. I tend to be conservative at times in this area myself when processing from RAW. So this is just more of a tweak suggestion. But as it stands it is still a nice capture.
The classic suitcase handle! Great job, Floris. You'll get clouds next time. I promise.
Posted by Debjit Ghosh on December 12, 2009 at 11:37 PM
neat Floris..I took a similar shot, a little different perspective few days back and the arch was glowing red/yellow when the sun was over horizon...I like the idea of excluding the fg through OOF from viewers eye....we certainly can set the focal point such a way so that it does it automatically in-camera ?
Thanks folks. This is the predawn alpen glow, and by its very nature is soft (low contrast/flat) light (30 min or so before sunrise).. which I prefer to the harsher contrasts you get once the sun pops up over the horizon. Not an image I'm really that excited about, just thought I'd toss it out there
Debjit - the focus stacking was to get the arch and whitney in focus - I purposefully did not include exposures in the stack to get the foreground in focus as well.
Posted by Eric Good on December 13, 2009 at 8:08 PM
Cool, I never did see what this looked like framed... unless you count that dark version that we were playing around with at night with lights. The focus blending works well here, but I still think your original shot as planned will be the ticket. Hopefully everything will line up some day for you to get that shot.
Floris, I really like the farming and balance to this very often shot scene. This is a bit different then many and as such works very well with this overall composition. Nice work on a slightly different look overall.
Floris,
I like the way you've worked with perspective here. Some times the icon Gods don't cooperate about the clouds. Best Regards.
Posted by Steve Sieren on December 16, 2009 at 1:11 AM
Floris, cool framing and nice pre alpen glow. I like the sharpness in whitney but I'm thinking the foreground would look better sharper but you already know I think that.
Posted by Paul Duval on December 16, 2009 at 8:38 PM
Floris,
I would have guessed the first kiss of the sun in morning, it's iconic but very well captured and executed, but we expect that from your work. Be careful what you wish for Whitney is in the second tier of peaks and often when there are clouds it's completely obscured. We're lucky we live close enough to try and try again, you'll get the image your previsualizing eventually.
Paul
Posted by Rudy Ruberti on December 16, 2009 at 8:50 PM
I really like the nice soft light on Whitney and the dof. Well done.
Discussion
10 repliesOverall this is a nice iconic capture. Although I've seen this perspective many times I still enjoy it.
One thing I would like to see is a bit more contrast and saturation on Whitney itself. Based on the image we saw of you walking back which Eric took it looks like the color and contrast was there at least at that time. But for some reason this one seems a bit more flat, washed out. Of course this might just be a preference thing. I tend to be conservative at times in this area myself when processing from RAW. So this is just more of a tweak suggestion. But as it stands it is still a nice capture.
Derek
Debjit - the focus stacking was to get the arch and whitney in focus - I purposefully did not include exposures in the stack to get the foreground in focus as well.
I like the way you've worked with perspective here. Some times the icon Gods don't cooperate about the clouds. Best Regards.
I would have guessed the first kiss of the sun in morning, it's iconic but very well captured and executed, but we expect that from your work. Be careful what you wish for Whitney is in the second tier of peaks and often when there are clouds it's completely obscured. We're lucky we live close enough to try and try again, you'll get the image your previsualizing eventually.
Paul