Hello everyone. Haven't been around for a while being too busy doing other things (like recovering from a nasty cold). Hopefully I will be able to be around a bit more now that I am improving.
To break the routine, and knowing that special dates can add the motivation to get out of bed early, I took a chance on the forecast and went up to RMNP for sunrise. Could see the break on the horizon as twilight came and the low clouds were showing a nice silver lining before 5 am. I was afraid that I was late for work and I drove "slowly and very carefully" in the soft morning up to Sprague lake in hopes of a little color. Had to grab my gear and run around the shore to the familiar board walk to make it on time. And as my reward for the effort I have the following image to share.
Not much done to the image. -1 stop GND applied in LR above lake, contrast increased near top. Shade WB for a little warmth. Otherwise, it is as it came out of the camera.
Figured I would get a response not liking the colors. It took all of one response to get there, so great. Now maybe I can learn something.
As I indicated, this image is basically what the camera saw. No filters used in the shot so color cast is not likely. I have tried daylight setting for the WB as well, but the magenta lining on the clouds is still there. The reds on the lake are a bit more subtle as well, but not eliminated. I also used the eye dropper and set the WB based upon the "clear" sky above the trees on the LHS. It gives me the daylight WB setting in response. So no matter what I am doing these "punchy" colors are there. Would appreciate some suggestions on the processing if someone can guide me.
Posted by Jeff Hackett on June 3, 2010 at 10:57 PM
I guarantee you will get more detailed post processing info than I can offer, but what about desaturating the magenta just a tiny bit in the Hue/Saturation controls.
That is one option. I am wondering if it is the GND applied in LR. If I removed/reduced it the blues and magentas will not be a vibrant. Will have to give that a try tomorrow.
I awoke this morning to a house flooded with pink light. I knew there were some lucky people out there somewhere. Glad your persistence paid off Steve (I think we saw you there last weekend). Hopefully you can get those colors under control. I may crop out the "scrappy" grass (right about where it starts to stand upright) and see if that works better comp wise.
Sweet! You lucky dog. I like the fg grass, but id go 4X5 vertical with it. If it were me, id just desaturate the blues a bit--let the pink and yellow do all the wowing here. Nice shot.
I'll take the colors the way they are. Anything you do with them is an artistic choice, but I would recommend the square crop that folks are suggesting. Nice.
Thanks for the comments so far. I agree that I was lucky to get there on time... And stand alone at the shore as the sun lit the clouds. I will do a little desaturation on the blues and crop out the scraps at the bottom. Thanks for the input!
I can't add much more as I agree with all the advice you already have. One thing I will say is good job at controlling the sky highlights, they had potential to really get white on you.
Discussion
13 repliesTo break the routine, and knowing that special dates can add the motivation to get out of bed early, I took a chance on the forecast and went up to RMNP for sunrise. Could see the break on the horizon as twilight came and the low clouds were showing a nice silver lining before 5 am. I was afraid that I was late for work and I drove "slowly and very carefully" in the soft morning up to Sprague lake in hopes of a little color. Had to grab my gear and run around the shore to the familiar board walk to make it on time. And as my reward for the effort I have the following image to share.
Not much done to the image. -1 stop GND applied in LR above lake, contrast increased near top. Shade WB for a little warmth. Otherwise, it is as it came out of the camera.
C&C welcome.
(Punchy? Scrappy? I must be using The Stoner's Thesaurus!)
Figured I would get a response not liking the colors. It took all of one response to get there, so great. Now maybe I can learn something.
As I indicated, this image is basically what the camera saw. No filters used in the shot so color cast is not likely. I have tried daylight setting for the WB as well, but the magenta lining on the clouds is still there. The reds on the lake are a bit more subtle as well, but not eliminated. I also used the eye dropper and set the WB based upon the "clear" sky above the trees on the LHS. It gives me the daylight WB setting in response. So no matter what I am doing these "punchy" colors are there. Would appreciate some suggestions on the processing if someone can guide me.
That is one option. I am wondering if it is the GND applied in LR. If I removed/reduced it the blues and magentas will not be a vibrant. Will have to give that a try tomorrow.
Thanks for the comments so far. I agree that I was lucky to get there on time... And stand alone at the shore as the sun lit the clouds. I will do a little desaturation on the blues and crop out the scraps at the bottom. Thanks for the input!
Thanks for the input Josh and Morris. Very much appreciated.