I took this a couple weeks ago. I'm not having much luck using HDR to bring back the detail in the rocks. I'm curious what you think of the silhouetted rocks against the bright sky. The clouds/light dissipated just above my crop position.
Posted by Randy Wilson on July 14, 2010 at 12:10 AM
I think the silhouette has plenty of interest to carry the shot, especially with that kind of dramatic backdrop. In fact, it may serve to lend an air of mystery to the image.
If you got an exposure that had any detail in the rocks, you could try blending that image with this one rather than using HDR.
Rob, I like the silhouetted rocks with the dramatic sky, nice work. Have you tried exposure fusion instead of HDR?
Posted by Wayne Rhodus on July 14, 2010 at 9:06 AM
Rob, the silhouettes look great because of their wonderful lines set against that awesome sky. I do think this could be even stronger if you crop off some of the bottom, leaving just a bit of black where the silhouettes carry out of frame left & right. Really nice shot.
Nice capture. I don't mind silhouettes. This photo works for me, Rob. I think I'd clone out the faint contrail.
However, have you tried a polarizer or some kind of neutral density filer, or even a gradient filter to help in these high contrast situations?
SingRay has a series of gradients. Expensive, but often make a difference between desired results or not.
the fisch
I had the same problem with a shot I took a few years ago, and I opted to make it a silhouette. I think it's very dramatic as posted. The clouds and color in the sky are just awesome!
i like the silhouetted rocks. have you tried bumping up the fill light in ACR? i've been surprised at times at how far you can go before you run into noise issues. might not work here, but it may be worth a try. and if not, this is still great the way it is.
Posted by Larry Daniel on July 14, 2010 at 2:26 PM
i like the silhouetted rocks. have you tried bumping up the fill light in ACR? i've been surprised at times at how far you can go before you run into noise issues. might not work here, but it may be worth a try. and if not, this is still great the way it is.
I agree with what most of the others have said that the silhouettes look just about right. I would guess that is probably about what it looked like if your eyes were looking at the clouds anyway. It looks a lot like images I've seen of Monument Valley with the monuments silhouetted against the sunrise. Nice job.
Thanks for the suggestions everybody. I'll try again, but personally I don't mind the silhouette look. I've only tried in DPP, I'll try ACR just for a comparison. I should clarify that I tried both traditional HDR and exposure fusion methods, and normally prefer exposure fusion over HDR.
Nice work, Rob. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing just a tiny bit of detail in the rocks. If you have another exposure for the rocks, of course just paint in a little detail with a low opacity setting. Awesome sky!
I like it Rob, it is a different shot than most of the Monument Rock shots. The sky is fantastic and IMO (having seen a bunch of monument rock shots) details in the rocks would serve to compete with the sky. For sure, an HDR here would also be a beauty of shot, but I like this presentation of Monument.
Discussion
13 repliesIf you got an exposure that had any detail in the rocks, you could try blending that image with this one rather than using HDR.
However, have you tried a polarizer or some kind of neutral density filer, or even a gradient filter to help in these high contrast situations?
SingRay has a series of gradients. Expensive, but often make a difference between desired results or not.
the fisch