Posted by Tom Stermitz on January 29, 2011 at 2:57 PM
I just got my film back and scanned. Mostly Velvia on my Pentax 645N.
I had a magical early morning after a snowfall gave a dusting to Sneffels from the Dallas Creek. It was Monday, and I didn't have to be back until Tuesday, so I could dawdle and enjoy the total solitude. Mornings sometimes give crystal smooth ponds.
Posted by Darren Huski on January 29, 2011 at 5:48 PM
You caught it nice!
Posted by John Mumaw on January 29, 2011 at 6:26 PM
That's a fine panorama. I think some judicious postprocessing could really make this sing.
Very nice pano Tom, was nice to talk to you yesterday.
Posted by Tom Stermitz on January 30, 2011 at 12:48 PM
Thanks John; I'd be happy to get your suggestions.
I felt the horizontal angle was off a little, but was only able rotate things 1.5 degrees and distort slightly to make the mountain on the right expand a little. Any more rotation and I'd start losing the mountain tops. The lesson is to leave a little more space for cropping (or else learn to hold the camera level!). In this case I was using prime lenses and poised precariously on the beaver dam.
My new camera has roll and pitch HUD in the viewfinder, plus (just what I need) an automatic horizontal correction if I'm within a degree or so of level!
50mm lens on Leica M6. Sensia, not Velvia, which probably helped a little with dynamic range, i.e. velvia would have blown out the sky or darkened the shadows too much. On the other hand, Velvia would have made the yellows and reds pop.
Posted by Dan Walters on January 30, 2011 at 6:27 PM
Nice color. Like the dramatic sky as well.
Posted by John Mumaw on January 30, 2011 at 9:32 PM
"Thanks John; I'd be happy to get your suggestions"
Sure, Tom.
I thought that a Shadows/Highlight adjustment, a lift of the Curve toward the left (dark tones), a saturation bump and a 'local contrast enhancement using the Unsharp Mask filter gave this a nice 'pop'.
Posted by Tom Stermitz on January 31, 2011 at 8:06 PM
Post processing rather than walking outside on this cold day!
I'm not exactly sure what John means about lifting the curves in the lower-right side. That lightens the darks and lowers both the saturation and contrast. While playing with things, I felt I got the most improvement by adding contrast in the brighter range which enhances the snow a lot against the rocks. Also, it is easy to overdue any of the suggested settings.
You can see the before and after. In my opinion, I might have gone too far with the contrast, unsharp and saturation; it looks great, but maybe too much. With layers and smart objects it is easy to go back and adjust any of these things. Here are the settings I used:
(1) Straighten horizon about 1.5 degrees.
(2) Use distort to grow perspective on the right (grow the right-hand mountain)
(3) Apply curves layer to increase contrast in the snow vs mountains. Pin curve in the darks, but pull it down a bit in the lights.
(4) Apply hue/saturation layer to Increase saturation 20 pts.
(5) Photoshop CS3 so change to smart object (permits non-destructive unsharp mask). Unsharp mask settings to 5 pixels and 100%.
FYI, this is a 26x13 image at 240ppi, created by stitching two, scanned 35mm film images.
Posted by John Mumaw on February 1, 2011 at 8:16 PM
I like the added defintion in the clouds and the extra contrast and saturation bump.
Usually, if you edit the title to this post to read something like +Repost, you'll get more views than mine.
Discussion
9 repliesI had a magical early morning after a snowfall gave a dusting to Sneffels from the Dallas Creek. It was Monday, and I didn't have to be back until Tuesday, so I could dawdle and enjoy the total solitude. Mornings sometimes give crystal smooth ponds.
I felt the horizontal angle was off a little, but was only able rotate things 1.5 degrees and distort slightly to make the mountain on the right expand a little. Any more rotation and I'd start losing the mountain tops. The lesson is to leave a little more space for cropping (or else learn to hold the camera level!). In this case I was using prime lenses and poised precariously on the beaver dam.
My new camera has roll and pitch HUD in the viewfinder, plus (just what I need) an automatic horizontal correction if I'm within a degree or so of level!
50mm lens on Leica M6. Sensia, not Velvia, which probably helped a little with dynamic range, i.e. velvia would have blown out the sky or darkened the shadows too much. On the other hand, Velvia would have made the yellows and reds pop.
I thought that a Shadows/Highlight adjustment, a lift of the Curve toward the left (dark tones), a saturation bump and a 'local contrast enhancement using the Unsharp Mask filter gave this a nice 'pop'.
I'm not exactly sure what John means about lifting the curves in the lower-right side. That lightens the darks and lowers both the saturation and contrast. While playing with things, I felt I got the most improvement by adding contrast in the brighter range which enhances the snow a lot against the rocks. Also, it is easy to overdue any of the suggested settings.
You can see the before and after. In my opinion, I might have gone too far with the contrast, unsharp and saturation; it looks great, but maybe too much. With layers and smart objects it is easy to go back and adjust any of these things. Here are the settings I used:
(1) Straighten horizon about 1.5 degrees.
(2) Use distort to grow perspective on the right (grow the right-hand mountain)
(3) Apply curves layer to increase contrast in the snow vs mountains. Pin curve in the darks, but pull it down a bit in the lights.
(4) Apply hue/saturation layer to Increase saturation 20 pts.
(5) Photoshop CS3 so change to smart object (permits non-destructive unsharp mask). Unsharp mask settings to 5 pixels and 100%.
FYI, this is a 26x13 image at 240ppi, created by stitching two, scanned 35mm film images.
Usually, if you edit the title to this post to read something like +Repost, you'll get more views than mine.