Posted by Doug Koepsel on April 5, 2011 at 10:28 AM
While the prime alignment was Wednesday, I made it up to Monument Valley Thursday evening just in time for the Mitten shadow.
This is a single image taken from below the south end of the campground. Nikon D90, 16-35mm f/4 @32mm f/8, ISO 200, focal point was the tree. Critique welcome, as always.
Posted by Doug Koepsel on April 5, 2011 at 10:30 AM
Another shadow image taken Friday evening from below the campground to include the ridge for foreground.
Posted by Doug Koepsel on April 5, 2011 at 10:34 AM
Dawn Friday morning included the crescent moon. I tried reducing the contrast to get some layering in the silhouetted buttes, but noticed some splotching appearing in the dark shadow areas.
Posted by Doug Koepsel on April 5, 2011 at 10:37 AM
Headed to the North Window early Saturday morning to beat the road closure for the balloon event and tried a star shot of the West Mitten on the way.
25 sec, ISO 1600, f/4
Posted by Doug Koepsel on April 5, 2011 at 10:41 AM
Sunrise Saturday morning from the North Window area.
Posted by Todd Caudle on April 5, 2011 at 10:43 AM
Not sure it could get much more prime than that, Doug. All these are really great! Love the crescent moon shot.
Posted by Darren Huski on April 5, 2011 at 12:01 PM
You sure had a productive shoot there, Doug!
Of the Mitten Shadow images, I prefer the second for the more vibrant colors, nicer skies (less pollution) and more natural looking foreground (less Shadow/Highlight tweak than #1). #3 is just a classic MV shot, with a great color gradient in the skies...and that moon! The last is a fine sunrise from a somewhat unique location. Well done, sir!
There appears to be some slight haloing in #3, especially evident on the left mitten between the 'thumb' and the 'hand'. An easy fix if it also appears in the full res. version.
I like #1 but the trees are a bit distracting. That third one is certainly my favorite. I can't think of any way to improve on it!
Posted by Sarah Marino on April 5, 2011 at 11:15 PM
Hi Doug - looks like you had a productive time! I really like images two and three, but enjoyed the whole series. Very nice!
Posted by Rene Pirolt on April 5, 2011 at 11:18 PM
Beautiful shots Doug...and I have to agree with the crowd - #3 is fantastic!
Posted by Richard Olsen on April 5, 2011 at 11:32 PM
These are awsome!...and I'm jealous!!
One of these years I'll make this event, and I hope I come away with something close to this!
Congrats on a very productive trip!!
Posted by Doug Koepsel on April 6, 2011 at 11:32 AM
Thank you for the honest comments.
Stan, I'll take a look at cropping some bottom off #1 to see if it helps.
Erik, do you think that taking a position further back would have helped to make the trees in #1 relatively smaller would have helped?
John, in looking at the original files of images like #3 before processing, it seems that the haze is not apparent between the thumb and palm. Guess I could clone some in to make it look consistent and darker.
Discussion
22 repliesThis is a single image taken from below the south end of the campground. Nikon D90, 16-35mm f/4 @32mm f/8, ISO 200, focal point was the tree. Critique welcome, as always.
25 sec, ISO 1600, f/4
Of the Mitten Shadow images, I prefer the second for the more vibrant colors, nicer skies (less pollution) and more natural looking foreground (less Shadow/Highlight tweak than #1). #3 is just a classic MV shot, with a great color gradient in the skies...and that moon! The last is a fine sunrise from a somewhat unique location. Well done, sir!
There appears to be some slight haloing in #3, especially evident on the left mitten between the 'thumb' and the 'hand'. An easy fix if it also appears in the full res. version.
One of these years I'll make this event, and I hope I come away with something close to this!
Congrats on a very productive trip!!
Stan, I'll take a look at cropping some bottom off #1 to see if it helps.
Erik, do you think that taking a position further back would have helped to make the trees in #1 relatively smaller would have helped?
John, in looking at the original files of images like #3 before processing, it seems that the haze is not apparent between the thumb and palm. Guess I could clone some in to make it look consistent and darker.
That's probably an artifact from resizing the image then. Nothing to fret about!
Congratulations again for scoring so well at MV last week!