I'm feeling slightly schizophrenic as my summer winds down -- the snow hasn't been off of the high country that long, but I'm returning to my "day job" of teaching, so that's about to take over. We're in the midst of an interminably long set of orientation meetings for the faculty, but not actually doing that much, so I've been able to get away the last two weekends to Capital Reef and Canyonlands. The days are noticeably shorter, temperatures are already starting to cool off, and fall feels like it's just around the corner -- at least up in central Utah at 6000'. Down south of I-70, the summer monsoon patterns still seem to be holding up, or I'm getting phenomenally lucky. Probably the latter.
Two weekends ago I got a superb sunset over the main section of Capital Reef, with a good thunderstorm the next afternoon. This past weekend in Island in the sky... whoah.
If it matters, each of these is stitched from vertical shots. Most of them were with a 2-stop soft grad in the field, then local adjustment brushes in the RAW conversion, then curves via layers in Photoshop. That said (as hard as it may be to believe), the adjustments are not that major. Mostly plus or minus one-third to two-thirds stops with the adjustment brushes, and usually not more than three points change in curves for each layer (global then regional then local). Many curves were done in luminosity mode, so the saturation didn't change. I don't think the processing is out of line, although I do think I'm getting better at it. At least I hope so.
A series from redrock country, coming up. Comments, critiques, criticism welcome. There's a lot of good work on this forum, so I appreciate whatever I can learn.
[4] Late summer thunderstorm over Capital Reef, Sunday 8/21/11
Double-processed on each RAW file for the sky and the rock, then composited. I did push this one a lot farther in processing than I normally would, so let me know what you think of the aesthetic, and whether you think it goes too far.
[5] Desert Alpenglow, Green River Overlook. Friday, 8/26/11
Moving on to Canyonlands. Although Green River Overlook is a common location, I don't feel like I have "my" shot of it yet, so I keep going back there. On this evening, the sunset itself was good but not great. Inspired by some of Kane Engelbert's recent images with alpenglow in the mountains, I decided to take a shot at it in the high desert. This is about ten or fifteen minutes after the "true" sunset time. This one is double-processed on each RAW file to darken the sky, but also to keep a slightly different color temperature in the sky versus the rock: 5000 versus 5750, I think. Is that fair, do you think?
[6] God beams over the La Sal Mountains. Sunday, 8/28/11
Nothing much to show from Saturday the 27th. Clouds were too thick and in the wrong places in the morning, and too spotty and in the wrong places in the evening. Some good hiking and cycling and great Thai food in Moab for lunch...
Sunday, though. Sunday morning was awesome. I had set my alarm for six, but boiling thunder woke me up around five instead. I didn't feel too bad, so I went ahead and got up and drove out to Grandview Point. I couldn't really see anything that early (sunrise was 6:45am), but I set up the tripod and camera anyway and took lots of frames hoping to get some lightning, figuring that I would stack the images together later. That ended up not really working like I'd hoped, but it was amazing to watch nonetheless. A great experience, watching the bolts strike the Needles district and the Abajo Mountains.
Finally the sun crested over the La Sal's and gave us some great God beams, which in turn illuminated...
Posted by Lance Burch on August 31, 2011 at 8:58 AM
I like all of those. The different color temp of 5 works for me. I've read a little about that lately and was thinking of going back in reprocessing some of my previous shots. Really like #7 and the clouds in 3 are awesome. Nice series.
...The area below and right in front of me. (Technically, this is out of sequence, but bear with me). Just, wow. Three days later, I can't decide if this makes me want to go back to Canyonlands over and over again and move to Moab, or shrug my shoulders and figure that I'm never going to get this again and not go back. Yes, that is a lightning bolt. At sunrise. With great clouds. And virga and rain. And good light. Yeah, "phenomenally lucky" is about right.
I mean, I'm not going crazy, right? I think that's pretty amazing. I feel blessed and grateful just to have seen some of this stuff. I feel like I have some technical skills, but to have gotten a lightning bolt in one frame of a stitched panorama? That's not skill. I can't take credit for that. That's luck. I mean, I believe in the truism that "The harder I work, the luckier I get", but that? That's a gift.
Anyway, I hope I'm not rambling. Great skies and great light to you all. Summer's not over yet, although fall color's not too far away...
Wow Mark- you had some amazing conditions. All the images are lovely and the processing looks strong. If I had to pick my three favorites in no order would be 5, 2, and 7. (BTW - the 7th picture you have posted twice - you might want to delete one - it is a little confusing). Anyways, this makes me want to head back up to Moab - ASAP. Have a great weekend. Michael
Posted by Paul Martin on August 31, 2011 at 1:04 PM
Nice series, 1,2 and 7 are tops for me -- and don't worry about the rambling, I do it all the time.
Posted by Art Escobado on August 31, 2011 at 1:56 PM
Wow..that is some epic light. #1, #2 and #7 are all fantastic!
Posted by John Mumaw on August 31, 2011 at 7:17 PM
"...or shrug my shoulders and figure that I'm never going to get this again and not go back."
I think that's the right decision, Mark.
Seriously though, you came away with some really wonderful work from your jaunt down there.The only one I'm not fond of is #4, and that's because the light just isn't there for me. Especially compared with the rest!
#2 is absolutely stunning! I love post-sunset/pre-sunrise light, and this is a perfect example of why. I'd love to see a larger version of this piece! The same goes for 'Desert Alpenglow', which you 'developed' to perfection. Hell yes, it's fair!
I also like 'Sunrise Thunderstorm', but find it to be a bit murky. I would suggest using that 'Image Polish' tip with the Unsharp Mask filter, and then masking off the left horizon to avoid overexposure. A bit of a saturation bump may be helpful, too.
Outstanding work here, Mark! I look forward to not seeing you here again.
Posted by Ron Bailey on August 31, 2011 at 7:44 PM
Nice series!
Posted by Doug Koepsel on August 31, 2011 at 8:54 PM
Certainly 2 first choice , then a toss between 1 and 7. In 1, I would be inclined to lessen the brightness of the lit ridge.
Posted by Jack Garrett on August 31, 2011 at 10:51 PM
I love 1 and 2. I'd love to see them bigger.
Posted by Kane Engelbert on September 1, 2011 at 12:04 AM
Holy smokes that #7 shot is stunning. Mark, that's some really nice light and composition. For whatever reason I've had trouble shooting that location in the past. i've actually had good conditions there but never could nail the comp. But you nailed the pano format. Just beautiful.
Lance: There are a number of tutorials online that show how to double-process a RAW file for exposure blending. The technique is exactly the same for blending color temperatures. Briefly, save two versions of the original file, copy one on top of the other, add a layer mask to the new (copied) layer, and then get to work on the mask itself to reveal or conceal the upper layer. If you know about working with layers, it probably sounds harder than it is.
Michael: Thanks for the heads-up on the double-reply. Not sure how that happened. And now Lance's reply is in the middle. Oh, well. Even completely disregarding last weekend, there aren't many times that I wouldn't think about heading down to Moab... but when the thunderstorms are firing, it makes me extra-twitchy to get down there.
Koveh: As much as I think the word "epic" is overused these days (at least by climbers and mountain bikers...), yeah. Epic.
John (and Jack): I'll put together a blog post in a day or two with larger images hosted, or put them into my "gallery" here. I think the larger size would help with the "murky" feeling on 'Sunrise Thunderstorm", #7, but I'll go back to it in a few weeks and see about polishing it up after I can be a bit more objective about it. I agree, though, that some extra tonal separation in the lower half. I don't want to go overboard on the saturation, but I'll see what a little bump looks like.
I think some small variation in double-processing color temperature is okay, but I wouldn't want to do it too much. I'm trying to push myself a little farther in my post-processing, because I'm starting to see that the "big guys" do a lot of it. Not creating things that weren't there, but really accentuating some interpretations. Guy Tal's e-book on creative processing is helping, too. That's why I included #4; it's clearly not to the level of the others, but it was a learning experience to get it to look like that.
And, sadly, work is going to start interrupting on photography, so most of the time I'll be away but not productive...
Doug: Really? #2 above #7? Interesting. Can I ask why, especially since you give it a "certainly"? I ask partially because I like and respect your work in the Page/Paria area. On #1, I did work on bringing down the lit ridge, both in RAW conversion and in Photoshop itself, but I can try for more.
Kane: Grandview is harder than it looks, I think. I've gone back there a lot, and struggled to find leading lines or something in the close foreground to work the Muench or Adamus style of near/far and just haven't ever gotten it. I certainly don't think this is the best possible composition, but I'm addicted to stitched panos at the moment, so... I shot wider than this and cut off the left and right sides until it seemed to stick together. Especially given John's comment, I'm tempted to work on the lower half, particularly the lower right half, so that the upper left doesn't overwhelm the rest of the frame.
Thanks for the comments, everyone.
Posted by Doug Koepsel on September 1, 2011 at 12:43 PM
Mark, I prefer 2 due to the lit clouds and virga, and how that colored light illuminates the banded cliffs. I like the color contrast of the pinks with the blues of the upper right. I do however feel the two center knobs seem cut off on the bottom and may desire to see more base and the grassy/treed draw that goes between the two knobs, more like in #1.
In 7, I liked how the lightning bolt goes to the sunlit spot, and the draws feeding to the left into the light. To me, the negative is the lack of color and light in/on the canyons fingers. Although natural, the brightness near the sun on the left edge is a drawback to me as my eye goes there to the bright area and away from the rim. Perhaps I would see this differently viewed bigger and against black to see the details and colors.
Posted by Morris McClung on September 1, 2011 at 1:32 PM
Those are all outstanding, with the exception of the "Godbeams over the La Sal Mountains." Just too much blown highlights in that one for me. But, that is the only exception. Strong collection! And yes, you were blessed.
I've tried to incorporate the suggestions, without forcing it too far. Thanks again for the comments.
Doug, thanks for taking the time to explain your preferences. I think there's an element of ...grace, perhaps, that is easier to see in [2] than [7], with [7] being so flashy. Now, looking back, I wish I'd shot it with a little wider lens to get in more of the foreground elements. At the time, I wanted to get tight on the cloud itself. Now it feels a little cramped. I still like the light on the left-hand cliffs, though.
If you're still following the thread, let me know what you think of the re-workings.
For those of you who asked to see larger versions, check out: http://markhespenheide.com/landscape/utah/demo.html
It's only a quick-and-dirty page, but it's there. These are 20" wide on a black background.
Posted by John Mumaw on September 2, 2011 at 9:30 AM
Viewing the larger versions is a sheer delight, Mark.
Your rework of 'Sunrise Thunderstorm' is absolutely perfect, and is especially notable in the larger version.
Posted by Doug Koepsel on September 2, 2011 at 10:46 AM
Mark, thank you for linking larger versions against black. A pleasure to view with the increased details and size.
Your reworking of 7 really gives it a marked and noticeable improvement. It's one to enjoy looking at the details in the canyon edge. The last of the sunlight into the canyon is much more noticeable too.
With #2, you might try and see if you like: increase the midtone contrast a little, then increasing the brightness to bring it back to the previous observed amount, and then an image polish of 10/50/0, all to give contrast and pop to the cliffs.
Discussion
24 repliesI'm feeling slightly schizophrenic as my summer winds down -- the snow hasn't been off of the high country that long, but I'm returning to my "day job" of teaching, so that's about to take over. We're in the midst of an interminably long set of orientation meetings for the faculty, but not actually doing that much, so I've been able to get away the last two weekends to Capital Reef and Canyonlands. The days are noticeably shorter, temperatures are already starting to cool off, and fall feels like it's just around the corner -- at least up in central Utah at 6000'. Down south of I-70, the summer monsoon patterns still seem to be holding up, or I'm getting phenomenally lucky. Probably the latter.
Two weekends ago I got a superb sunset over the main section of Capital Reef, with a good thunderstorm the next afternoon. This past weekend in Island in the sky... whoah.
If it matters, each of these is stitched from vertical shots. Most of them were with a 2-stop soft grad in the field, then local adjustment brushes in the RAW conversion, then curves via layers in Photoshop. That said (as hard as it may be to believe), the adjustments are not that major. Mostly plus or minus one-third to two-thirds stops with the adjustment brushes, and usually not more than three points change in curves for each layer (global then regional then local). Many curves were done in luminosity mode, so the saturation didn't change. I don't think the processing is out of line, although I do think I'm getting better at it. At least I hope so.
A series from redrock country, coming up. Comments, critiques, criticism welcome. There's a lot of good work on this forum, so I appreciate whatever I can learn.
Double-processed on each RAW file for the sky and the rock, then composited. I did push this one a lot farther in processing than I normally would, so let me know what you think of the aesthetic, and whether you think it goes too far.
Moving on to Canyonlands. Although Green River Overlook is a common location, I don't feel like I have "my" shot of it yet, so I keep going back there. On this evening, the sunset itself was good but not great. Inspired by some of Kane Engelbert's recent images with alpenglow in the mountains, I decided to take a shot at it in the high desert. This is about ten or fifteen minutes after the "true" sunset time. This one is double-processed on each RAW file to darken the sky, but also to keep a slightly different color temperature in the sky versus the rock: 5000 versus 5750, I think. Is that fair, do you think?
Nothing much to show from Saturday the 27th. Clouds were too thick and in the wrong places in the morning, and too spotty and in the wrong places in the evening. Some good hiking and cycling and great Thai food in Moab for lunch...
Sunday, though. Sunday morning was awesome. I had set my alarm for six, but boiling thunder woke me up around five instead. I didn't feel too bad, so I went ahead and got up and drove out to Grandview Point. I couldn't really see anything that early (sunrise was 6:45am), but I set up the tripod and camera anyway and took lots of frames hoping to get some lightning, figuring that I would stack the images together later. That ended up not really working like I'd hoped, but it was amazing to watch nonetheless. A great experience, watching the bolts strike the Needles district and the Abajo Mountains.
Finally the sun crested over the La Sal's and gave us some great God beams, which in turn illuminated...
...The area below and right in front of me. (Technically, this is out of sequence, but bear with me). Just, wow. Three days later, I can't decide if this makes me want to go back to Canyonlands over and over again and move to Moab, or shrug my shoulders and figure that I'm never going to get this again and not go back. Yes, that is a lightning bolt. At sunrise. With great clouds. And virga and rain. And good light. Yeah, "phenomenally lucky" is about right.
I mean, I'm not going crazy, right? I think that's pretty amazing. I feel blessed and grateful just to have seen some of this stuff. I feel like I have some technical skills, but to have gotten a lightning bolt in one frame of a stitched panorama? That's not skill. I can't take credit for that. That's luck. I mean, I believe in the truism that "The harder I work, the luckier I get", but that? That's a gift.
Anyway, I hope I'm not rambling. Great skies and great light to you all. Summer's not over yet, although fall color's not too far away...
Seriously though, you came away with some really wonderful work from your jaunt down there.The only one I'm not fond of is #4, and that's because the light just isn't there for me. Especially compared with the rest!
#2 is absolutely stunning! I love post-sunset/pre-sunrise light, and this is a perfect example of why. I'd love to see a larger version of this piece! The same goes for 'Desert Alpenglow', which you 'developed' to perfection. Hell yes, it's fair!
I also like 'Sunrise Thunderstorm', but find it to be a bit murky. I would suggest using that 'Image Polish' tip with the Unsharp Mask filter, and then masking off the left horizon to avoid overexposure. A bit of a saturation bump may be helpful, too.
Outstanding work here, Mark! I look forward to not seeing you here again.
Lance: There are a number of tutorials online that show how to double-process a RAW file for exposure blending. The technique is exactly the same for blending color temperatures. Briefly, save two versions of the original file, copy one on top of the other, add a layer mask to the new (copied) layer, and then get to work on the mask itself to reveal or conceal the upper layer. If you know about working with layers, it probably sounds harder than it is.
Michael: Thanks for the heads-up on the double-reply. Not sure how that happened. And now Lance's reply is in the middle. Oh, well. Even completely disregarding last weekend, there aren't many times that I wouldn't think about heading down to Moab... but when the thunderstorms are firing, it makes me extra-twitchy to get down there.
Koveh: As much as I think the word "epic" is overused these days (at least by climbers and mountain bikers...), yeah. Epic.
John (and Jack): I'll put together a blog post in a day or two with larger images hosted, or put them into my "gallery" here. I think the larger size would help with the "murky" feeling on 'Sunrise Thunderstorm", #7, but I'll go back to it in a few weeks and see about polishing it up after I can be a bit more objective about it. I agree, though, that some extra tonal separation in the lower half. I don't want to go overboard on the saturation, but I'll see what a little bump looks like.
I think some small variation in double-processing color temperature is okay, but I wouldn't want to do it too much. I'm trying to push myself a little farther in my post-processing, because I'm starting to see that the "big guys" do a lot of it. Not creating things that weren't there, but really accentuating some interpretations. Guy Tal's e-book on creative processing is helping, too. That's why I included #4; it's clearly not to the level of the others, but it was a learning experience to get it to look like that.
And, sadly, work is going to start interrupting on photography, so most of the time I'll be away but not productive...
Doug: Really? #2 above #7? Interesting. Can I ask why, especially since you give it a "certainly"? I ask partially because I like and respect your work in the Page/Paria area. On #1, I did work on bringing down the lit ridge, both in RAW conversion and in Photoshop itself, but I can try for more.
Kane: Grandview is harder than it looks, I think. I've gone back there a lot, and struggled to find leading lines or something in the close foreground to work the Muench or Adamus style of near/far and just haven't ever gotten it. I certainly don't think this is the best possible composition, but I'm addicted to stitched panos at the moment, so... I shot wider than this and cut off the left and right sides until it seemed to stick together. Especially given John's comment, I'm tempted to work on the lower half, particularly the lower right half, so that the upper left doesn't overwhelm the rest of the frame.
Thanks for the comments, everyone.
In 7, I liked how the lightning bolt goes to the sunlit spot, and the draws feeding to the left into the light. To me, the negative is the lack of color and light in/on the canyons fingers. Although natural, the brightness near the sun on the left edge is a drawback to me as my eye goes there to the bright area and away from the rim. Perhaps I would see this differently viewed bigger and against black to see the details and colors.
I've tried to bring down the lit cliffs just a little bit, as suggested.
I've tried to incorporate the suggestions, without forcing it too far. Thanks again for the comments.
Doug, thanks for taking the time to explain your preferences. I think there's an element of ...grace, perhaps, that is easier to see in [2] than [7], with [7] being so flashy. Now, looking back, I wish I'd shot it with a little wider lens to get in more of the foreground elements. At the time, I wanted to get tight on the cloud itself. Now it feels a little cramped. I still like the light on the left-hand cliffs, though.
If you're still following the thread, let me know what you think of the re-workings.
For those of you who asked to see larger versions, check out:
http://markhespenheide.com/landscape/utah/demo.html
It's only a quick-and-dirty page, but it's there. These are 20" wide on a black background.
Your rework of 'Sunrise Thunderstorm' is absolutely perfect, and is especially notable in the larger version.
Your reworking of 7 really gives it a marked and noticeable improvement. It's one to enjoy looking at the details in the canyon edge. The last of the sunlight into the canyon is much more noticeable too.
With #2, you might try and see if you like: increase the midtone contrast a little, then increasing the brightness to bring it back to the previous observed amount, and then an image polish of 10/50/0, all to give contrast and pop to the cliffs.