Posted by Doug Koepsel on April 28, 2012 at 4:40 PM
The channel into the upper end of Lake May near Flagstaff makes a nice serpentine s-curve. An image by Joel Hazelton inspired me to make a drive last Sunday, as the combination of lake level and afternoon clouds seemed to be favorable.
I noticed that the sky being reflected in the left s-bend appears brighter than the sky above, even though this is a single image. Time for a paint brush?
I kept a very tiny amount of foreground detail instead of a solid black silhouette.
Comments and suggestions are welcome.
Nice curve in the foreground. I like that you let the hills drop out into silhouette. I think I would crop down from the top a little so the far hill wasn't so centered.
Posted by Peter Coskun on April 28, 2012 at 10:03 PM
I remember seeing this curve last time I was around Lake Mary and thought with the right light an amazing image could be taken. Both you and Joel have captured the scene perfectly. I think you could even take about an inch off the top.
Doug, I really like this shot. Just love the perfect s-shape steam in the foreground. It shows on my monitor a bit too dark but it could be a callibration thing.
Posted by Doug Koepsel on April 29, 2012 at 2:27 PM
Thanks for the suggestions.
Kane, I had originally processed it dark, but revisted it and added some brightness sans the UL sky.
Michael and Peter, I originally noticed the 50/50 split, but chose having the added clouds over the cropping sky to avoid the split. I will look at it again.
This one is just too dark for my taste, Doug.
In the following post, I used my default Shadow/Highlight settings (30, 30, 100) to produce what I thought was a bit better rendering. Seemed to be especially helpful in the rightmost curve of the water. Also, this was posted with no color space tagged onto it.
A few tweaks here and there would make it better, but you get the idea.
Posted by Jack Brauer on April 30, 2012 at 11:53 AM
Gorgeous shot, Doug! The S curve is very elegant, and the wild sunset puts it over the top. I definitely prefer the original post... love those rich blacks. No need for detail there.
Posted by Grant Collier on April 30, 2012 at 4:09 PM
Thank you again for the suggestions. I lightened the foreground some, lightened the right channel bend a little more, and darkened the left bend. I decided not to crop the sky as it felt bottom heavy and lost the breathing room, imo, when I tried the crop.
Hopefully others will notice the repost.
Looks almost exactly the same as the first, Doug. The left bend does look a shade darker.
If you do nothing else, I hope you'll brighten that right bend so it will show the gorgeous sunset cloud colors as my attempt did.
I think that's a lot better, Doug.
Hey, I like deep blacks in an image as much as the next person, but not when half of it is such. Just a glimmer of detail as you have here does the trick. Now, the proof is in the print!
Discussion
16 repliesI noticed that the sky being reflected in the left s-bend appears brighter than the sky above, even though this is a single image. Time for a paint brush?
I kept a very tiny amount of foreground detail instead of a solid black silhouette.
Comments and suggestions are welcome.
Large image provided.
Kane, I had originally processed it dark, but revisted it and added some brightness sans the UL sky.
Michael and Peter, I originally noticed the 50/50 split, but chose having the added clouds over the cropping sky to avoid the split. I will look at it again.
In the following post, I used my default Shadow/Highlight settings (30, 30, 100) to produce what I thought was a bit better rendering. Seemed to be especially helpful in the rightmost curve of the water. Also, this was posted with no color space tagged onto it.
Looks almost exactly the same as the first, Doug. The left bend does look a shade darker.
If you do nothing else, I hope you'll brighten that right bend so it will show the gorgeous sunset cloud colors as my attempt did.
Hey, I like deep blacks in an image as much as the next person, but not when half of it is such. Just a glimmer of detail as you have here does the trick. Now, the proof is in the print!