I took this on the same night as Canyon Sketches as the clouds started to break up. This is the remnant. Had they stuck around for just another hour this could have been an incredible sunset. By the time the sun actually set all of these clouds were long gone - gotta love West Texas .
This is another image from Palo Duro Canyon. I often struggle to find good comps here but I keep trying.
I'm not sure if this works or not. I like the way that the foreground feature reaches out to the viewer but I'm not sure if this translates well enough or if it just blends in to the background.
All honest comments and critiques are welcome about everything from the composition to processing.
D700
21 mm
f16; 1/5 sec
ISO 200
Processing:
Dust Bunny Removal using content aware healing brush.
2 Separate curves layers - one to darken the sky with the foreground masked out and the other to brighten the foreground with the sky masked out.
Tony Kuyper's luminosity masks using the lights and Wide Mid-Tone Channels with curves applied to each at reduced opacity.
Sean Bagshaw's Edge Definition High Pass filter to add contrast along edges at reduced opacity.
TK's vibrance and saturation masks and smart glow filter at reduced opacity.
I know all about clouds not sticking around..... It is a good shot of a good location. I find canyons hard to photograph. I have tried at both Palo Duro and Caprock with little success at either one.
If the clouds were there i'd maybe go wider on the lens or if windy use a nd to blur them, but not sure what you could do beyond that.
I like this scene Brian, there is a lot of detail to enjoy throughout, particularly in the large image. Your processing looks really good too.
In my opinion the even light is robbing this scene of some additional fine contrast, contrast that could be provided with side light. Not sure if this location ever gets sidelit as it appears you are shooting pretty much west. Neat location, thanks for sharing.
Quite a processing menu and most of which I do not have the capability to purchase or learn... grins.
I wonder how much of processing is duplicated with other programs.
Do you have an information on the uniqueness of Kuyper's stuff. I've watched his presentations and it would appear the Nikon Capture NX2 will do most of what he proposes with his stuff. But I don't own the programs for comparison.
Perhaps someone else could chime in on this question???
Larry, I don't have the Nikon Capture NX2 software for comparison. My understanding is that this is just a RAW conversion software so I assume it is similar to Adobe Camera Raw which I use as my RAW converter. If this is accurate, Tony's actions work using layer masks in Photoshop which offer more control and the benefit of working with layers which do not permanently change the base image and can be deleted at any time if you decide you no longer like the effect or if your processing skills have improved and you know how to improve the image. You might hear this referred to as a non-destructive workflow because any changes that you make do not affect the bottom layer image provided that you make the changes with layers and masks.
Basically, Tony has created actions which use built in functionality in Photoshop to make the steps a little more efficient and easy to use. It is entirely possible to use the tools that Tony has developed with a manual process but it is more time consuming and takes a while to get your arms around. I'm not sure how familiar you are with Photoshop actions but an action is similar to a macro in a Microsoft application if that helps - basically it just automates a step by step process that you use routinely. I have found Tony's actions to be well worth the cost but to get the benefit from them you will need to have an understanding of how to use layers and masks in Photoshop as well as curves adjustments.
The luminosity masks use the existing channel masks in Photoshop to create a mask based on the various tonal values in the image. You then use this mask with the existing layer adjustments in Photoshop such as curves or levels. This gives you more control over adjustments that you make because you can target specific tonalities within the image (ie: bright highlights, midtones, or shadow areas). The saturation masks also select specific values based on the amount of saturation in certain colors so that when you make a saturation adjustment it doesn't affect areas that are already saturated as much compared to a global saturation adjustment.
Honestly, I started working with Photoshop with no background at all - and I still have a lot to learn. It can be intimidating at first but now that I know more of what some of the functions do I am not as intimidated. If you are interested in learning more I would recommend some video tutorials by NPN photographer Sean Bagshaw. He offers three different tutorial sets beginning with the basics. I would start here as this will lay a foundation for the more detailed tutorials. I have purchased all three tutorials, and while it is a bit pricey if you buy all three, I find video tutorials to be the best way to learn because you can actually see what he is doing and what effect it is having on the image. It's one thing to know how to create a curves adjustment layer but another thing all together to know what to do with it once you have created it. He shows you how to do this. I feel like the tutorials are easy to follow and his teaching style is very good as well - he doesn't talk over your head. He discusses how to use Tony Kuyper's luminosity masks in the "Processing for Extended Dynamic Range" tutorial and he walks you through how to create the masks manually as well. But again I would recommend that you start with the "Photoshop Basics for Nature Photographers" tutorial. He has made some revisions to the tutorial since I purchased it. I noticed this on a blog post that he had made on the Photo Cascadia website where he was discussing a specific adjustment which he had added to his tutorials. When I asked about a particular step and mentioned that I had purchased the tutorials before they were revised he was nice enough to send a link so that I could download the updated tutorial. So I can say that my experience has been very positive.
Discussion
4 repliesThis is another image from Palo Duro Canyon. I often struggle to find good comps here but I keep trying.
I'm not sure if this works or not. I like the way that the foreground feature reaches out to the viewer but I'm not sure if this translates well enough or if it just blends in to the background.
All honest comments and critiques are welcome about everything from the composition to processing.
D700
21 mm
f16; 1/5 sec
ISO 200
Processing:
Dust Bunny Removal using content aware healing brush.
2 Separate curves layers - one to darken the sky with the foreground masked out and the other to brighten the foreground with the sky masked out.
Tony Kuyper's luminosity masks using the lights and Wide Mid-Tone Channels with curves applied to each at reduced opacity.
Sean Bagshaw's Edge Definition High Pass filter to add contrast along edges at reduced opacity.
TK's vibrance and saturation masks and smart glow filter at reduced opacity.
If the clouds were there i'd maybe go wider on the lens or if windy use a nd to blur them, but not sure what you could do beyond that.
In my opinion the even light is robbing this scene of some additional fine contrast, contrast that could be provided with side light. Not sure if this location ever gets sidelit as it appears you are shooting pretty much west. Neat location, thanks for sharing.
I wonder how much of processing is duplicated with other programs.
Do you have an information on the uniqueness of Kuyper's stuff. I've watched his presentations and it would appear the Nikon Capture NX2 will do most of what he proposes with his stuff. But I don't own the programs for comparison.
Perhaps someone else could chime in on this question???
the fisch
Basically, Tony has created actions which use built in functionality in Photoshop to make the steps a little more efficient and easy to use. It is entirely possible to use the tools that Tony has developed with a manual process but it is more time consuming and takes a while to get your arms around. I'm not sure how familiar you are with Photoshop actions but an action is similar to a macro in a Microsoft application if that helps - basically it just automates a step by step process that you use routinely. I have found Tony's actions to be well worth the cost but to get the benefit from them you will need to have an understanding of how to use layers and masks in Photoshop as well as curves adjustments.
The luminosity masks use the existing channel masks in Photoshop to create a mask based on the various tonal values in the image. You then use this mask with the existing layer adjustments in Photoshop such as curves or levels. This gives you more control over adjustments that you make because you can target specific tonalities within the image (ie: bright highlights, midtones, or shadow areas). The saturation masks also select specific values based on the amount of saturation in certain colors so that when you make a saturation adjustment it doesn't affect areas that are already saturated as much compared to a global saturation adjustment.
Honestly, I started working with Photoshop with no background at all - and I still have a lot to learn. It can be intimidating at first but now that I know more of what some of the functions do I am not as intimidated. If you are interested in learning more I would recommend some video tutorials by NPN photographer Sean Bagshaw. He offers three different tutorial sets beginning with the basics. I would start here as this will lay a foundation for the more detailed tutorials. I have purchased all three tutorials, and while it is a bit pricey if you buy all three, I find video tutorials to be the best way to learn because you can actually see what he is doing and what effect it is having on the image. It's one thing to know how to create a curves adjustment layer but another thing all together to know what to do with it once you have created it. He shows you how to do this. I feel like the tutorials are easy to follow and his teaching style is very good as well - he doesn't talk over your head. He discusses how to use Tony Kuyper's luminosity masks in the "Processing for Extended Dynamic Range" tutorial and he walks you through how to create the masks manually as well. But again I would recommend that you start with the "Photoshop Basics for Nature Photographers" tutorial. He has made some revisions to the tutorial since I purchased it. I noticed this on a blog post that he had made on the Photo Cascadia website where he was discussing a specific adjustment which he had added to his tutorials. When I asked about a particular step and mentioned that I had purchased the tutorials before they were revised he was nice enough to send a link so that I could download the updated tutorial. So I can say that my experience has been very positive.