Posted by Karl Buiter on January 9, 2013 at 3:02 AM
Hey! This Vegas guy - after thousands of miles to Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and California - finally got to the Valley of Fire. Its just an hour away from my front door.
It was a good sky setup Sunday. Banded clouds overhead and blue sky to the southwest. A took a run out there specifically to find Fire Wave. And these days, that is rather easy to find given the two dozen or so reflective carsonite signs along the trail.
So here is the shot (see Larger Photo). I'll likely do another edit from scratch this weekend so looking for critiques. I know about the slight vignette remaining from the Lee on the 21mm (thin stepdown as well) And damn, I am thinking more about getting a TS-E these days. I like the slight reflection of sun in the depths of the wave. Most likely out there again when the sky looks promising.
This is a great image. The curved lines in the foreground really pulls the veiwer in. The middle ground seems just a bit dark to me, but over all a nice shot. Well done.
Posted by Richard Olsen on January 9, 2013 at 9:19 AM
Sweet image Karl! I love VoF!
Posted by Doug Koepsel on January 9, 2013 at 9:55 AM
This is a little different perspective than what one normally sees; it puts more attention on the wave. As Greg mentions, the middle ground looks a little dark. I might lighten that and the wave, and then add some local contrast 10/50/0 USM to the wave so the nice foreground curves stand out more. I do not think I would add the image polish/contrast to the far ridge though. Maybe paint the blown sky parts some.
Posted by Ken Henke on January 9, 2013 at 12:25 PM
Really like the perspective on this image. I do agree with Doug that the blown highlights should be controlled. A good example of an image requiring some form of blending is necessary to capture that exposure range.
Posted by Bob Miller on January 9, 2013 at 2:59 PM
Looks like a good start Karl. I think the others have given some good advice for the processing. I'm sure it will be killer after some tweaking. Peter and I were talking about a trip up your way this winter/spring. We'll get with you when we have a better idea about the dates.
Posted by Karl Buiter on January 9, 2013 at 4:49 PM
Excellent suggestions everyone. I figured I would need to roll out a session with PS to do blends and fix the blow-outs and the vignetting. Great to know I got some good material to start with.
Bob - Absolutely let me know when both you and Peter get out here. Love to see you again. And I know Doug will arrange another Grand Canyon weekend for us this year - right Doug?!
Beyond Valley of Fire, the Gold Butte / Hobgoblin area should be looked at; that area is under pressure to become a National Conservatory Area and access may not be the same in the future. There has been an ongoing local battle about that. And of course we have Death Valley about two hours drive to the west (dodging suicidal bunnies on the highway at 2 am)
In the near-term schedule, I booked the caboose on the Durango & Silverton Winter Photographers Train and Roundhouse Night Shoot again this year over Presidents Day weekend. Dont look for me in Vegas then. However travel to/from may take me through Page or Moab or Bisti or something on the days to and from.
Posted by John Mumaw on January 9, 2013 at 7:32 PM
This has a lot of potential, but I feel that it needs more work as noted by others to achieve it's full potential.
First and foremost fixing the blown skies, and then using the Broom tool to sweep out all of the sand.
I look forward to seeing a repost soon.
Posted by Karl Buiter on January 9, 2013 at 7:55 PM
John - heh,, yep, the sand. I ran into one of the Las Vegas landscape gallery pros while I was out there;- he got most of it smoothed out, but you spotted the remainder. Time to find my own broom. So "Broom Tool" should take care of that? Look for a repost later in the weekend. My weekday evenings are too damn short
Posted by Karl Buiter on January 13, 2013 at 7:33 PM
The repost.
Blended sky with another exposure.
Blended foreground with higher vibrance image (3 vs 15)
Brighter mid-ground.
Vivesa spot adjustments - structure in clouds, etc.
Cleaned up footprints in sand on upper tiers
Minor tuning contrast, etc.
USM 10/50/0.
Thank-you for the ideas! Looks great on the big monitor.
Posted by John Mumaw on January 14, 2013 at 2:18 PM
The sky does look better here, Karl. Cleaning up the footprints was a good idea, too. The midground appears too light to my eye and is taking on an HDR-ish processed look now.
This is probably too far down the queue for others to notice. When you refer to 'Gold Butte/Hobgoblin' area, is that the same as 'Little Finland'? If so, looks like I need to get there soon!
Posted by Karl Buiter on January 14, 2013 at 2:49 PM
Thanks John, I had some of the same thoughts about the middle getting more than it should - primarily in giving more separation the midground and the foreground. I may take another pass; editing is definitely a skill to practice. I have a few other images I have been reworking so maybe I'll do a repost thread.
Yes, "Little Finland" is part of the Gold Butte area. I am not sure if Hobgoblin is an alternate name for Little Finland or another distinct area in the Gold Butte region.
Posted by Karl Buiter on January 15, 2013 at 5:26 AM
One more pass. Effectively reduced midground brightness amp by 1/2 (+10 vs +24); but this is actually a reprocess in detail (more footstep reduction, cleaner horizon line, smoothed out my blending). I'll include this in a later repost set.
Posted by Bill Pelzmann on January 15, 2013 at 12:44 PM
Nice blend on the sky, Karl.
The foreground brightness is a tough call, especially after working on an image intensely.
I always find it helpful to let it "rest" for a week or a month and revisit.
John: Little Finland = Hobgoblin = a small area within the larger Gold Butte area
Posted by Joshua Hardin on January 20, 2013 at 2:07 PM
I like the middle ground on your latest repost, but the sky got a bit brighter and more washed out too. Combine the middle and foreground of the last repost with the sky of the one right before it and I think you have a winner here. Nice!
Posted by Karl Buiter on January 22, 2013 at 11:31 AM
Thanks Joshua,
What you might be picking up is the result of some sky de-noising/smoothing that might have been the wrong direction; plus the distant hill profile does seem a bit brigher. I have a later version where I have brought down the highlights which did bring down the sky and make the ground more pleasant - and likely more natural to the eye. I'll post that as part of a larger repost collection of photos from 2012 soon.
One item I am still working out - the shot just looks crappy when reduced. Yep, I do sharpen or USM. But the small details just get smeared over into blobs of red/brown more than I expect when reduced significantly.I got it as a screen background at higher resolution and it looks so much better.
Delicate balance for sure, as I can see that small changes get different comments.
Discussion
15 repliesIt was a good sky setup Sunday. Banded clouds overhead and blue sky to the southwest. A took a run out there specifically to find Fire Wave. And these days, that is rather easy to find given the two dozen or so reflective carsonite signs along the trail.
So here is the shot (see Larger Photo). I'll likely do another edit from scratch this weekend so looking for critiques. I know about the slight vignette remaining from the Lee on the 21mm (thin stepdown as well) And damn, I am thinking more about getting a TS-E these days. I like the slight reflection of sun in the depths of the wave. Most likely out there again when the sky looks promising.
An hour away. Who knew? ! :)
Bob - Absolutely let me know when both you and Peter get out here. Love to see you again. And I know Doug will arrange another Grand Canyon weekend for us this year - right Doug?!
Beyond Valley of Fire, the Gold Butte / Hobgoblin area should be looked at; that area is under pressure to become a National Conservatory Area and access may not be the same in the future. There has been an ongoing local battle about that. And of course we have Death Valley about two hours drive to the west (dodging suicidal bunnies on the highway at 2 am)
In the near-term schedule, I booked the caboose on the Durango & Silverton Winter Photographers Train and Roundhouse Night Shoot again this year over Presidents Day weekend. Dont look for me in Vegas then. However travel to/from may take me through Page or Moab or Bisti or something on the days to and from.
First and foremost fixing the blown skies, and then using the Broom tool to sweep out all of the sand.
I look forward to seeing a repost soon.
Blended sky with another exposure.
Blended foreground with higher vibrance image (3 vs 15)
Brighter mid-ground.
Vivesa spot adjustments - structure in clouds, etc.
Cleaned up footprints in sand on upper tiers
Minor tuning contrast, etc.
USM 10/50/0.
Thank-you for the ideas! Looks great on the big monitor.
This is probably too far down the queue for others to notice. When you refer to 'Gold Butte/Hobgoblin' area, is that the same as 'Little Finland'? If so, looks like I need to get there soon!
Yes, "Little Finland" is part of the Gold Butte area. I am not sure if Hobgoblin is an alternate name for Little Finland or another distinct area in the Gold Butte region.
The foreground brightness is a tough call, especially after working on an image intensely.
I always find it helpful to let it "rest" for a week or a month and revisit.
John: Little Finland = Hobgoblin = a small area within the larger Gold Butte area
What you might be picking up is the result of some sky de-noising/smoothing that might have been the wrong direction; plus the distant hill profile does seem a bit brigher. I have a later version where I have brought down the highlights which did bring down the sky and make the ground more pleasant - and likely more natural to the eye. I'll post that as part of a larger repost collection of photos from 2012 soon.
One item I am still working out - the shot just looks crappy when reduced. Yep, I do sharpen or USM. But the small details just get smeared over into blobs of red/brown more than I expect when reduced significantly.I got it as a screen background at higher resolution and it looks so much better.
Delicate balance for sure, as I can see that small changes get different comments.