First I want to thank all of you for your insight and guidance on photography in the Cedar Mesa region. After a couple last minute changes, we ended up not going there on our vacation...Instead we went to Death Valley From what I have heard, that may have been a good move since it rained most of the week! I have kept all of the great info on Cedar Mesa since I know we will be going at some point in the near future, again, thank you!
Attached please find my first landscape from DV that I have tried to process. I humbly ask for your honest critique, especially on processing. Is it over-baked? The colors were vibrant and it was contrasty, but I don't know if I served it well here. I brought back the blues and cyans since they were over the top in the shadows...too much/little? Thank you!
Posted by Scott Fricke on May 14, 2013 at 11:33 PM
Beautiful image Anne, that sure is a lot of green for Death Valley . I love the color and detail in the clouds and the mountains. I don't see any problems with the blue and cyans and it certainly isn't over-baked to my eye, it looks very natural to me. I look forward to seeing more from your trip.
This is really a fine image with near perfect 'development'.Nothing looks untoward or unnatural to my eye at all.
The dappled light of the mountains combined with the smoother light graduations of the foreground look mighty fine together.
Hopefully, the seemingly overexposed whites in the clouds are only present on this web version.
You captured a great moment here, Anne. Congratulations!
Looks good to me, Anne, even the whites and i think my monitor is pretty well calibrated (hint to John ) I might bring the overall brightness up just a tiny bit. Real pretty!
Thank you so much! Scott I was as surprised as anyone to find this green area and wildflowers!! It was exciting!
John, the whites are all there. I am going to play with the main cloud blob in the middle. It isn't over exposed, but there aren't really any details, either. I think I can tease a little more out with more work.
Stan, I was thinking the same thing after I saw it today online, so I will look into lightening it up a little.
THanks, Jeremy!
Checking the histogram, I see that the whites are indeed held in check. And I agree with Stan that the foreground alone could use some brightening or 'pop'. I'm also looking forward to seeing more from your trip.
Posted by Anne K. Rusk on May 18, 2013 at 10:50 AM
Thanks, Kane and John! I will work on popping the foreground a little! I really appreciate your feedback!
That is some sweet light, Anne. And, add one more for just a little more out of the foreground, but not too much. It does look very natural in tonal ranges to me. And, coupled with a wonderful scene, it works very well!
Discussion
10 repliesAttached please find my first landscape from DV that I have tried to process. I humbly ask for your honest critique, especially on processing. Is it over-baked? The colors were vibrant and it was contrasty, but I don't know if I served it well here. I brought back the blues and cyans since they were over the top in the shadows...too much/little? Thank you!
The dappled light of the mountains combined with the smoother light graduations of the foreground look mighty fine together.
Hopefully, the seemingly overexposed whites in the clouds are only present on this web version.
You captured a great moment here, Anne. Congratulations!
John, the whites are all there. I am going to play with the main cloud blob in the middle. It isn't over exposed, but there aren't really any details, either. I think I can tease a little more out with more work.
Stan, I was thinking the same thing after I saw it today online, so I will look into lightening it up a little.
THanks, Jeremy!