Hi! I'm new to Nature Photographers and this RMNP forum. I am an amateur landscape photographer with an interest in learning everything I can! I am joining this forum because I live in the region and do most of my shooting in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Attached is a photo that I took almost three weeks ago in Rocky Mountain National Park. I took this photo with my Nikon D5100 and Tokina 11-16 mm lens mounted on a Targus tripod.
Details:
1/10 sec
f/22
13 mm
ISO 100
I have made fairly minimal edits in Lightroom that focused mostly on getting the bright area above the sunstar to look more attractive. I'm very interested to hear any feedback on the composition itself and my editing. If anyone has suggestions for regaining some of this blown-out highlight area above the sunstar, I would love to hear them!
Thank you so much for your time!
Posted by Bret Edge on February 14, 2014 at 10:12 AM
Welcome to RMNP, Crystal! Overall, I think this is a very well done photo. Composition is good, the subject matter is beautiful and your processing has resulted in an image with natural colors and tones. I have only two suggestions: the area of blown sky above the sunstar is a bit distracting and could have been remedied with a multiple exposure blend to retain color in the sky around the sun and the position of the sunstar is pretty close to the trees. Perhaps a bit more distance between the two, if possible. Those are minor nits of an otherwise excellent photo, though. Look forward to seeing more!
Posted by Morris McClung on February 14, 2014 at 10:50 AM
Bret's suggestions are dead on for me as well. It would also have been interesting to put the sun-star between the two trees on the left and put them on the left thirds line of the frame as another option. Still, as Bret said, your white balance makes for a lovely natural looking winter scene. Welcome, and keep them coming.
Posted by Anne K. Rusk on February 14, 2014 at 12:32 PM
Welcome, Crystal! I really like the scene you captured here! It looks beautifully still and cold. The sun star is a nice touch. Without blending, I think you did an excellent job of keeping the exposure in check. Well done!
Posted by Erik Stensland on February 14, 2014 at 12:34 PM
Crystal, I'm glad you found your way here. This is an amazing group of people and the advice they have given so far is excellent.
Posted by Jared Warren on February 14, 2014 at 5:08 PM
Hi Crystal! I was going to recommend this group to you - glad you found your way here!
This is a very nice image - comp looks good to me and the tones are natural. You've followed the "rule" of placing the horizon 2/3 up, but since there's not much going on in the sky I might crop out a little more of the sky. I concur with the other comments as well. Keep these coming!
Posted by John Mumaw on February 14, 2014 at 6:41 PM
Welcome!
This is a fine winter composition! The sunstar is just right, complementing rather than overpowering the image. Love that shaft of light on the right, too. I think you did a great job in controlling the exposure and not having any lens flares present. Using a darker exposed image to blend in here would have been possible but quite complicated. The blown sky is not distracting to me, which is actually quite rare. I agree with Jared in cropping the sky down as far as you feel comfortable with.
Looking forward to seeing more of your work here!
Posted by Bill Pelzmann on February 14, 2014 at 8:46 PM
Welcome, Crystal !
A fine composition and exposure. One of the few instances where f22 is justified.
Once those highlights are blown, there's no hope for recovery, however I'm always amazed at how much can be recovered from a RAW file with the Lightroom highlight recovery slider, I'm assuming you maxed that ?
In the future you may want to try your hand at blending two exposures, or using a graduated neutral density filter.
I'm looking forward to seeing more from RMNP.
Posted by Bob Falcone on February 15, 2014 at 10:51 AM
Hi, Crystal!
I think everything suggestion that could be made has been made of your wonderful photo, so I'll just welcome you here and hope to see you here often.
Thank you all so much for the helpful comments! Exposure blending is something I need to learn and will work on for future photos like this. I really appreciate the time you have taken to provide critiques and I look forward to becoming a regular contributor.
Posted by Todd Caudle on February 16, 2014 at 12:01 PM
The sky above the sunstar doesn't bother me one bit, as it reflects what it likely looked like to the naked eye. It almost looks like backlit ice crystals being illuminated from behind. I like that. Overall, an exceptional image, and a darn good introduction to your work here on the forum.
Posted by Paul DeCesare on February 17, 2014 at 12:46 AM
Welcome Crystal! I did a sneaky thing: I went and looked at your website and your 500px gallery, and I encourage others in this forum to do the same. You have some VERY well done images, you're definitely above "amateur looking to learn stuff", lol! Super glad you joined up.
Posted by Debbie Yarra on February 17, 2014 at 10:04 AM
Hi Crystal, welcome to our great forum! I've been here for two years and I do not get to post a lot but this group is a fantastic bunch of really talented people who are so willing to share their knowledge. You will learn a lot! I like your image very much. If it were mine I might have cropped down from the sky a bit and possibly shifted my perspective a bit to have the sun between the trees but then I might have fallen off a cliff ! Anyway I think the processing is good. I look forward to looking at your web.
Posted by Kurt Bowman on February 18, 2014 at 2:51 AM
Welcome to RMNP forum. I think you will find a lot of helpful critiques from this group. I know they have taught me a ton. I like the comp on the image as is and agree with others comments about blending exposures.
Posted by Doug Koepsel on February 18, 2014 at 3:09 AM
Welcome. I like the composition, sunstar and light though the icy/snowy sky (as Todd noted). The only thing I find a little distracting is the broken snow in the foreground and wish it was smooth. Looks like you did a good job with the flare.
I followed Paul's lead and also encourage others to check out Crystal's website! If your bio is at all current you have a great future in front of you and I too look forward to seeing more of your work.
Posted by Stan Rose on February 21, 2014 at 5:57 PM
Hi Crystal, welcome to NPN and RMNP! I agree with the others here, this is a terrific shot and makes me yearn to get out there.
I'll expand on Doug's comment which I agree with. When you shoot from a very popular spot, like this overlook which is almost as often-photographed as the lake itself, conditions are king. You got great atmosphere here, but you were too late or the timing wasnt right for a clean foreground. In cases like this, my best advice is to think out of the box and move--a few steps away from the overlook and you might have had clean snow to work with, but with the same faulous conditions.
Look forward to seeing more from you.
Thank you for the suggestions, Stan! This was taken far below the actual overlook where the winter shortcut trail passes below the summer trail. However, I agree that the foreground would have been better if clean. There just wasn't any more of the slope available for me to shoot from! Perhaps I should have included less foreground and more of the valley below?
Posted by Stan Rose on February 22, 2014 at 5:13 PM
Perhaps I should have included less foreground and more of the valley below?
Maybe. or maybe just focus on one tree, or turn 180 degrees around...
the moral is to never lock yourself into a particular scene just because you're blown away by it--you have to keep in mind that the viewer is not there with you, they're just going to end up with a 2d photo in their heated room. I always have to remind myself of this in the field, cause it's real easy to forget!
Discussion
19 repliesDetails:
1/10 sec
f/22
13 mm
ISO 100
I have made fairly minimal edits in Lightroom that focused mostly on getting the bright area above the sunstar to look more attractive. I'm very interested to hear any feedback on the composition itself and my editing. If anyone has suggestions for regaining some of this blown-out highlight area above the sunstar, I would love to hear them!
Thank you so much for your time!
This is a very nice image - comp looks good to me and the tones are natural. You've followed the "rule" of placing the horizon 2/3 up, but since there's not much going on in the sky I might crop out a little more of the sky. I concur with the other comments as well. Keep these coming!
This is a fine winter composition! The sunstar is just right, complementing rather than overpowering the image. Love that shaft of light on the right, too. I think you did a great job in controlling the exposure and not having any lens flares present. Using a darker exposed image to blend in here would have been possible but quite complicated. The blown sky is not distracting to me, which is actually quite rare. I agree with Jared in cropping the sky down as far as you feel comfortable with.
Looking forward to seeing more of your work here!
A fine composition and exposure. One of the few instances where f22 is justified.
Once those highlights are blown, there's no hope for recovery, however I'm always amazed at how much can be recovered from a RAW file with the Lightroom highlight recovery slider, I'm assuming you maxed that ?
In the future you may want to try your hand at blending two exposures, or using a graduated neutral density filter.
I'm looking forward to seeing more from RMNP.
I think everything suggestion that could be made has been made of your wonderful photo, so I'll just welcome you here and hope to see you here often.
I'll expand on Doug's comment which I agree with. When you shoot from a very popular spot, like this overlook which is almost as often-photographed as the lake itself, conditions are king. You got great atmosphere here, but you were too late or the timing wasnt right for a clean foreground. In cases like this, my best advice is to think out of the box and move--a few steps away from the overlook and you might have had clean snow to work with, but with the same faulous conditions.
Look forward to seeing more from you.
Maybe. or maybe just focus on one tree, or turn 180 degrees around...
the moral is to never lock yourself into a particular scene just because you're blown away by it--you have to keep in mind that the viewer is not there with you, they're just going to end up with a 2d photo in their heated room. I always have to remind myself of this in the field, cause it's real easy to forget!