Landscape C & C

[Rosshole]

From a summer backpacking trip to RMNP. Thoughts?

 

[tirediron]

I like the scene, but the shadow image right is a bit annoying.

 

[Rosshole]

Agreed, I had a difficult time with the very harsh sun that is common at high altitudes (11,000+ where this was taken) so I may do some more post on it to attemp to level off the exposure a bit more.

 

[KmH]

2 exposures. One for the sky and sunit portion of the photo, the second for the shadowed portion of the mountains and lake.

Blend the 2 in Photoshop.

I would not have the waterline at the Middle of the frame. In this case I would crop away a portion of the lake foreground.

 

[Futurelight]

I agree with tirediron. It is a lovely scene, however, without the mirrored perfection on the water, the composition is a little lost and the shadow across the image just takes away the granduer. All I will suggest is maybe finding a better time to take the shot. Was the sun at it's peak then? At it's highest point in the sky? If it was, then it's very unfortunate. If not, then simply go back for the right time. Once it's all lit, you will see the improvement straight away. Timing is everything Hope this helps and keep shooting!

 

[Rosshole]

So both of you would remove the lake? Interesting.

 

[KmH]

From a summer backpacking trip to RMNP. Thoughts?

 

[Rosshole]

Yeah, I don't like shift in aspect ratio, and obivously working from the raw file will make it look much better too.

I like the origonal symmetry.

 

[D-B-J]

From a summer backpacking trip to RMNP. Thoughts?

Exactly what i was thinking.

 

[fjrabon]

From a summer backpacking trip to RMNP. Thoughts?

I get that this was just a rough, quick photoshop job to show him what you were talking about, but I really don't like that this made the snow that was in the shadows brighter than the snow that was in the sun. I think it'd take a lot of really tedious miniscule work to get the effect you're after in photoshop without it looking really fake like it does here. Just my noob opinion though. Also, if you're doing that to the top, you have to mirror the effect in the lake, which will be really annoying because the lake makes it to where it will be two separate jobs you're trying to match by eye.

 

[Rosshole]

I will say that the best thing might be a reshoot, a difficult location to get to, but worth the effort.

 

[fjrabon]

I will say that the best thing might be a reshoot, a difficult location to get to, but worth the effort.

Yeah, awesome framing and location. Like you, I love the hour glass symmetry thing going on here.

What time of day did you originally take it? might be a good candidate for pre-sunrise. Usually that will provide the most calm water, and the "bowl" will be more evenly lit as you won't have any direct sunlight entering.

 

[Rosshole]

This was at about 7am. If I do go again, it will also be witha wider angle lens. This was shot with the 18-55 kit lens... keeping the wieght down for the hike in.

 

[KmH]

I get that this was just a rough, quick photoshop job to show him what you were talking about, but I really don't like that this made the snow that was in the shadows brighter than the snow that was in the sun. I think it'd take a lot of really tedious miniscule work to get the effect you're after in photoshop without it looking really fake like it does here. Just my noob opinion though. Also, if you're doing that to the top, you have to mirror the effect in the lake, which will be really annoying because the lake makes it to where it will be two separate jobs you're trying to match by eye.

That's why I suggested 2 exposures. The white point on each of the two could be made the same so there wouldn't be any "really tedious miniscule work".

As it is in his original, the shadowed snow is no where close to being white.

An issue I didn't address is the white balance in the shaded portion is different (cold, having a bluish color cast), than the white balance in the sunlit portion (warm).

 

[fjrabon]

That's why I suggested 2 exposures. The white point on each of the two could be made the same so there wouldn't be any "really tedious miniscule work".

As it is in his original, the shadowed snow is no where close to being white.

An issue I didn't address is the white balance in the shaded portion is different (cold, having a bluish color cast), than the white balance in the sunlit portion (warm).

To me, the ultimate problem lies in the fact that it's going to be impossible to make it look both properly exposed and natural. From the angles of the shadows, it's pretty obvious that most of the bowl should be darker, to look natural. Even if you do the two exposures, where the snow is exactly technically even on each, it will look like the snow in the bowl is of a different sort, because it will be 'brighter than it should look in the shadows." That was what I though looked unnatural in the photoshopped version, everything looked brighter than it should look, based ont he other visual cues the photograph gave me. While the bowl was obviously better lit, it just looked weird to me, like it was almost giving off its own light, because the way the shadows were make it seem like it should be much darker than it is. I think this sort of technique would work if the amount of shadow wasn't more obvious from the cues the picture gives. It's kind of like how I feel when people make photos that, based on the shadows, were obviously shot mid day, and make the light look golden, like it was sunset. Even though just going by a meter and taking readings, everything looks fine, it gives me an uneasy, unnatural feeling when I see that done.