Mt. Ranier - First attempt at HDR. C&C please...

[brazilnutjr]

Thanks Dom, for adjusting the picture. May I ask how you tweaked it, so I can learn? I am guessing you did a slight color correction, with maybe a light gradient to darken the sky and mountain?
I appreciate the help!

 

[brazilnutjr]

I love Mt Rainer... Was that a Sulfur stream?

I'm not sure if it is a sulfur stream or not. I walked through some woods to get the shot and I didn't see any signs. (I'm from Alabama, so what I don't know about Mr. Ranier could fill a book) What caught my attention was the strong orange color of the stream and I thought it would make a nice picture with the mountain in the background.

 

[Dominantly]

So when I edit something like this, I try and break it up into different sections, and then edit them independently.

SO I would use layers, and I would create one for the mountain itself, and the rock foreground. Sometimes I do the same for the sky, but in this case the sky looked a good shade of blue.
The whole key to this stuff is the masking, or the isolation of the parts that you wish to edit. ESPECIALLY when you have trees/plants involved. Masking that tree line off to edit the sky (leaving the tree be), would be a PIA.

So I use a program by Topaz called Remask 2 (Topaz ReMask - Masking Made Easy). It makes masking as easy as possible and saves time.

I opened the photo in PS Elements, then made two copies.The top copy was opened in remask to remove the mountain from everything else. Then the middle layer was used to isolate the rocks, and the bottom stayed whole.
I then just used the levels tool to increase the contrast and white balance a bit... nothing big, just enough to lose some of the dullness. I did a little contrast tweak to the rocks, and then flattened the image.
Took less then 10mins....

 

[Mulewings~]

Topaz really rocks...it has some great time saving features.

Thanks for the explanation. It really helps everyone else learn.

 

[brazilnutjr]

So when I edit something like this, I try and break it up into different sections, and then edit them independently.

SO I would use layers, and I would create one for the mountain itself, and the rock foreground. Sometimes I do the same for the sky, but in this case the sky looked a good shade of blue.
The whole key to this stuff is the masking, or the isolation of the parts that you wish to edit. ESPECIALLY when you have trees/plants involved. Masking that tree line off to edit the sky (leaving the tree be), would be a PIA.

So I use a program by Topaz called Remask 2 (Topaz ReMask - Masking Made Easy). It makes masking as easy as possible and saves time.

I opened the photo in PS Elements, then made two copies.The top copy was opened in remask to remove the mountain from everything else. Then the middle layer was used to isolate the rocks, and the bottom stayed whole.
I then just used the levels tool to increase the contrast and white balance a bit... nothing big, just enough to lose some of the dullness. I did a little contrast tweak to the rocks, and then flattened the image.
Took less then 10mins....

Thank you for the detailed explanation. I'll try to get ahold of remask. I probably have some more photos that could be made to look half way decent. So, I look forward to practicing with the layers. Thanks again!

 

[Dominantly]

The Topaz bundle is very powerful and free to try for 90 days with no strings attached.

 

[Pugs]

I've got to say how wonderful it is to see someone take criticism constructively and then actively seek to learn!