Sunset from another planet

[invisible]

I know that this frame looks borderline cartoonish, but I didn't do anything in post-processing – the file looked cartoonish in camera. The reason: a very difficult scene with harsh light, shot with stacked filters that did not produce the desired result. Thank you, Cokin

While I'm not fond of this HDR-like look, I decided that I don't hate the image (plus it made me work a lot) so I'm sharing it.

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

I like the scene and the way it was photographed. Good warm atmosphere.

The foreground maybe could (maybe) be brought up .25-.75 stops to represent more what the eye would have seen.

Aren't Cokin filters on the cheaper end of filters? You're IQ is only as good as your weakest piece of glass, which I know you know

 

[invisible]

The foreground maybe could (maybe) be brought up .25-.75 stops to represent more what the eye would have seen.

I actually darkened the foreground because I thought that's what made it look HDR in the original file. I'm weird like that But I understand where you're coming from.

Aren't Cokin filters on the cheaper end of filters? You're IQ is only as good as your weakest piece of glass, which I know you know

Cokin filters actually suck big time (at least the few that I still have). The ND filter that I need is back-ordered, unless I'm ready to shell out big bucks, which I'm not at the moment

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

B&W! B&W! My B&W filter has a strange color shift but is fantastic glass, easily corrected with WB adjustment in LR. There's no good reason to be thrifty with filters, it renders good glass moot. Filters are a lifetime investment!

I know what you mean about the HDR. I like the almost silhouettes here, with a tiny bit of detail. But if I was standing at the scene with this much light, I'd imagine I would see more detail/light in the foreground.

 

[invisible]

B&W! B&W! My B&W filter has a strange color shift but is fantastic glass, easily corrected with WB adjustment in LR. There's no good reason to be thrifty with filters, it renders good glass moot. Filters are a lifetime investment!

I thought you were suggesting a B&W conversion! Yes, B+W filters are good. The one I'm looking for is the 10-stopper, MRC version. I had it for a smaller lens that I no longer own, and the step up to 77mm is expensive... so I'm resorting to my old Cokin when I don't have a choice.

I know what you mean about the HDR. I like the almost silhouettes here, with a tiny bit of detail. But if I was standing at the scene with this much light, I'd imagine I would see more detail/light in the foreground.

I agree. I might have gone too far with the darkening of the foreground.

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

I thought you were suggesting a B&W conversion! Yes, B+W filters are good. The one I'm looking for is the 10-stopper, MRC version. I had it for a smaller lens that I no longer own, and the step up to 77mm is expensive... so I'm resorting to my old Cokin when I don't have a choice.

I agree. I might have gone too far with the darkening of the foreground.

Expensive ? Where ? I got my stepup adapter to my 77mm for 3 bucks shipped from amazon :d

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

Oh I think I see what you're saying. I plan to buy all my filters at 77 and just step up if necessary

 

[jake337]

I don't think it looks cartoonish at all. In fact the sunrise this morning had the same glow over the highway on my way to work.


I think that you had some great light to work with.

 

[ineed2shoot]

no processing and using stacked filters now thats a nice idea personally i like the photo and effort put into it, its nice to experiment with the camera its on the little warm side but the sky is 9/10 for cartoonish nice job. Do you mind telling us what coloured filters you used?

 

[skieur]

An interesting shot and great for postprocessing/experimentation. I would change the water colour, add light and possibly change lighting on the rocks to see what the results would look like. There is however nothing wrong with the surrealistic effect.

skieur

 

[invisible]

Oh I think I see what you're saying. I plan to buy all my filters at 77 and just step up if necessary

My old lens had a 67mm filter size, and my new one has a 77mm filter size. I had a 67mm 10-stop ND filter, which is no good with my new lens. Sorry for the confusion.

I don't think it looks cartoonish at all.

Thanks. I do think it looks a bit cartoonish, but then again it might be because that's what I was trying to fix and am not sure if the post-processing work was successful or not.

no processing and using stacked filters now thats a nice idea

My apologies for the confusion again. What I tried to say is that the look was not due to something I did in post, or the use of an HDR-like technique. I did do a fair bit of processing to take the image from where it was to where it's now.

Do you mind telling us what coloured filters you used?

No coloured filters. Just a 3-stop Cokin ND filter and a 3-stop Singh-Ray reverse ND filter.

An interesting shot and great for postprocessing/experimentation. I would change the water colour, add light and possibly change lighting on the rocks to see what the results would look like.

That's just too much for me to do

Thanks all for your feedback!

 

[FanBoy]

Very pretty. :flower:

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

My old lens had a 67mm filter size, and my new one has a 77mm filter size. I had a 67mm 10-stop ND filter, which is no good with my new lens. Sorry for the confusion.

Uh oh! I'm buying all my filters at 77mm because it seems all the best glass with Canon is 77mm thread. I bought it, and stepped up to it. A lot cheaper that way in case you upgrade glass in the future.

 

[invisible]

Uh oh! I'm buying all my filters at 77mm because it seems all the best glass with Canon is 77mm thread. I bought it, and stepped up to it. A lot cheaper that way in case you upgrade glass in the future.

That makes sense. B+W 77mm MRC ND filters set you back quite a bit, though.