Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: kbolin on March 28, 2006, 11:18:22 pm

Title: Valley of Fire
Post by: kbolin on March 28, 2006, 11:18:22 pm
My wife & I were in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago and took a trip to the Valley of Fire.  During our travels the day was mostly overcast and a bit rainy and then the clouds started to break up with sunny patches... may favorite.

I took a series of shots and stiched this together but haven't convinced myself that its done yet.  The foreground is a bit darker as it was in the cloudy/rainy area (right where I was getting soaked) where the background was caught by the sunshine.

So I thought before I printed it... 11x43" I would seek some comments by you.

Thanks,
Kelly

[attachment=366:attachment]
Title: Valley of Fire
Post by: Tim Gray on March 29, 2006, 08:59:02 am
I think it's worth a big print.  2 suggestions - first see what it looks like with a bit more of the bottom cropped off, to just below the road (minor suggestion).  The main suggestion has to do with the top right corner, the eye is drawn to the light sky and just leaves the frame.  I'd try a duplicate layer, mode = multiply to darken that corner and then mask out the rest of the image which is fine.
Title: Valley of Fire
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on March 29, 2006, 10:36:20 am
I like Tim's suggestions. Personally, I would also increase the local contrast a little to give a bit more punch.

Eric
Title: Valley of Fire
Post by: C4D on March 29, 2006, 12:52:28 pm
Valley of Fire has always been one of my personal favorite photo locations, lots to see and explore and has a nice Mars atmosphere.

I agree with the suggestion above, the image could use a contrast kick
Really like the dramatic sky you captured here, almost looks like a rain storm on the left side of the frame

nice pano work, should make a great print
Title: Valley of Fire
Post by: kbolin on March 30, 2006, 10:27:36 am
Thanks everyone... i kicked up the contrast a bit and darkened the sky a bit in the top right corner as Tim suggested.  I have printed it on Premium Luster to get a sense of how the photo will look and my wife loves it.  

I plan on printing again on some sort of Matte paper to give the photo some depth.  Any Suggestions?  I have an Epson 2200.

Thanks,
Kelly
Title: Valley of Fire
Post by: benInMA on March 31, 2006, 02:06:25 pm
The horizon looks crooked to me.   Now I can't tell if you had the camera crooked, or the landscape is actually like that and the camera was level.

I have noticed this in some of my own photos and I never know what to do, leave it correct, which makes it look crooked, or straighten it out for the viewer who has never seen the real scene.
Title: Valley of Fire
Post by: kbolin on March 31, 2006, 03:55:14 pm
I thought the same thing about the horizon but two things make me leave it as is:
1) I know I leveled the tripod and camera.
2) I think it's a bit of perception in the image.  With the larger rocks, etc on the left and that formation drifting away from you as you go from left to right.
Title: Valley of Fire
Post by: alainbriot on March 31, 2006, 04:25:06 pm
Another option: