Blue Lake

[JeffKohn]

Spent a week in the Sierra Nevada mountains in mid-July. Our first stop was for a few days in Bishop. These two are from a hike up to Blue Lake.



Blue Lake



Log Jam, Blue Lake

[wolfnowl]

Spent a week in the Sierra Nevada mountains in mid-July. Our first stop was for a few days in Bishop. These two are from a hike up to Blue Lake.

The B&W one seems a little harsh to me, too much contrast perhaps, but I like the colour one.

Mike.

[jasonrandolph]

Nice crisp detail in both.  I'm not as turned off by the B&W as Mike, but I usually favor high contrast images.  However, I too prefer the color image.  Pleasing compositions on both.

[Rob C]

Dem beavers bin bizzy.

;-)

Rob C

[John R]

I like them both. I see the high contrast BW as a "style", which is as good as any other, when the image works. Both look great to me.

JMR

[JeffKohn]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

I do tend to favor high-contrast B/W, but can sometimes push it a bit too far. I've also noticed that what works at full resolution can sometimes look a little harsh or overdone when down-sampled to the web. In this B/W image I was drawn to the mix of shadow and reflected light on the water and tried to emphasize that, but I may want to see if I can even out the tones in the shadows a bit.

In the color image what drew me to the scene was the slightly elevated view that gives a good lay of the land without feeling distant. But for me the image is a slight miss due to one thing. Anybody else bothered by the tree sticking up from the bottom just left of center, or am I just being anal? It seems to clutter the composition somewhat, but there wasn't really a better angle, since moving right would have caused the trees on the left to interfere with the view of the mountain.

[cmi]

I was drawn to the mix of shadow and reflected light on the water and tried to emphasize that...

Jeff, I was feeling too that there is a bit too much contrast. And yes I think the image is adjusted for the water. The water comes out very good, I like that very much. You might want to try to produce different image versions for all the different scene parts, and blend them with masks. Dont know if this suits your idea, or the final image. Just a suggestion for managing the contrasts. But, that said, I think it works as is, it only doesnt suit my taste perfectly.

Christian

[John R]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

I do tend to favor high-contrast B/W, but can sometimes push it a bit too far. I've also noticed that what works at full resolution can sometimes look a little harsh or overdone when down-sampled to the web. In this B/W image I was drawn to the mix of shadow and reflected light on the water and tried to emphasize that, but I may want to see if I can even out the tones in the shadows a bit.

In the color image what drew me to the scene was the slightly elevated view that gives a good lay of the land without feeling distant. But for me the image is a slight miss due to one thing. Anybody else bothered by the tree sticking up from the bottom just left of center, or am I just being anal? It seems to clutter the composition somewhat, but there wasn't really a better angle, since moving right would have caused the trees on the left to interfere with the view of the mountain.

Hey, when I look at my images long enough, all kinds of things start to bother me, especially if spend too much time PP. That's why, as many people suggest, it is best to try and get a good shot and exposure right in the field.

JMR

[BernardLanguillier]

Very nice Jeff.

Cheers,
Bernard

[JeffKohn]

Christian - thanks for the feedback. This is a blend, and there's already a fair amount of local adjustments as well. I think I may have just pushed some of the shadows a little too far, I think opening them up some would be a subtle but signficant improvement.

John - I do agree it can be counter-productive to over-analyze or second guess too much, I think there's a balance to be found there. I always try to get the best exposure and composition I can at shooting time; but I also previsualize the final image I want, and make my exposure decisions based on that. In low-contrast I often expose to the right, in high-contrast I often bracket for digital blending (I don't like grad filters). So there's almost always going to be post-processing, especially for B/W images where a simple grayscale conversion is almost never sufficient.

Bernard - Thanks!