Monument valley from artist point

[jmd56]

Shot taken looking north at one of the mittens.
May 20, the day of the eclipse. about 6pm.
it was a 350mm C lens at about F5.6 and a 125th.
Used ISO 50, 503CW, CFV-50 back. I like
that the Navajo home creates perspective. Its
a bit hazy still, after fiddling with it in Phocus
and Aperture, but the 16 x 28 print just looks great!
It was a real nice day.
James

[luxborealis]

This is quite a dramatic scene at any time. I look forward to the day when I spend some time in the US southwest on these amazing landscapes. I know they've all "been done", but there is something truly mystical about this region.

In this iteration, I find the crispness of the edges to be in disparity with the haziness of the day. As well, the scene appears underexposed and distinctly red-magenta. I realize the area is renowned for it warm-coloured rock, but even the sky seems out of colour balance. If you find an overall cooler colour balance makes the shadows too blue, try using the LR4 adjustment brush for white balance to warm them up a bit.

It's a lovely capture, so I hope I don't overstep my bounds by spending a few minutes with LR4 on your photo. I always hesitate to do this in a  forum as I am not you nor was I there, so my interpretation my be completely off-base. Attached is the result with the Basic panel showing. I also added:

• a bottom graduated mask of -.30 Exposure;
• a top graduated mask of -0.30 Exposure (perhaps a bit more noticeable than I prefer);
• Post Crop Vignetting of -10;
• an Adjustment Brush to the sky only of -10 in Temperature;
• a second Adjustment Brush to the shadows only of +30 in Temperature; +0.20 in Exposure; +60 in Contrast; +20 in Highlights (to bring out shadow detail); and
• a third Adjustment Brush to the distant shadows (as they become too light with the preceding brush) of -.30 Exposure; +20 Contrast and +50 Highlights.

I find this second interpretation brighter and "cleaner", although I couldn't reduce the sharpness of the edges, they don't stand out as much now because the rest of the image is more in balance. Hope this helps and that I haven't taken too many liberties with your image.

[Tony Jay]

Well done Terry.

Humble approach and useful interpretation.

I have found this sort of suggestion very helpful in the past even if my subsequent re-edit was different again.
The food for thought was important and allowed for a rethink.

I am sure the OP will not mind your gentle approach.

Regards

Tony Jay

[francois]

Indeed, Terry's version is better than the original one. Showing the settings used for editing is a huge help.

[Jeremy Roussak]

Indeed, Terry's version is better than the original one.

Isn't it just? And Terry was working with a jpeg. I suspect James should be able to get a pretty good result from his raw file.

Jeremy

[jmd56]

Terry,
Thanks for the feedback. I don't mind your interpretation
and improvements at all. I think your time spent
is valuable and it helps us all as we improve. I have never used LR or PS,
but perhaps someday. Like everyone, I have more
on my todo list than on my been done list!

regards,

James

[luxborealis]

Terry,
Thanks for the feedback. I don't mind your interpretation and improvements at all. I think your time spent is valuable and it helps us all as we improve. I have never used LR or PS, but perhaps someday. Like everyone, I have more on my todo list than on my been done list!
regards, James

Your welcome. I'm glad it was helpful and it was no trouble; took me just a few minutes - the beauty of LR. I'm curious, with a Hasselblad and a 50mp back – which editing app are you using? How is the speed with that kind of file size?

[Jeremy Roussak]

Your welcome. I'm glad it was helpful and it was no trouble; took me just a few minutes - the beauty of LR. I'm curious, with a Hasselblad and a 50mp back – which editing app are you using? How is the speed with that kind of file size?

Phocus and Aperture, Terry: see his first post.

Jeremy

[jmd56]

The speeds are good enough that i don't curse the machine,
so thats saying a lot :-)

But its not instant. (I probably need a better graphics processor)
All in all, the nice thing about the CFV-50
is that it is Exactly Reproducing the colors that i see in the daytime. At night,
not so sure yet.. jury out on long exposures still. So, with colors
ok, and sharpness a total non issue  (although its impossible to
shoot sharp without a good tripod), whats left is just my imagination, and time of day,
and some luck. Net Net, it sure beats scanning :-)

For now, my focus is on minimalist editing. Learn to see the pic, know what lens can
bring out the best, wait (pray) for great lighting and get it to print large in a nice way.

James