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Author Topic: Crepuscular Rays Over the Teton Range at Sunset  (Read 7236 times)

bretedge

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Crepuscular Rays Over the Teton Range at Sunset
« on: December 10, 2013, 04:36:49 am »

I made this image a few years ago in the days preceding a photography workshop I led in Grand Teton National Park.  Only recently was I finally able to process it to my liking.  I know it is an over-photographed location but I still rather enjoyed the dramatic light show and hints of autumn color in the aspens below.

Thank you for having a look.

sdwilsonsct

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Re: Crepuscular Rays Over the Teton Range at Sunset
« Reply #1 on: December 10, 2013, 09:02:14 am »

Lovely!

Paulo Bizarro

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Re: Crepuscular Rays Over the Teton Range at Sunset
« Reply #2 on: December 10, 2013, 09:44:36 am »

Good image, not an easy light to control.

Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Crepuscular Rays Over the Teton Range at Sunset
« Reply #3 on: December 10, 2013, 11:00:11 am »

Nice!
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Tony Jay

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Re: Crepuscular Rays Over the Teton Range at Sunset
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2013, 04:35:21 pm »

Beautiful result!

Knowing that you struggled a bit with the post-processing side but, over time, managed to come up with this result is rather inspirational really.
I can attest to one or two images over the years that really frustrated me because I knew they had real potential but I could not do them justice in the post-processing.
I subsequently experienced a marvellous sense of satisfaction when I finally unlocked the post-processing keys that gave me what I wanted.

Well done.

Tony Jay
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arlon

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Re: Crepuscular Rays Over the Teton Range at Sunset
« Reply #5 on: December 10, 2013, 05:04:00 pm »

Nice. A place I've always wanted to spend a little time. Only seen them from a long distance once.
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bretedge

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Re: Crepuscular Rays Over the Teton Range at Sunset
« Reply #6 on: December 10, 2013, 06:01:36 pm »

Beautiful result!

Knowing that you struggled a bit with the post-processing side but, over time, managed to come up with this result is rather inspirational really.
I can attest to one or two images over the years that really frustrated me because I knew they had real potential but I could not do them justice in the post-processing.
I subsequently experienced a marvellous sense of satisfaction when I finally unlocked the post-processing keys that gave me what I wanted.

Well done.

Tony Jay

Thank you, Tony.  You're absolutely right about the satisfaction that comes with finally having the skills to process an image that's been languishing in the files for a while.  That's why it is important to keep those files.  I know photographers who are too OCD and they delete them if they can't get them right in the first go round. Big mistake!

bretedge

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Re: Crepuscular Rays Over the Teton Range at Sunset
« Reply #7 on: December 11, 2013, 12:16:21 am »

Did something change that enabled you to do that? Different software? New approach?

Yes, I finally learned an exposure blending technique that was easy enough to use but still very powerful and that gave me the results I've been wanting.  I didn't get into nature photography because I enjoy spending endless hours at the computer.  Until recently, the methods I'd used for exposure blending were far too time and labor intensive and as a result, I just didn't use them.  Those days are long gone!   

Iluvmycam

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Re: Crepuscular Rays Over the Teton Range at Sunset
« Reply #8 on: December 11, 2013, 06:55:38 am »

Nice, classic shot!
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sdwilsonsct

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Re: Crepuscular Rays Over the Teton Range at Sunset
« Reply #9 on: December 11, 2013, 02:36:02 pm »

Well, if you feel like sharing... otoh if it's your new secret sauce, I completely understand ;-)

+1!

bretedge

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Re: Crepuscular Rays Over the Teton Range at Sunset
« Reply #10 on: December 11, 2013, 08:23:05 pm »

Well, if you feel like sharing... otoh if it's your new secret sauce, I completely understand ;-)

No secret sauce at all! I wish I could say that I'm the Photoshop genius who developed this exposure blending technique but alas, I'm not.  I just got good at following instruction. ;-) 

I learned the techniques by watching video tutorials produced by two very talented photographers: Sean Bagshaw and Chip Phillips.  Sean's tutorial, "Developing for Extended Dynamic Range" breaks the whole process down into easily learned little chunks.  Chip's tutorial, "Image Editing, Volume One", offers additional thoughts on not only exposure blending, but also integrating depth of field blends into your workflow.  Really, both are just fantastic tutorials and are well worth the small investment. 

Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Crepuscular Rays Over the Teton Range at Sunset
« Reply #11 on: December 12, 2013, 12:20:06 pm »

I guess that, after so many accolades above, you wouldn't mind a dissenting view: to me, the sky is over-processed, to the point that it looks like a cutout. It is darker relative to the foreground, while the opposite is expected perceptually. Pardon my bluntness.

Justan

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Re: Crepuscular Rays Over the Teton Range at Sunset
« Reply #12 on: December 12, 2013, 12:58:50 pm »

Nicely done.

Some can only document a scene while this interprets.

My only critique is that it would have been nicer as a wider view.

markadams99

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Re: Crepuscular Rays Over the Teton Range at Sunset
« Reply #13 on: December 12, 2013, 10:57:31 pm »

I guess that, after so many accolades above, you wouldn't mind a dissenting view: to me, the sky is over-processed, to the point that it looks like a cutout. It is darker relative to the foreground, while the opposite is expected perceptually. Pardon my bluntness.
Yes. Lovely image, but my taste in skies is for more natural, softer, clouds. Every day I wince at my own past abuse of the clarity control in Lightroom. Repeat, lovely image, especially the mountains which do have a crepuscular veil.
« Last Edit: December 12, 2013, 11:42:39 pm by markadams99 »
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bretedge

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Re: Crepuscular Rays Over the Teton Range at Sunset
« Reply #14 on: December 12, 2013, 11:33:40 pm »

I guess that, after so many accolades above, you wouldn't mind a dissenting view: to me, the sky is over-processed, to the point that it looks like a cutout. It is darker relative to the foreground, while the opposite is expected perceptually. Pardon my bluntness.

I don't mind your dissenting opinion or bluntness at all, Slobodan.  I disagree wholeheartedly, but we're in a civil forum and the right to disagree is one of the perks. ;-)  This is exactly how I remember seeing the scene before me, which isn't odd considering the human eye is able to see a much wider dynamic range than the camera is able to record.  Thank you for your honesty.

brandtb

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Re: Crepuscular Rays Over the Teton Range at Sunset
« Reply #15 on: December 13, 2013, 10:42:00 am »

To me eye the processing looks very "unnatural"...for one thing the gamma point...for a scene with that kind of backlight from the sun. Could you please post an original un processed image...RAW to JPEG (900 kb range)? I would be very interested to see what it was like before... /B
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Isaac

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Re: Crepuscular Rays Over the Teton Range at Sunset
« Reply #16 on: December 13, 2013, 12:25:02 pm »

This is exactly how I remember seeing the scene before me, which isn't odd considering the human eye is able to see a much wider dynamic range than the camera is able to record.

Mostly we "see" what we expect to see, and remember little ;-)

More to the point --

Quote
The majority of viewers of the horizontal image think that it was a sunlit scene. When I explain that it represented diffused lighting from the sky and also reflected light from distant clouds, some rejoin, "Then why does it look the way it does?" Such questions remind me that many viewers expect a photograph to be the literal simulation of reality; of course, many others are capable of response to an image without concern for the physical realities of the subject. Either the photograph speaks to a viewer or it does not. I cannot demand that anyone receive from the image just what I saw and felt, the image will contain qualities that may provide a basis for imaginative response by the viewer.

page 64, Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs, Ansel Adams.
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sdwilsonsct

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Re: Crepuscular Rays Over the Teton Range at Sunset
« Reply #17 on: December 13, 2013, 04:52:26 pm »

Interesting, Isaac. This thread has me wondering about reality, remembrance and depiction. Three different things.

bretedge

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Re: Crepuscular Rays Over the Teton Range at Sunset
« Reply #18 on: December 13, 2013, 10:31:15 pm »

Interesting, Isaac. This thread has me wondering about reality, remembrance and depiction. Three different things.

Very good point.  I've never claimed to be a documentary photographer.  I make photographs that will sell to the public at large while still remaining true to my own values, i.e. no hyper-saturated colors or over the top HDR style processing.  As I said, I remember the scene looking  very similar to the way it does in this image.  Back in the day when I shot Velvia the foreground would have been nearly black.  Perhaps that's what some purists expect in a backlit scene such as this one.  I don't get caught up in gamma measurements and other techno-geek analysis.  If an image looks good my eye and the public is willing to give me their hard earned money to hang a print on their wall, I consider it a successful image.

brandtb

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Re: Crepuscular Rays Over the Teton Range at Sunset
« Reply #19 on: December 14, 2013, 08:14:45 am »

Note, re. the comment about where/what the "gamma point" is...it's not really the point no?  This technical(?) information...is simply a part of a query as to why your image looks so over-processed to my eye...and again unnatural. The thing that comes to mind is that it reminds me a bit of something like a CGI matte background landscape from a film.
« Last Edit: December 14, 2013, 09:17:03 am by brandtb »
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