monument valley

[Jeremy Roussak]

Too much foreground? Or is that the least of the worries?

Jeremy

[RSL]

Maybe a little, Jeremy. All that foreground puts the real subject pretty much in the middle of the frame. I'm jumping on the basis of a first impression. I may change my mind.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

1. Perhaps not, but I would use a graduated density in post, from bottom up to darken it and lead the eye toward the buttes. Perhaps shortening it at the very bottom as well? The horizon seems to be quite close to the center.

2. Compositionally, I wish you could move the rightmost butte a bit further to the right, to balance it better against the two "heavy" buttes close to the center.

3.Overall darkening and vignetting might help add drama (if that is what your are after)

[RSL]

1. Perhaps not, but I would use a graduated density in post, from bottom up to darken it and lead the eye toward the buttes. Perhaps shortening it at the very bottom as well? The horizon seems to be quite close to the center.

Exactly! Good idea, Slobodan.

[PeterAit]

Maybe a little, Jeremy. All that foreground puts the real subject pretty much in the middle of the frame. I'm jumping on the basis of a first impression. I may change my mind.

I see the foreground as part of the subject - not the most dramatic part, of course, but still part. The beauty and drama of the valley come from the fact that these huge rock towers rise from a flat and relatively featureless plain. It's all part of the whole, no?

[Alan Klein]

Slobadan has good ideas.

[Ed Blagden]

Slobadan has good ideas.

+1

[stamper]

I don't think B&W works with this kind of image. I haven't been to this type of location but what I have seen photographically is that this kind of image is all about the blue skies and the golden coloured ground and escarpments. 

[Ed Blagden]

I don't think B&W works with this kind of image. I haven't been to this type of location but what I have seen photographically is that this kind of image is all about the blue skies and the golden coloured ground and escarpments. 

Tell that to Ansel.

[stamper]

Not everyone was a fan of Ansel and his B&W renderings. His work photographing mountains was exceptional but desert type scenes imo deserve colour renderings?

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

I allowed myself an edit.
Its not entirely perfect, but you get the idea.
The Photoshop file I created is provided too in a shrinked version (otherwise I couldn't upload it).

Cheers
~Chris

[Alan Klein]

I think the edit is overprocessed.  It doesn't appear real. Too much contrast and sharpening.  I'm no expert for sure.  But my normal adjustments are to push the sliders gently but never go beyond  the point where the viewer can say that it appears photoshopped.  Unless you're doing some editorial shot or "photo art", the end result cannot outperform nature.

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

I think the edit is overprocessed.  It doesn't appear real. Too much contrast and sharpening.  I'm no expert for sure.  But my normal adjustments are to push the sliders gently but never go beyond  the point where the viewer can say that it appears photoshopped.  Unless you're doing some editorial shot or "photo art", the end result cannot outperform nature.

Yup - its an intentionally dramatic edit to give an idea.
In the PSD file all edits are inside a folder and can separately be adjusted for transparency,
so you can control the strength of the single effects or the overall effect power.
Its for educational purposes, to show what could be done.

[francois]

Yup - its an intentionally dramatic edit to give an idea.
…

I like it very much. Yes, it is over processed but sometimes it can help to emphasize certain aspects of a photo.

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

I like it very much. Yes, it is over processed but sometimes it can help to emphasize certain aspects of a photo.

Yup - and this image is so fine - its totally worth working hard on it.

[Jeremy Roussak]

Yup - and this image is so fine - its totally worth working hard on it.

Thanks, Christoph. I confess I don't particularly like your treatment, which I find overly dramatic, but I appreciate the idea.

How about this? I've adjusted it as Slobodan (who does indeed have exceedingly good ideas) suggested.

The raw file is here. Anyone who'd like to play, please play. I'll be fascinated to see what you come up with.

Jeremy

[Alan Klein]

I like this one a lot better.  It's almost 3D.

[Bruce Cox]

I liked Stamper's idea.

[brandtb]

its totally worth working hard on it

+1

[cjogo]

Just perfect for my eye -- but then I only see mostly B&W  ;-) .... maybe about 3 % of the front -- that's it