Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: Jeremy Roussak on December 14, 2013, 01:58:06 pm

Title: monument valley
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on December 14, 2013, 01:58:06 pm
Too much foreground? Or is that the least of the worries?

Jeremy
Title: Re: monument valley
Post by: RSL on December 14, 2013, 02:08:22 pm
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.
Title: Re: monument valley
Post by: Slobodan Blagojevic on December 14, 2013, 02:08:53 pm
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)
Title: Re: monument valley
Post by: RSL on December 14, 2013, 03:31:46 pm
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.
Title: Re: monument valley
Post by: PeterAit on December 14, 2013, 03:53:47 pm
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?
Title: Re: monument valley
Post by: Alan Klein on December 14, 2013, 08:16:35 pm
Slobadan has good ideas.
Title: Re: monument valley
Post by: Ed Blagden on December 15, 2013, 12:22:38 am
Slobadan has good ideas.
+1
Title: Re: monument valley
Post by: stamper on December 15, 2013, 05:33:32 am
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.  :(
Title: Re: monument valley
Post by: Ed Blagden on December 15, 2013, 07:17:55 am
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.
Title: Re: monument valley
Post by: stamper on December 15, 2013, 08:22:47 am
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?
Title: Re: monument valley
Post by: Christoph C. Feldhaim on December 15, 2013, 09:54:35 am
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

Title: Re: monument valley
Post by: Alan Klein on December 15, 2013, 10:49:22 am
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.
Title: Re: monument valley
Post by: Christoph C. Feldhaim on December 15, 2013, 10:58:24 am
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.
Title: Re: monument valley
Post by: francois on December 16, 2013, 04:43:53 am
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.
Title: Re: monument valley
Post by: Christoph C. Feldhaim on December 16, 2013, 04:46:31 am
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.
Title: Re: monument valley
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on December 16, 2013, 02:33:23 pm
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 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/i4i5y6w22j6gp31/monument%20valley-025.dng). Anyone who'd like to play, please play. I'll be fascinated to see what you come up with.

Jeremy
Title: Re: monument valley
Post by: Alan Klein on December 16, 2013, 09:46:27 pm
I like this one a lot better.  It's almost 3D.
Title: Re: monument valley
Post by: Bruce Cox on December 16, 2013, 10:04:35 pm
I liked Stamper's idea.
Title: Re: monument valley
Post by: brandtb on December 16, 2013, 11:01:06 pm
Quote
its totally worth working hard on it
+1
Title: Re: monument valley
Post by: cjogo on December 16, 2013, 11:06:37 pm
Just perfect for my eye -- but then I only see mostly B&W  ;-) .... maybe about 3 % of the front -- that's it