Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Landscape & Nature Photography => Topic started by: Shakyphoto (Slim) on March 03, 2014, 01:05:50 pm
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(https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7404/9146716233_fdce42c861_c.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephen_tl/9146716233/)
5:30 AM Shot in Yosemite last year.
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Certainly dramatic and a different way of seeing. Not sure if it's one for the wall or not. Definitely catches one's attention, though.
Keep sharing.
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I agree. Very dramatic.
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It certainly is different. Why have you chosen this style of processing? What is your intent?
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I thought this would capture people's intention both bad (I can't believe you would do that, you are a hack) and good (very eye catching).
I haven't processed a photo like this before in this way.
Here's what I did, and why I did it.
I basically made this photo a black and white and only allowed yellow and orange to pass. No other colors, not even green. (I posted a sister photo of this several months back with normal processing.) The intent was to emphasize the light breaking and the lone /orange tree that is the lone observer at the end of it. To be honest the regular photo was too normal, not enough drama even with the breaking light, and nothing new compared to the hundreds of thousands of shots of Yosemite Tunnel. This interpretation would at least hopefully make you stop and look, and maybe like it.
While some may say this is unnatural, a black and white is not natural, but widely accepted. Is a black and white with some color less acceptable?
I'm prepared for the comments.
I also think the lack of comments may be also be a signal that people on this site may disapprove. I'm very curious to what people on this site think.
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On a couple of occasions, I've done something similar with similarly mixed reviews; See below. Either one is open to new/different ways of thinking or not.
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As I observed this image, I did not see the drama or the emphasis on the light cutting through and illuminating the lone orange tree. As a member of the audience of this image, I don't think that you achieved your desired intent. I don't think that doing something to be different is reason enough for the basis of an artistic decision. I'm not someone who believes that photography is supposed to represent reality. In fact, I take the opposite stance. No photograph can ever be representative of reality. Once the light hits the front element of the lens, it is permanently changed and what was reality has become something else.
To be honest, what you have here looks like a mistake in processing. I'm so focused on the flat gray sky, which appears to painted on, muddy midtones in areas, and halos at the ridges of the mountains that I cannot take seriously what has been presented. I'm not trying to say that a photo must be high contrast or that it can't have areas lacking in detail. On the contrary, many good photographs break the "rules." However, there is intent behind these decisions, and they are apparent and deliberate. These processing or photographic choices enhance the photographer's intent and improve the story being told by the photograph. I don't believe that your processing choices have achieved such goals.
Lux's post is an example of how a processing technique, such as desaturation, can be used as a tool that enhances the photograph. A story about the approach of the colors of autumn can be told, or perhaps the gray barbed-wire fence has a more sinister meaning when compared to the bright, lively colors of the trees. It could be a story of a transition between the colors of autumn to the gray of winter. In my opinion, your processing has gone too far.
Please do not take my comments as being mean-spirited in any sort of way. I am merely giving you my honest opinion, which I hope you will find helpful. It's obvious from your website that you're a good photographer.
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I can see how the under exposed sky may be to heavy on top of the image. I was concentrating too much on the light in the tunnel perhaps. Here, I've left the sky alone.
(BTW, the lines in the sky aren't poorly used gradients, but the actual break of light)
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3746/12921239843_193e27cd83_c.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephen_tl/12921239843/)
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I think this could be a great image, but two things destroy it for me:
1. The large burnt area around the sun.
2. The prominent halo on the ridge.
Both issues are fixable in PS, the burnt are around the sun might be difficult though.
The really beautiful part is the backlit forest together with the stone wall and its worth to be saved.
Cheers
~Chris
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(http://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7311/12922988314_57ea53ccaf_c.jpg)
Okay, Here is another go at it.
I have about 100 shots of this scene all taken at slightly different times with different shutter and apertures to get the right exposure. While I could photoshop or HDR the shots in order to avoid a burnt out sun, I've so far avoided ever using either of these tools in any photo. Thus I'm now posting a shot that is 1/4 of the exposure time to get the sun to be the "right" size. There is diffraction off the mountain so it's not perfectly round. The slight downside to this photo compared to the other two is that there is more noise in the shadows which is why I posted the first two. If the extra noise is not bothersome to the viewer then I'm fine with it. (At this resolution it may be hard to see) The halos I think are purely a product from being backlit and are relatively minor so I'm not too concerned about that. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephen_tl/12922988314/)
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Much, much better version that works greatly.
Cheers
~Chris
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Much, much better version that works greatly.
I agree. The very marked halo on the ridge was disturbing me and it's now gone.
Jeremy
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This last version is much better, great shot.
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Okay, Here is another go at it.
This works - great story here.
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I agree. The last version is best.
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Another vote for the 2nd version. I like it a lot. I also like that you did something bold, fraught with possible failure yet managed to succeed. Well done
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Either the naysayers are being too polite and not chiming in, or I'm pleasantly surprised by the generally positive reaction. Usually the processed photo are either b&w or straight up color processed. :D I posted the 2nd photo to 500px and it almost made it to the 1st page on popular. I just posted the 3rd pic which I agree I favor slightly more now. Let's see if it makes it all the way to the top.
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I really like the last one.