I just returned from a couple more days in Yosemite Valley - this time just after the first big winter storm of the season. But I still have a number of images from my earlier trip the first week in November - when it was still autumn…
I spent some time on both visits to explore areas I had never been before; exploring, walking along the river and away from regular, popular areas. Interesting, the scene photographed here - I’ve stood under those oaks many a time and made many images from there… but this was the first time I stood on the opposite bank.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
Any and all - most especially processing. Are the greens in the forest too green?
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Welcome all feedback and critique. I’m wondering if the composition works or if there is anything uneasy about it.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Single frame, slight cropping.
Nikon D800E, 28-300mm @72mm, f/18 .6s iso 200
Thanks for looking and leaving any comment!
Edit: added rework after taking in most suggestions. What do you think of the “transform” and skewing to straighten out the shoreline? I doubt anyone would ever know without disclosure (and we are all about disclosure here given the “nature” of our NPN forumn…)
Works for me. I like the curves of the oaks in contrast with the straight trunks of the pines and cedar. The color looks very nice, even if the oak leaves aren’t as bright yellow as is normal.
The framing looks great, and I love the grass. My only concern is the boulder. It does grab my eye, but it looks a little heavy to move.
Nicely processed, Lon. Looking forward to some storm shots!
–P
I quite like this, Lon. The boulder works for me as well. I might experiment with a gradient mask along the right edge and burn it some, kind of a right edge vignette, to keep the attention just a bit more toward the middle. Very minor though. Well done.
Lon, a wonderful look at the Merced. I really like the arching trees here as well as the darker trunks there too.
I can see the point mentioned by others on the boulder. Might remove it for a test look there. Many times a change like that can through the whole seen off too. Hard to say without the try.
The only change for me would be to try a “slight” cast removal for an optional other look there too. I like the blue and cyan which is probably exactly what it was at the time. But could maybe see the cast turn down giving possibly some more pop or definition to all the foliage. I can’t experiment with it myself for awhile as I’m on my old PC for a few days. (Which might mute the point as my monitor could be off on color management right now…UGH)
Anyway, as always the original is excellent, but one can play with optional looks too…
I like your processing of the colors here Lon, I think you hit a nice balance on the blue/cyan in the trunks. I also like the rich blacks in the tree trunks, they create a nice contrast against the rust colors of the oak leaves. I may be in the minority, but the boulder bothers me. not only because it is bright, but also because it is the only major interruption in the shoreline.
What I enjoy most about this image are the colors, textures and contrast in the trees. To me the shoreline is a secondary element (with or without the boulder). It takes the image in a completely different direction, but I could also see a pano crop of just the trees and not any shoreline. At least that would eliminate discussion of the rock
If you want to retain the shoreline and/or rock, I would suggest reducing their luminosity, to let the textures and colors above stand out more.
Lon, nice colorful image.I would suggest to take out the water. Then you get all the attention to those beautiful trees in there strait and bent forms. Imho.
Thanks for the comments and suggestions folks! Great tips and suggestions.
The boulder I can understand the mixed reactions. I kinda like it as an anchor as @Youssef_Ismail and @Harley_Goldman mention, but also see it as an eye-magnet; it’s tonality is certainly brighter and draws immediate attention. @Preston_Birdwell, yeah, a little “heavy to move” - or the case of CA-cloning… So I just did an old-fashion clone of various grasses and tried to disguise the clones so it wasn’t so obvious.
Thanks @Ben_van_der_Sande for your suggested crop. One thing I don’t care for in most compositions are angled shorelines - like this, or more classically in ocean/coastal landscape. Those angles just make for difficult comps, spacial balance, etc. And in the case of my image here, I didn’t really like the angled shore that left some empty space in the LL.
So Ben, it got me thinking. I liked having the water since there’s a connection between the grasses and the river. So I thought, hmmmm, maybe I could “transform” this (skew) either end and level the shore. Combined with the cloning removal of the rock, I think this works.
I also: burned down the right edge (thanks Harley) and also reduced the presence of blue/cyan in the forest - very subtle, but excellent observation @Paul_Breitkreuz. And @Ed_McGuirk, I also burned down the grasses a little, considering your suggestion as well.
The repost works better for me with regard to blue / cyan. I think the definition in foliage looks better now. I do like the boulder removal too…
btw: I’m also on my color monitored PC this time too…
Lon,I like your crop solution very much. I was asking myself how you did level the shore. And found out that you probably used the perspective crop tool. I never used it and didn’t know about it. So I learned again a lot here on NPN. Thank’s.
Thanks @Ben_van_der_Sande. Actually I’m not familiar with the perspective crop tool. Funny, I’ve never seen or used it - yet it’s right next to the standard crop tool in PS.
What I did was flatten the file after I was happy with all other edits. Then use Edit>Transform>skew. I grabbed the LRC skewed upwards, and then grabbed the LLC and skewed downwards. Then cropped a little off the bottom. I was afraid such transformation would have looked bad, but was quite happy with the results.
I like your rework, Lon without the boulder and with the leveled shoreline. To me the boulder was more of an eye magnet than an anchor for the image. I think @Ben_van_der_Sande’s rework is also nicely done.
I like Ben’s rework. It was something I had in mind as well. While mentally playing with the crop I realized that the brightness of the grass was causing more of the issue than the stream. I would burn in the grass in all of the suggested images, burn it down so that it’s intensity matches that of the rest of the image.
Lon, I think your rework is a substantial improvement. Leveling the shoreline makes the curved trees more pronounced (to my eye), and the shapes of those trees was one of the most appealing elements to me. Losing the rock and the a reducing the luminosity of the grasses makes the shoreline much less intrusive. With these changes, I now prefer leaving the shoreline in the image, rather than cropping it away.
