An attempt at going back to the two raw files (the original was from .psd files with some editing after raw conversion) to try another combination. I didn’t have the patience to exactly match the resizing and distorting that had gone into the .psd files, but FWIW, with better processing quality. I decided to leave the cyans. Couldn’t replicate the subtle colors of the original, which were due to some old color effect that I don’t think I even have anymore.
Cleaning out the attic again and stumbled on two images in the same folder that are both minimalist landscapes with similar shapes, so I played with combining them.
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All comments welcome!
Pertinent Technical Details
Both are with the Canon 20D, from 2005. Both aerials with minimal individual processing.
This sort of picture has become almost cliche in the world of digital landscape photography but rarely are they done this well. There is nothing heavy-handed in how you’ve handled the post processing. The abstract design and overall composition is beautiful in terms of both tone and colour gradation - bottom to top and left to right. Very elegant. I often find this sort of image to be a kind of hit and run - it grabs my attention but then I find there’s really nothing to hold it. Not so with this. I find that my eye isn’t drawn to one spot but rests, instead, on the very coherent whole. I do love the misty horizon in the upper left and the sun peeking out from behind the darker peaks further to the right. I also feel that the graininess adds to the mood of picture.
A nit-picky side note: there are three areas where there are what appear to be “spots”. It may well be that they are part of the scene but, personally, I’d remove them - they are all in a line about a quarter way down from the top, about a quarter way in from the right, half way in from the right, and about a quarter way in from the left.
Love, love, love this image. A totally different look from the norm on this type of shot. Very abstract and dreamy. Like a fantasy world. Just wonderful.
Thanks, @Ryan_H, @Kerry_Gordon and @Chris_Baird! This was one of those things that just called out to me when I saw the two frames just a few shots apart in a Lightroom collection. They weren’t from the same trip and I had never thought to combine them but something just shouted out to me. I was so pleased with the immediate result that I neglected to check for sensor spots, which were always an issue with older cameras. So extra thanks for the heads-up, Kerry! I’ll do a RP because that was such a major omission, and while I’m at it, I was wondering about softening the contrast of that hillside on the left – I’ll give it a try.
And I just did and discovered they are small bushes that are on the of the images! But they need to disappear anyway. And then I zoomed in and discovered horrible noise in an odd pattern, probably from some ancient NR technique – both were .psd files and I didn’t bother to dig out the raws. Noise now dealt with. Whew! That was a lesson to pay more attention!
Sure! And it’s lucky I could find them again. Both were in a collection of stuff to maybe someday post here and after I post something I delete it from the collection so I won’t forget and post it again, but since I just posted a combination I left them there.
Beautiful image and it does hole my attention well, Diane. I like what you did on the repost. The one thing I’d change (and this is just my artistic taste) is to remove the rolling hills from the rougher foreground layer where they show up on the right. I like them in the brighter background part of the image where they add a lot of depth and mystery to the image, but they don’t feel right to me in that foreground area.
Interesting observation, @Dennis_Plank – that’s the area I like most! Viewed as a slightly enhanced but basically regular landscape, that area differs from reality the most (where both layers have more equal weight), but as a fantasy landscape, for me that is the area that shows the strangeness most, and leads the eye to find the more subtle unusual twist in the rest.
This awesome photo caught my attention immediately!
I love it.
One minor issue is the over-sharpening artifacts, especially noticeable in the black hillside at the far left.
Thanks, @Matt_Payne! When I get a few minutes I’ll go back to the raw files and re-work the two .psd originals and re-do the composite. Software has sure improved since 2005!! But I’m not sure I did any sharpening – I rarely do. From that long ago, though, who knows.
@Matt_Payne, I did a better processing from the two raws. The first version was from two .psd files and on one I had used Nik Dfine which is thankfully no longer with us! That’s what caused the odd “noise”.
I see your point, @Dennis_Plank! The original had some unusual colors that I can’t replicate going back to the raw files, contributed by some ancient treatment that I don’t think I have anymore. I’ll go with the original with the noise and bushes cleaned up.
Love, love, love this image. A totally different look from the norm on this type of shot. Very abstract and dreamy. Like a fantasy world. Just wonderful.
