This is an image I have mixed feelings about. One day I like it and the next day it does little for me.
Before the sun had even descended to the area I was out and about determined to make the most of my time. The rocks were dark with a glow to them that I enjoyed. Fortunately the sky had these streaky somber clouds which went hand in hand with the brooding rocks. The initial composition of the rock pile was different, and stronger I felt, but I had to change it to best incorporate the sky. So here it is - a brooding pile of rocks.
There is a midnight look to this… Moonlit. And maybe it’s just me, but I am not a big fan of that kind of lighting. The rock composition works for me but reading your description, I am wondering what the better one looks like.
Igor, this is wonderful rock formation. The clouds are a nice addition too. I like it a lot. With that said it just seems to need some post processing to lift things up a bit. As the shadows are not inked up or the highlights blown I’d say there is a good amount of room to play with…
I like this composition very much. To me, it doesn’t feel like “a pile of rocks” but rather something that has been molded or, perhaps, melted and congealed. The soft, overall sculptural quality of this image is very attractive. I do like the lighting and, as you say, the sky gives it a brooding feel. That being said, it feels underexposed to me and I would be tempted to either push the exposure slider by ½ or ¾ of a stop or maybe push the whites slider and bring the white point up a bit (maybe using a mid tone mask to protect the darks).
I fully agree with Paul. The “rock pile” is interesting. I especially find the boulders in the mid-ground interesting. I know my boys would have loved playing there all day ! I do like moody, dark images but the light here just doesn’t appeal to me.
Igor, I finally got a few minutes to play with this image. I’m sure it might be too much for many, but I see things through Velvia Glasses. Anyway, I can’t tell you what all I did but some basics was setting the WP to 242 and BP to 15. I selected the sky and then inverted for the landmass to add a warming filter. Then some Vibrance and Saturation. Anyway, I thought the composition was excellent, but it seemed a bit flat on the post processing.
I like it, Igor…just a wee bit dark, but still ok for my tastes. I think Paul’s redo, is too much and deflates the dark side mood. Love the comp with the tumbled rounded boulder bits in the foreground. The sky is exceptional for the brooding tableau. below.
Igor, I like the composition a lot. The pyramid formation of rocks creates a powerful repetition of triangle shapes. And as an added benefit we get to see the context of the geology that was incorporated into some of your recent rock intimates.
While I agree with @Paul_Breitkreuz that the rock formations are too dark, I do like the overall somber and cool twilight mood of the original post. I tried to aim for a rework that was somewhere in between your original post and Paul’s rework. I retained the sky from your original post, and on the land I used a TKs darks subtracted mask (D2-D5), to lift shadows while retaining contrast. No adjustment was made to WB, since I want to retain the twilight mood.
Oh, this is lovely. Nicely balanced composition, and the way the tilt of the rocks matches the sky is pleasing. I love this kind of light - dim, with a dark mood. My suggestion is to bring out a bit more depth in the rocks; they feel flat (because of the dim light, no doubt). Here’s my try at bringing out more depth. What I did:
Dodged lights-1 (as defined by the TK panel) and burned midtones, with the idea to create a bit more contrast, but only in the middle of the tonal range. The shadows are plenty dark in the original.
Decreased luminosity overall with a curve, brought down only a tad in the middle, then brushed off some of the Lights-1 tones.
Darkened and desaturated the sky.
The overall aim was to add some light into the rocks, in certain areas. I focused on the main tall rock wall and some of the round boulders in the foreground, but you might want to accentuate some other part of the scene, though.
One thing I did notice was that there was a halo all around the tops of the rocks in the downloaded file. May just be the low-res jpeg, though.
Wow, so many variations. I really appreciate all of your suggestions. I am going to put them all up in the top section so that a comparison can be made. One thing I learned in the software business is that each modifier makes the product better because he/she has the benefit of seeing the work of others that came earlier. I have to be honest and say that Bonnie’s rework comes closest to my vision and is just downright outstanding. Perhaps we just have similar personalities. I would really like to duplicate your work Bonnie but I don’t have the TK Panel any longer and never got very skillful with it to begin with. But you did take a fair to middling image and made it quite respectable. Thank you for that. Ed, I like your lighter sky. Perhaps I should combine it with Bonnie’s rocks. I don’t know how that combination would work. It’s interesting to see how different all 3 interpretation of the same subject are and how valid they all are. It’s just a question of what you want to say. My greatest initial impression was how these rocks ‘glowed’ in the darkness. Bonnie has accentuated that feature so I am drawn to that rework.
What’s interesting as I look at this is that by adding contrast to the rocks and darkening the sky there has been a shift of interest to the rocks. The rocks now dominate and the sky is in a more supportive role. Overall I think that was a good move and it’s what I like the most about your modification. Even though I like the overall exposure now it could be brought up and still maintain that changed relationship, I think. Perhaps.
Here’s my rework @Bonnie_Lampley. It still doesn’t glow like yours but this is the best I can do without using the TK panel.
You’re welcome, @Igor_Doncov. We just might have similar personalities/tastes, as I always find your photos quite appealing.
Since there’s always multiple ways to get to an end in PS, I tried a couple of things without using TK Panels. The standard dodge/burn tools in PS let you choose highlights, so I first dodged highlights a bit at a low opacity; low opacity is key, because it really got out of hand quickly at anything over about 10%. Then I made a curve adjustment just for the areas to highlight. Then another curve to darken just a tad overall, brushing off the areas adjusted in the previous curve. Then a hue adjustment for the sky to darken it. Screen shots attached of the adjustments. They’re deliberately a bit overdone so they’re obvious.
(as an aside, I know there is a way to generate luminosity masks without add-ons to help, but I confess to glazing over when I watched a video on how to do that)
Curve 1 - bring up areas to be highlighted
Curve 2 - lower exposure, brushing off highlighted and really dark areas.
