This was an image to my recent first visit to Alaska. It was mostly a family vacation but with some photography time too. One of my biggest challenges was understanding and finding any directional light which didn’t seem to happen often. None the less it was a wonderful trip.
Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.
Processed in Lightroom, 10 second exposure, F11, Sony A7RIII, and Sigma 100-400 at 154mm
Hi Pat, this is a very cool image. I like the almost graphic nature of the lower part. Well seen.
A couple of suggestions. It feels just a little flat, so I would recommend adding some contrast to the whole image. Also, there are several dust spots, especially on the left side that could be easily removed in Lightroom. Would love to see a repost of this. It’s got a lot of great things going for it.
Cheers,
David
My flight leaves for Alaska in 9 hours so this is a very welcome image for me. May I ask where this was taken?
I really like how the dark gravel bar shapes stand out from the water. The dry yellow grass is really nice against all that blue. The background hills look a bit flat. You might try to add some contrast there. I would brighten the sky a big and add contrast there at the same time.
Lovely image. Thanks for sharing.
David and Igor,
Thanks for your feedback…its greatly appreciated. I am playing around with adding contrast but end up getting some “blockiness or splotchyness” to the image when zoomed in. Any suggestions? I also ran it through DXO Pureraw2 but didn’t get much of an improvement.
HI Pat, if contrast is too aggressive, I would try the clarity slider as it adjusts contrast in the mid range only and lets the whites and blacks alone. You might also try an S curve in the curves area…
Cheers,
David
Igor…thanks soooo much. It is a big improvement over my processing.
Hey Pat,
Great advice from David and Igor below. I agree. I really like the flowing nature of the river and gravel bars. Nice tonality in the image too. A couple of clean-up suggestions to add…on the left lower third, there is a dust spot or something. Then on the right, rear sandbar, there is some structure or stump there…it keeps catching my eye because I can’t figure out what it is. Maybe getting rid of it will keep people flowing. Or, maybe that’s just me 
There is terrific flow to this image created by the reverse s curve line of the waterway. Add in the bright and colorful yellow grasses in the midframe and the beautiful purple/blue sky and you have a terrific scene unfolding here. As has been mentioned, there are numerous dust bunnies through out but easy enough to clean up in LR or PS. I’m not actually sure you need to do much to this with the exception of the dust bunnies and maybe a tiny bit of contrast in the far hill only. Nice image.
David,
Thanks for taking time to share your comments. I am away from my computer but will definitely clean up the image. Actually, they are water spots from shooting on the water the previous day that I neglected to address before heading out the next morning…a good lesson to remember.
Thanks David, John and Igor for your input. I have cleaned up the image and generally am pretty happy with the results. Alaskan Labyrinth 8-18-2022 V2|690x326](upload://A1hkQmZtFhy99ftZVN3bUGOg7JP.jpeg)
