The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.
Death Valley is an amazing place to witness the power of the earth and her geological growth. The moon made this even more spectacular to see.
Is it too dark?
There are certainly a lot of things you can try in Photoshop to improve this image. It may be OK as is it just depends on how much you’re willing to alter the image from a standpoint of luminosity, saturation, and general lighting. It’s a little flat so I would probably do something, experimental initially with the lighting and see what happens.
Not too dark for my taste! I assume it was a few days before the full moon so the light on the land is ambient shortly after sunset. The colors look right for that and I’m guessing the contrast may have been pushed up a little, which looks good to me. There is a hint of high thin clouds and I like the trace of color on them. If this is a crop I think I’d like just a bit more sky, so the moon doesn’t feel crowded. I would be tempted to bring out a little more detail in the moon, if possible. I like its ghostly appearance behind the clouds and wouldn’t want to spoil that with too much detail. A very lovely image at any rate!
Def not too dark in my eyes
Agree some selective dodge and burn will increase the 3D look of these mountains
If just colour graded the picture (using gradient map in PS) making the highlights a lighter blue and darks a deeper blue. I might also reduce the magenta a bit
Its a lovely image and worth spending the time post processing to the point that you feel the ambience of being there is adequately represented by the colours in your image.
Great pic
regards
Huw
Processing example based on the original image:
Having played a bit I am struck by the reds in your original image which I have darkened and I think I would seek to keep your reds (mine is too blue)
Connie: Works for me and I like what @huw1 did with the image. The subtle hint of color in the sky is a plus for me. I’ve only been to DV once and only scratched the surface. This makes me want to go back.>=))>
Connie, This is a spectacular images. You sense the temperature dropping in the blue hour. Personally, I don’t find it dark at all. If it were more saturated, it wouldn’t look natural. My only suggestion would be to burn the sky a bit so the moon pops out.
Connie, this is a fine view and the darkness fits the time of day. I like the subtle colors in the sky. The touch of halo around the moon tells me that there was either some dust or some humidity. Since most DV views look west, I’m assuming that this was an almost sunrise view.
