I have just read the excellent article on fog images posted by @Ed_McGuirk (Lost in a Fog Lost in a Fog), giving me inspiration to revisite an autumn fog image (Tänndalen, Sweden).
Specific Feedback Requested
Any comments are welcome!
Ed discuss in his article amongst other things the following topics:
Whiteness of the fog (to avoid to gray dull color)
Contrast, dehaze etc. (how much of the trees that could be seen through the fog)
Fog color temperature (cool - warm)
To ensure a depth in the image
Comments related to these topics would be good.
Thank you for the shout out on my article @Ola_Jovall, I’m glad that you found it worthwhile.
This looks exactly like the type of location that I would love to photograph in autumn, with or without fog. My fog article touched on a number of points that relate to creating sharp/soft contrast and a sense of depth in foggy images. The gradient from relative sharpness in the near foreground to diffuse softness of the background works very well here. This gradient creates a good sense of depth. It is also strongly re-inforced by the two paths. I think you have the right amount of diffuse-ness in the trees, there’s enough sharpness for them to be seen, but enough softness that they also look mysterious, which makes us wonder what is beyond them. I also think you processed the foreground well, if you had more contrast or color saturation you would lose some of the mystery here.
Cool vs. warm fog is completely a matter of subjective personal taste. In the real world you can get it both ways. My own preference usually leans to fog that is slightly cool. I think here though with the warm autumn colors, I like your use of a neutral looking fog, it creates a lighter, cheery mood.
My article discussed the brightness of fog from the perspective of avoiding underexposure. In your image I think the fog above the horizon line is too bright and borders on clipping highlights. Your histogram has a lot of data bunched right up against the right side. The fog below the horizon however looks fine to me. Here is a rework where I tried to pull those highlights back while leaving the foreground and midground unaffected. I applied a levels adjustment layer and pulled the lights output levels slider to the left to eliminate the clipping in the fog.
Ed brought up a very good point about the bright highlights but I want to mention that the composition is superb, Ola. I have never thought about this V shape foreground (usually more like an inverted V, rather) and I think it works rather well.
@Adhika_Lie I like the V shaped path too. Our Swedish friend @Ola_Jovall may not be familiar with the American poet Robert Frost, but the paths in this image reminded me of his poem “The Road Not Taken”
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could…
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
@Ed_McGuirk and @Adhika_Lie, thanks for your kind comments. Ed, your adjustments works very well, I will try to apply them! The poem is very well found.
