An image from the Yosemite backcountry
Any, but in particular, I am curious what people think about the white balance.
Any, in particular, I wondering if I should remove the large tree on the right edge.
Single exposure shot with a Sony NEX-7 and Sony 10-18mm lense at 11mm (f11, 1/200th sec, ISO 100).
Oooo nice and dramatic! I like the cool white balance, though I find that I like them cooler than most.
I think you should do something about the tree on the right. Cropping would offset the mountain away from the center of the image, and I really like this aspect ratio and the centered composition. To keep that look I instead suggest stretching the right third of the frame until the tree is out of the frame:
I know some people’s processing ethics don’t include stretching or warping, but that’s what I would do here. The tree isn’t so bad though, this image is still great with or without it.
I also added a vignette, but made sure not to apply it to the darks of the image by applying an inverted darks luminosity mask to it. I think it helps compliment the composition and leading lines into the center of the frame.
Brent thanks a lot for the comments and editing suggestions. I was thinking about trying to get rid of that tree by splitting the image in half and warping the right side. But just warping the right third of the image is an even better idea! And it does look better with the vignette
Luiz, this is a wonderful reflection. I like your processing of the sky here, it is very dramatic. I think your white balance is ever so slightly cool. The shadow look good, but to my taste you could warm up the highlights a little to get some more color contrast. I like the symmetrical composition, the spacing of the trees is good, especially if you make @Brent_Clark 's suggested change. But I feel like there is too much empty negative space at the bottom that is not adding much (and it is too bright there). This changes the intent of the image as you conceived it, but I might consider a more panoramic composition and crop away a portion of the bottom. I downloaded Brent’s repost, cropped and darkened the bottom, and added a small amount of PS Photo Warming Filter to the highlights via a TK Lights 2 selection. I think the pano puts more emphasis on mountains and trees.
This is a great location and the photograph really captures its natural beauty. I love the wide view, which adds a lot of depth to the scene. The clouds and the light there provide another interesting dimension to the scene.
I do find the image to be quite dark overall. I have noticed the same thing with most grand-scenic landscape images posted on the Internet these days. Perhaps it is a issue of style. Nevertheless, this is a lovely photograph. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Anil, thank you very much. Yeah, I am a big fan of the dark processing style. When I first got into Landscape Photography, I was really inspired by the dark processing styles I saw from Ryan Dyar, Miles Morgan, David Thompson, Alex Noriega, and Ted Gore, and these guys still serve as a main source of inspiration for me.
I’ve just always enjoyed how dark and foreboding many of their images are and that is what I try to go for in a lot of images.
@Ed_McGuirk Thank you so much for the critique. I like the warming adjustment that you made, and I do think that is a better overall white balance for the image. I will be sure to incorporate that adjustment when I go back and re-edit the image.
The crop you did sure has me thinking. When I composed this show in the field, the storm clouds were an important focus for me, but the crop you did to focus the image more on the mountain and trees sure is pleasing and feels more balanced. Thanks again!
Thank your for your response Luiz. I always like to hear the photographer’s intention as this helps me appreciate their work to greater extend.
I look forward to seeing more your work.
Thanks again everyone for the help with this image. I took another crack at it, and I warmed the image up a bit (particularly in the highlights), I added some more contrast to the sky, warped that tree on the right out of the image, and I did some additional clean up work. Here, is the end result.
Thank you
