I just returned from five days of fun in the swamps and marshes of NW Florida. Loved every second of it, but especially the long, hot shower I had last night when I arrived home. Five days in the field without a shower makes for a stinky boy!
Wow, I just glanced around for a minute before posting but there is some great work being shared in Landscape currently! I’ll be back a little later to catch up on commenting!
In this shot I was shooting the sunrise over a huge expanse of marsh in front of me, but when I turned around this scene looked beautiful as well. The soft light reminded me somewhat of the Lake District in England (something I’ve NEVER said about Florida before!) This is five images focus stacked using Helicon Focus and I used the Velvia emulation with Fuji. First time I’ve done that as well.
Specific Feedback Requested
Obviously, I would appreciate any and all comments, but especially about the color. Does the Velvia emulation work? Also, if you see any issues/problems with the focus stacking please let me know.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Fuji GFX50S w/ 45-100 @ 100mm (79mm - 35mm equivalent)
1/60 @ f/10, 320 ISO, tripod
Lovely image Bill. The colors look good to me. I haven’t used that profile myself very much but for this image it looks good. My experience has been that you need really good light for these profiles to shine and by that I mean a limited dynamic range. I’ve been thinking recently that since Fuji is trying to duplicate the profiles from its film days, and those films had a limit of dynamic range, that perhaps these profiles are similarly appropriate for a more restrictive dynamic range. It’s just a theory at this time. But images I’ve taken in more contrasty conditions don’t look nearly as good in terms of color profiles. They seem to require more aggressive processing.
That is a really great image Bill, it has has a very calm gentle mood to it. I like that you kept the colors relatively cooler and to me any ways, less saturated,. which helps with the calm and gentle feeling. I used to shoot Velvia 50 about 20 years ago, and to me this emulation doesn’t really remind me of Velvia 50. Yes the greens are nice, but overall this looks nowhere near as saturated or contrasty as Velvia 50 did. Velvia greens were more intense than this too. However, with that said, in the case of this image the processing looks great, whether it come from from the emulation and/or your processing. The fog and soft light call for more gentle colors, and that’s what you have delivered here.
A couple of very nitpick suggestions. I would consider cloning away the partial tree that merges with the left side of the palm trees, and even more pickier, the horizontal fallen log to the right of the palms.
Igor - I agree with your “theory” concerning the low dynamic range of the emulation corresponding to the actual low dynamic range of Velvia itself. At least it makes sense in theory. When I first saw this scene, I immediatelt thought the scene itself looks like an image captured in Velvia so that’s why I used it. It’s the first time I’ve used the emulation successfully. It doesn’t completely look like Velvia but it looks better than the Provia emulation I usually use.
Ed - I used to use Velvia and Ektachrome back in the film days, but mostly Ektachrome because I was not a huge fan of Velvia except in limited cases. I agree the emulation isn’t exact by any means but I did think the pale blues looked a lot like the old Velvia. Thanks for the cloning suggestions - I will definitely clone the small palm where it merges with the larger palm. I never even noticed it, thanks! I’m less sure about the fallen horizontal tree. At a larger size, it has actual nice detail and I thought it added something to the scene, but I could be wrong. I’ll get my wife to view it also and give her opinion before deciding there. At this small size, it does kinda look like a hitching post or something more manmade than natural. I may have two versions, cloned for smaller prints and included for 36" or wider.
I can’t speak to the Velvia emulation, having zero experience there, but the colors are wonderful to me. A very different palette than out here in the west. I like the two fallen logs in the foreground, also. The curve of the lowermost one matches the curve of the main foreground island, so it feels like it fits the scene.
This is a lovely image Bill. The colors work very well, they enhances the mood of the image. I have no knowledge on the Velvia emulation, could not help there. I could not find any problems with the focus stacking. A very minor comment, there is a light-grey log in the background inbetween the large trees that could be erased. It becomes a little bit disturbing when enlarging the image.
A wonderful image. I love the composition and the colors, although I didn’t like Velvia in the past (too saturated and contrasty for my taste). Your image has a gentle mood.
Nitpicking: I less like the dead branch and the tree stub in the lower left FG.
Hi Bill, this is a beautiful image … love the painterly feel of the light and colors. I know what you mean about reminding you somewhat of the Lakes (I’m from England and the Lakes were my old stomping ground) … but the palms give it away as not being the UK.
