Thanks @Kris_Smith for pointing out the cyan cast to the scene. I have changed the tone globally and find it more realistic as you said. That is a tendency in my landscapes that I need to correct. Again, thanks. Since I was working with the tiff file I see I did not crop it as I did the original.
Critique Style Requested:Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This was taken during a photo workshop in Patagonia. The gentle curves of the stream making its way to the lake through the green Patagonian steppe caught my eye. The clump of grass in the LLC served as a starting point of interest. The clouds in the sky provided an excellent addition to the background of the mountain range. The finishing touch was the overall palate of blues and greens with accents of white.
Specific Feedback
Where to crop this image was a challenge. The large area of green steppe on the right does not have any particular interest, but I needed to give the stream as much space as it needed.
Technical Details
It was taken with my Sony RX100mvi. ISO 100, F/ll, 1/200 sec.
It was processed in LR & PS.
Barbara…
This is a great photo… when I first saw it I thought maybe Montana where I am now or Alaska where I used to live.
I like the depth of the river leading to the water. I do have trouble when I do photos like this keeping the mountains not having the blue haze reflection . I would like to know how to correct this… but it is what it looks like.
I can almost feel the heavy soaked grass under my feet. At least that’s my first reaction. The gentle nature of the stream itself works with the open space and very sunny conditions. Is it a seasonal stream? Looks like that might be a possibility. I think the palette works well, but I really struggle with the mountains. The cyan is so pronounced there and it carries somewhat into the stream as well. A lot of that is probably the reflection of the sky, but you could probably take it down globally a little and with a mask in the mountains. In the end the choice is yours, but it would present more realistically I think. Super place though - I almost made it to Patagonia, but just couldn’t take any more time when I was in Argentina.
Kristen, I don’t know if this is a seasonal stream. We were there in November, which was late spring. The chance of rain increases in the spring and fall there. I do see what you mean about the cyan in the mountains. I will work on taking it down. Thanks for the suggestion.
Sorry what I meant was… when taking photos with mountains in the distance and there is sun or some haze from the sun… the mountains reflect that. In actuality that’s the way it really looks…so leaving it as is is the best bet.
Question… I am confused that I get responses both on email and on the website. Which one should I be responding to? I check my email a lot but not the website…
sue
Kind words are great. Kind acts are greater.
~ Anthony Douglas Williams
I read them in my email, but I respond to them here on the website.
I understand what your are sayaing abou the atmospheric effects on objects at a distance. It is possible in postprocessing to dehaze a picture and use clarity to sharpen distant objects, but that isn’t the way our eye sees them. I have gone both ways. Now I am not as inclinded to make distant objects as clear as I used to.
I too have always had issues with blue haze in my photography. And those daytime shots just make it worse. I have in the past used a radial filter and placed it over the hill/mountain and warmed it up a touch. Sometimes it works and other times it doesn’t.
Barbara, the rework is much improved with the colors looking more natural. The blue haze “issue” is about how we humans “see”. Our brains automatically adjust colors to make them feel natural. In cases like this we see the distant mountains with very little of the blue haze/blue sky reflection that the cameras records. A common way in Photoshop to reduce the blue is to use a blue desaturation layer and mask it so that it only applied to the distant mountains.
Barbara,
I like the colors better in the rework, but much prefer the original crop as I love those clouds; and for me; are a crucial element in this scene. The stream is perfectly placed and draws the viewer nicely into the image. For my tastes I could see a little more blue removed from the mountains, but that is just a matter of personal preference as this is lovely.
@Jason_Ray_Photography, @Mark_Seaver, and @Ed_Lowe, thanks for the feedback on the two images. I am having a lot of difficulty with blue tones in my photos. They have tended toward the cyan. Now, I am struggling to make them look bluer but not overdone. I can see I still have work to do.
I’ve had some success playing with Selective Color for this kind of blue haze. Then tweak contrast, often with Detail Extractor. For most scenes the contrast would need to be masked to the worst areas.
