A couple friends and I went backpacking on Mt. Rainier a month ago. I’m running behind on processing images, so I decided to skip ahead and post from our trip so I didn’t end up posting snow images in the middle of summer.
The second day, the clouds played through and along the Tatoosh Range for most of the day. Since the sun was also in that direction, it made for interesting lighting. It was pretty harsh, so I decided to play with black and white.
Specific Feedback Requested
I find converting to black and white to be an interesting process; there are so many ways you can take it that it’s easy for me to be overwhelmed by the choices. Any thoughts on how to improve are greatly appreciated. I’m happy to post the original color version if anyone is interested.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
FUJIFILM X-T30
FUJIFILM XF 18-55mm F2.8-4 R LM OIS at 50.5 mm (76 mm equivalent)
1/1000 at f/11.0 and ISO 160
Great scene and excellent mood. Very dramatic scene. A couple of minor thoughts, I might burn the highs on the cloud along the top edge and would bring up the snow ridge along the bottom on the left side to pull out some more contrast (would not take much). Those are getting picky, as I quite like the image.
John, great image for B&W, the conditions look epic. I’ve only been to Rainier a couple times in the summer, it must be an amazing place to experience in winter, especially when you have weather like this. I think your B&W processing looks good, the dark sky is effective and I love the way those little trees on the ridge look. I do agree with @Harley_Goldman about adding some contrast in the LLC. And I also think you could add a slight bit more midtone contrast in the misty mountain area (subjective personal taste comment). Again, this is subjective too, but my preference would be to crop from the right and take this to a 5 by 7 aspect ratio. I think it would place added emphasis on the foreground trees and mountains, without losing much of importance.
What I like the most about this image is the light and the atmosphere. It looks as though this was shot directly into the sun. and that may be giving it that airy look to it. The bent trees could be an issue depending if you’re one of those people that likes to straighten up things all the time. Overall, I think their angular quality is one of the more intriguing qualities about the image. I can only suggest the normal things one says. The black trees on both sides don’t have much tonal variation. That’s probably due to being shot into the sunlight. So they look natural but aesthetics tell you to generate more texture.
Oh wow! This is awesome! The foreground slope makes me want to snowboard down it! I’ve been to Mt Rainier only twice and it was in the summer, didn’t actually climb it but some of the peaks beside it. But winter hiking is the best!
I really like the composition! I wish the mountains could be a little more detailed but it looks like they’re kind of in clouds.
Great capture!
Beautiful photo. The black and white conversion is very well done. Any nits I have are very minor. I think cropping from the right would unbalance the image; the trees on both edges balance and frame the image. My minor nit is that I would like to see more of the small ridge on the bottom.
Great choice to go b&w! This is approaching spectacular! Great atmosphere as Harley points out and just a fabulous job overall in the conversion.
The only suggestion I have - and I really wouldn’t have picked up on it unless mentioned by Ed and Harley about the contrast, LL; for me primarily the tree shadows in that area - I think I would expect the shadows to be darker, more contrasty with surrounding snow. Otherwise, this looks awesome!
