Sorry but this is another perspective from the same shoot that I posted here a couple of days ago. This is a location that I probably won’t return to and am hoping for something worthy from it even though we had less than ideal conditions as far as the sky was concerned (and I’m not up to doing sky replacements at this time).
Specific Feedback Requested
Really would appreciate feedback on the composition and thoughts about the lighting and contrast in general - all comments welcome.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
SS 1/15, ISO 50 , f18 (to capture the sunstar) at 16mm.
Processed in both LR and PS to hopefully bring out the colours as I saw them and to enhance the light on the rocks
shotbysammii
No need to worry. A lot of members here post a series of images from the same shoot. Another common practice is to to show 2 similar images in the same post and solicit input, including which image of the two that a viewer prefers the most. Either way works, we are pretty laid back here at NPN.
I think your processing works pretty well here, your processing of shadow detail looks good, so you handled a difficult dynamic range situation well. You kept your shadow areas cool-ish in WB, a common issue is some people tend to over-warmup sunrise images, and warm shadow areas can look un-natural. You have a lot of contrast here and a deep black point. Personally I think it works for this type of subject, and as I already said you maintained good shadow detail. If I had to suggest anything from a processing standpoint, I would recommend burning the highlights in the water in the lower right corner (LRC). The brightness in the LRC competes a bit with the sunrise in the center, I think you want to make the center of this image be the brightest area.
In terms of composition, I think this is pretty well balanced. I think you left just the right amount of space to the right of the big pointy rock. My only nitpick from a composition perspective is that some of the foreground boulders feel a bit awkwardly cut off by the bottom frame edge. I think I might have preferred to see either more of these boulders, or alternatively an even tighter crop. Some of them are cut off right near the bottom of them, which looks slightly accidental. I would prefer to see a more deliberate cropping decision. This is a minor nitpick on an other wise good image, but getting comments on little subtle things like this is one of the strengths of NPN
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Hello, @Sammi_Wilson I pulled up both of the images and looked at them side by side. I like the first one a lot more. Something is lost with the two central rocks being cut off. In the first image the outside rocks act as a funnel and then the two smaller internal rocks mirror that again. When they are cut off, they seem to lose a bit of that.
Personally, I would like to see a bit brighter processing in the lower half of the image, but I understand the dynamic range in this was probably one of the more challenging aspects. That rock on the right side is worth making a ton of images though!
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@Ed_McGuirk and @David_Wallace Thank you both for your responses - really appreciate your input. Yes the dynamic range, and the fact that there was 6 of us lined up across the small entrance to a cave where this was shot was a bit limiting lol.
Always good to have different interpretations and suggestions for improvement!
