My effort to photograph a local barn owl has not borne any results so I continue working on the images I made from the few trips I made to Death Valley this winter. This is one iconic wash in the area with some dramatic lighting. I want to put emphasis on the texture, the contrast, and the shapes in the image and B&W seems to be the right way to go. Also, I couldn’t get the color right when I boost the contrast on the hazy scene.
As always, all feedback, comments, and critiques are most welcome!
D500, 300mm, f/8, 1/400, ISO 250. Cropped to a panorama.
I really love this composition , initially it is about the shadows and highlights, but as I study further the foreground details are wonderful to study. You mention the haze, I think it is creating a “muddy” effect in the distance, that for me is the only nit that I find less appealing, but certainly not a deal breaker. Hopefully that makes sense.
Adhika, I quite like this one. It has beautiful lighting and real nice depth and structure. It is very much a personal interpretation, but I would bring in the black and white points to add quite a bit of contrast and make the lighted area really jump out. My kind of image and fine takeaway from DV.
Your B&W treatment of this scene creates a lot of impact. They are subtle, but I especially like the way the badlands look along the bottom edge of the image. The composition is very strong, and really gets my eye moving around the image. If this were mine, I might consider burning down the top edge of the frame to place more emphasis on the light hitting the wash, and the mountain in the right half. But overall this a great B&W, nicely done.
I can also see what Alan said about the “muddy” look. It could be because there is less tonal variation in the distance and I also agree that the bright wash can be emphasized more. I try to do that by adding a bit of midtone contrast to the top part of the image. What do you guys think?
Adhika,
This B&W rendition from DV is quite lovely. I think the small tweak with the midtone contrast in the repost is the way to go as it has only elevated the mood IMO. This has an air of mystery to it as the light falls off into the other valleys that I quite like. Beautifully done!
@Harley_Goldman, while I like Adhika’s more subtle rework, I think your different take here works pretty darn well too. It’s amazing how much harder you can successfully “push” the processing of B&W images than you can color. One of the things that somewhat intimidates me from significantly delving into B&W landscapes is how many different interpretations you can generate from one base image, the possibilities can be almost overwhelming.
I have not progressed far enough to have developed a consistent B&W “personal style” with my images, which is part of why I’m reluctant to delve to deep into B&W, I’m afraid that I’ll spend too much time processing the same image multiple ways .
@Harley_Goldman: Whoaa, this is a different interpretation completely which I also find very enjoyable. There is definitely greater latitude in B&W processing and this is a good example just like @Ed_McGuirk has mentioned above.
You know, this is another case where I find the image unflattering without the border and now with Harley’s rework, I am thinking, perhaps the border inadvertently added a little contrast to the scene (since it is a pure white border) as @Igor_Doncov has alluded before. I should play with the black and white points as Harley has done here and see if it affects my perception without the border.
Love the scene and the composition is excellent. I can’t say there’s anything that needs fixin’ here - so from here on out it’s just personal preference.
Before seeing any re-worked or posted suggestions, I did my own the other day, but couldn’t get around to commenting.
My thought was a generic increase in micro-contrast, especially in the top half of the image; I just thought it needed a little more pop. I did that simply adding a Levels layer in soft light mode and adjust opacity way down. I also then painted out on the mask so the effect wasn’t as much at the bottom.
On the bottom area though, I dodged/painted some of the highlight ridges to bring them out just a little more for emphasis. Also a faux-vignette (burning top corners) to darken a little to emphasize where the main light was striking the landscape.
I like the white frames here… but alas, I don’t include that here. Hopefully the alternate processing still comes across.
Adhika. you’ve got a fine vision here, with lots of textures, shapes and the spotlighting. Seeing all of the different artistic views from others is also neat. In your original post, I was thinking that more contrast in the top section would be good. However, I didn’t find your redo to be an improvement, which has me thinking that luminosity burning there through one of the darks masks might be the way to go. I’m liking Lon’s vision for the top parts, although the brightness of his sunny area seems a bit too much.
Really fine work Ahika. I like both your rework and Harvey’s image the most. That ‘spotlight’ type of processing seems to have become common now among b&w fine art photographers. It’s very striking. Even some color image makers, like Guy Tal, are doing it now.
I really like the subtlety of the contrast in both images. The contrast is soft and invites exploring of the image. I also like the variety of luminosity from front to back; having a darker foreground object so large in the frame is unusual but really works well here. As a geologist I am in love with the landforms and erosional patterns. Well done!
Lon, I really like what you did with the top part. Although I am aware of this “plain level /curvelayer - soft light blend” formula but I have not used this a lot and often forget about it. Thanks for this nudge!
I work on it a little more and I think I am converging on this particular edit, with Lon’s suggestion on top and some minute adjustment on the foreground. There are so many ways to do this and I think what I want from this image will change in a few months. This is a fun exercise though!
Thanks so much, @Tony_Kuyper. Death Valley has been kind to me this year. I have been going every year since it’s just a stone throw away from LA and this is hands down the most productive year so far.
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