I was fortunate to be able to head to the CA desert and the SW Utah this past week. The weather was unseasonably nice and very kind to photographers. I hope you enjoy this vignette of this Navajo Sandstone formation. All feedbacks are welcome!
Alternate version after some tweaking with darkening of the clouds and adding a little bit of Dehaze on the cliff face.
Nikon D750 and Nikkor 300mm f/4 PF at f/5.6, ISO 125, 1/40
@adhikalie
Adhika,
I would have bet any amount of money that I was looking at the face of Half Dome! But then I read your description and then noticed the more salmon colored stone. Not Half Dome. And that’s OK! Glorious conditions you found; I’m sure creating many other possibilities.
No nits or suggestion. Great job taking advantage of the conditions.
Lon
No nits or suggestions from me. I love how the mist/clouds frame the cliff face, seeming to emerge out of the mists of time.
That’s a pretty cool natural vignette, Adhika. Interesting that the atmosphere obscures the formation, suggesting its immense height, which it may well be. Nice that the varnish shows up more clearly in the middle, contributing to the vignette effect. I’m curious how this would work if the mist up top were darkened some, similar to the bottom portion, maybe it would offer a bit more moody effect, just a random thought.
Adhika, this scene really has a wonderful mysterious mood. I also like that you resisted the temptation to increase the colors in the stone.
Well done!
Sweet mood with the clouds, Adhika. I will have to echo my brother’s thoughts on this lovely scene.
Love the natural framing with the clouds. And I am with Lon. Due to the pattern of the stains, I thought for sure I was looking at the face of Half Dome in this image. Just marvelous. No editing suggestions. I think you nailed the exposure, contrast, and detail in this image.
I like it a lot! As most folks mentioned, that natural vignette is great. I bet you worked a lot to bring the structure/color of rock to cut through, but I would definitely try to make it one more step further to pop a bit more to create even bigger separation (Of course, it might not work).
Thanks, guys!
@Lon_Overacker and @Luiz_A_Arroyo Ha! You guys get it. That was my thought when I captured this, too. I toyed with the idea of making it into B&W and pass it as a half dome picture. Cheeky.
@Michael_Lowe and @Ed_Lowe: This idea of emergence from mist has been one of my fascinations for the longest time. I toy with that concept whenever the opportunity presents itself. You may remember this image I posted before. I wish I could chase bad weather full time. Thanks, guys. I am glad you enjoy the image!
@Alan_Kreyger: Thanks, Alan! I did play with the color a little bit on this image because I thought it could use a little bit more color, but it didn’t look/feel right to me and I ended up with this image. I am happy to hear that it’s working out for you, too.
@Bill_Leggett @Stefan-Condik : Thanks, Bill & Stefan. These are great ideas. I am gonna toy with them a little and see where they take me.
Really nice dreamy image, Adhika. Great mood!
I like this a lovely colour on the rock face and the misty shroud really accentuates the mystery and leaves you guessing the magnitude of the rock face.
Magnificent image Adhika, it has such a dreamy feeling to it. I agree with @Bill_Leggett and @Stefan-Condik about trying to darken / separate some of the darker tones and colors here for a little more pop. I played with using a TK Darks 2 selection and a Curves AL, pulling down on the curve, and I think it enhanced the black desert varnish. I’d also suggest darkening the red tones, while keeping them somewhat de-saturarated, this will be trickier to do without losing the soft feeling. But it is worth playing around with, this image is a gorgeous starting point, and I think you can tease a little more impact out of it with processing tweaks.
Thanks, @Ian_Cameron and @Ed_McGuirk! I toyed around with the ideas you guys have proposed and I have come up with something that I think looks better.
Thanks, @Bill_Leggett for the idea of darkening the clouds, I think it does make the cliff stands out better. @Ed_McGuirk, you are right, darkening the reddish stone is a little tricky. I played with ACR Dehaze and some other color-based selection combined with an HSL AL. Dehaze seems to work best here.
Adhika, I missed this on your original posting as I’ve been out of pocket as of late. Congratulations on the EP here. A very fine image. I do prefer your second image with the refined adjustments there…
Wow guys, thanks for the EP. I really appreciate it.
Adhika
A very interesting and unusual shot. I like it a lot! Congratulations on the WP!
Very ethereal Adhika. I like your alternate version.
I just love these types of scenes. I too thought it was Half Dome! I like what you did with the second image. Just perfect!
Gorgeous detail, full of atmosphere. Love it!
Grt, Ingrid.
