I took this shot of Mt. Hood standing on the I-5 overpass in Portland.
Type of Critique Requested
Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
Technical: Feedback on the technical aspects of the image, such as exposure, color, focus and reproduction of colors and details, post-processing, and print quality.
Specific Feedback and Self-Critique
Any comments and critiques most welcome. Personally, I have an issue with the right side where the sky meets the land. There is something going on there that is creating a light band just where these two places meet. I am a intermediate Photoshop user, and have tried a number of things (including Clone Stamping) to repair.
I see the banding and I am sorry but I don’t really know of a way to remedy that issue.
I’m pretty savvy with Ps, but I haven’t found a way to fix banding other than blurring in very minor areas.
This image seems kind of odd in that it appears to have some amount of a gradient paint layer, gradient paint layers are bad for causing banding issues.
The FG area has some banding as well and it seems like a gradient paint layer there as well because there’s very little detail in the waves of the water, could just be my tired old eyes though
I do remember someone talking about a specific software designed for banding issues but I can’t recall the name of it because I just haven’t had the need for it.
Maybe a Google search could produce some favorable results?
First, I am glad you came away unscathed from the traffic on I-5. I like the image. The pink sunset color looks natural to me, and the water reflecting the sky color and the marina with the narrow water coming into the wider water makes a nice composition. I am not skilled at dealing with banding either, but I will suggest selecting sky as a local mask in Lightroom Clsasic and then pulling the texture and clarity sliders left until - hopefully - the banding goes away. Perhaps what @scott_fenton alludes to as banding in the foreground may just be ripples in the water that look OK to me. Lovely, image.
Just gorgeous. The light and colors are beautiful. Hope you were safe on the overpass! But sure glad you were able to capture and share. Might be a daily view in Portland… but for sure a special view for the rest of us.
I can’t speak to the banding issues, although I do see the issues. I’m wondering what the RAW file looks like. No doubt many processing techniques or tools can cause this. I’m just not sure what to suggest other than going back to the RAW. And I hope you can figure it out - this is most certainly print worthy!
Thanks Mervin, appreciate the feedback. This photo I posted in not hi-res, and banding does not show in the hi-res version. Hopefully other members who are better versed in PS have some ideas.
Scott, what a cool scene. I have never been brave enough to get on the I5 shoulder. Well done and very brave, sir.
Regarding the banding. Often this happens when we convert from a higher dynamic color profile to sRGB for JPG. It’s then compounded by converting to JPG especially at a lower quality setting. That sky has such a subtle gradient that sRGB and JPG just can’t handle it. I would try saving it as a full size Tiff file then open in Photoshop and convert it to sRGB. Then save it as JPG at the highest setting (10 I think) to see what you get. I think you still might find some artifacts, but maybe fewer. Good luck.
Excellent! Glad you found it helpful. I had the same issue with some sunrise/set photos from Badlands NP last summer. So. Very. Frustrating. But now solvable!
