Wondering what you all think about this one. It was captured in Banff NP in rainy weather early in the morning on a backpacking trip. The light fell through an opening in the clouds for a few seconds and lit up the ridge I was descending. Barely had time to get out my camera before it was gone. That trip was pretty special, and as this was the only image I captured on that day, I feel like I may not be seeing it the same way other people might.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
I considered doing more of a square crop, and can’t decide if it’s a stronger image that way? I played with the colours for quite some time to balance them out. Is the OOF foreground in the lower left too distracting? Any and all feedback is welcome.
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Any.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Sony A7II, 20mm F8 single exposure handheld.
You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
This is wonderful! Simply because I wasn’t there is enough to say sure, I’m not going to see or feel the same as you did standing there experiencing this… but your image certainly takes me there - like I’m standing there looking down this ridge and imagining walking across…
You’ve captured the light on the mountain top beautifully. I wouldn’t crop. And no, the LL softness doesn’t bother me at all. Although I think you could probably content aware clone the brighter piece of shale(?) and also that white-ish rock next to it. I wouldn’t crop from the bottom to eliminate it; if anything I’m wishing for more wonderful light on rocks.
Given the sun is right behind the clouds up top, I don’t mind so much the hot edges around the hole in the sky - it’s quite accurate I’m sure.
This is excellent and you should be quite happy especially since this was your only image of the day. Awesome.
This is a really lovely image. I like your processing a lot, it’s very natural looking, and has nice highlights on the land. I would not crop this either, I like the symmetry of the bottom triangle wedge leading into the sunlit center ridgeline, then fannin gout again on both sides the other mountains and clouds. I think this composition is well balanced as presented. As for the soft rocks in the LLC, some extra clarity or sharpening applied locally might help.
I can see @Lon_Overacker point on the sky highlights being okay, though some folks might suggest recovering them slightly, to me it’s on the cusp of being okay / being an issue. However, I would suggest a light dodging of the other clouds lights areas to the left and right, for a little more tonal balance in the sky. The landscape looks good to me, exposure, contrast, WB look good to me.
I agree with @Lon_Overacker and @Ed_McGuirk, I wouldn’t mess with the crop at all. Regarding the soft lower left, you could try burning it down a bit perhaps as the main focal point should be the strip of light along the ridge drawing you into the scene. Speaking of which, I might brighten the light on the ridge just a smidge as I feel the immediate foreground is a big brighter and pulls the eye down the bottom edge.
I also agree with Ed re: the edges of the clouds but without playing with the RAW file myself it’s hard to say how I’d treat that area (if any differently from what you have done).
All that said, I love this scene! The way the sun is lighting up that ridge is spectacular. I can definitely see why you hurried to capture it before the light was lost.
