One of about a dozen snapshots I took on a hike. No planning as the sky was opening up as I hiked and I was scurrying just to get an open view before the sun went down.
Single RAW image processed in CO12. I tried to blend in some fg detail, but settled on the more dramatic look. Reminded me of a Pete Turner album cover, so I went with it.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
Any and all.
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Any and all.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
If you would like your image to be eligible for a feature on the NPN Instagram (@NaturePhotoNet), add the tag ‘ig’ and leave your Instagram username below.
You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
Chris,
Gorgeous sky! I have great memories of some dramatic and beautiful sunrises and sunsets in AZ - specifically Tucson. Great find of cacti and good choice keeping a silhouette.
I did notice in the larger view it looks like some leftover selection or attempt to increase shadow detail; there’s haloing of some sort around all the saguaro. If you want to leave as silhouette, you might go back to your master file and find which layer is creating the halo. Not so noticeable in the small version, but fairly obvious in the large view. The scene/image is certainly worth going back and correcting.
Lon
The light in this scene is wonderful and I like the choice to capture the saguaro’s as silhouettes. A couple minor critiques would be that the horizon line appears to be tilted a bit counterclockwise and the brightest highlights appear to be blown. Those are both very minor nits on what is otherwise a fine image.
@Lon_Overacker I had a really weird combination of clarity and hdr settings which caused the halo. Thanks for that catch.
@Brian_Schrayer Thanks for pointing out the horizon line tilt. I sort of liked the highlight edges being blown, but not the blown clouds. I may continue to try some blending, though. Thanks for the comments.
New image above which corrects the halos and tilt.
As Lon mentioned the sky looks great. But overall the image looks too dark. It feels as the the exposure was made to not clip the brightest part of the sky and allow all the other tones fall where they may. The land is too dark for my taste.
Chris, the light and clouds here are gorgeous, and the silhouette shapes of the cactus are very powerful. As such, it’s worth tweaking the processing a bit to get the most out of it that you can, and you have already got some helpful comments. I agree with @Igor_Doncov, the sky feels a bit dark to me, i would try to increase the luminosity of the mid-tones in the sky. While this is very subjective, and a matter of personal taste, I find myself slightly bothered by the merger of the mountain with the cactus silhouette. If your personal ethics are good with this type of thing, you may want to consider cloning it away. I have done a rework reflecting increased mid-tone luminosity, and the clone.
I really like the composition and the sky is wonderful. I think Ed’s tweaks address the things others have mentioned.
-P
@Ed_McGuirk
Thanks for the input. The cloning work is great; a big improvement I feel.
Chris, great photo! I love the light and don’t think the sky is too dark. In fact, I would darken slightly the top center part (the cloudless part) to keep the eye from drifting up there. Like so:
@Tony_Siciliano That’s a brilliant idea; brings out a bit more detail in the sky. Thx
@Ed_McGuirk Did you use the stamp cloning tool for this? I want to work on this today, and the stamp is the only tool I’ve used for cloning, but am leery about it working properly. Looking for suggestions.
Thx.
