The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This is an image I took several years ago in Shenandoah National Park looking down on the Shenandoah valley. We were pretty much in the clouds for much of the day, but eventually the clouds started to clear and the valley was illuminated by shafts of light
Specific Feedback
This is an image I’ve worked on for awhile trying out different ways of conveying the striking lighting conditions. I’m interested in any suggestions, but particularly about the range of tones. I’ve tried lighter and darker versions, and some with more and less dodging and burning
Technical Details
Taken at 24mm focal length and f/9. This is a two image HDR merge with both global and local adjustments in Lightroom
Will, that is some lovely crepuscular light! I think your composition is excellent, and you’ve done a very nice job distinguishing the individual rays and accentuating how that light is playing across the forested landscape. If this were my image, I’d be inclined to see if I could use dodge/burn to pull a bit more contrast out of the clouds (darkening the darkest clouds slightly, and lightening the lighter cloud tones on the right. THis might be an image that would work well with a vignette, too. Don’t know if any of these suggestions would actually yield improvements, but that’s what I’d putter around with.
The only other think I notice is that the foreground area seems a bit soft. If you have something like Topaz Labs DeNoise AI, perhaps use the “low light” option, which I think does a better job sharpening than any of the Topaz Lab Sharpening AI settings/ Here, I’d probably apply a mask so that the sharpening was limited to the foreground, and let the more distant tree canopy remain soft. Again, this would just be an experiment; doing so might not fit with your vision at all.
