Skálafellsjökull at First Light

[jefflafrenierre]

I am a professor of geography, and my research expertise is in glacier change. I am fascinated by glaciers, and my desire to create higher quality images of the glaciers I get to visit has been my major motivation for returning to photography more seriously. This is the first of several glacier images I made while in Iceland this past August that I will post for your critique.

This image was made from the right lateral moraine of Skálafellsjökull, one of the large outlet glaciers of the Vatnajökull Ice Cap. My wife and I backpacked out about 5 km to find a view down the tongue of the glacier that would frame the rising sun coming over the mountains beyond. This and the second posted image are the best of what I made with this general composition. I like this image because of the tension between the cold, bluish ice and the warm sky, and the upper atmosphere haze (possibly from North American wildfires) adds a bit of the apocalyptic dread that I often feel doing glacier research in a rapidly warming world. I do wish, however, that the shape of the glacier was more apparent . Here, I’m too close to the ice, in a place where it surface lacks much in the way of pattern, to have made the image that I had previsualized.

The second image was made a few minutes prior. It has the advantage of having a better sense of the shape of the glacier (and the nice color in the sky), but doesn’t feel quite as dramatic to me. Which do you like better?

Specific Feedback Requested

Any and all feedback, as per usual. Composition, execution, post-processing, etc. I ultimately would like to build a portfolio of images that I can display, perhaps temporarily in the art gallery at my college. Do either of these make the grade?

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
The first image, with the rising sun, is an exposure blend in Photoshop that combines an exposure for the sky/ground and an exposure for the ice, using layer masking. The second image below, predawn, was created using HDR photo merge in Lightroom. I’ve done a fair amount of further processing to balance tones in both images. The most significant change in both is that I have done some dodging on the ice, using a color luminosity mask targeting the blues. I’ve also selectively applied contrast, and lightened the distant ground fog a bit. I also applied Topaz Sharpen AI and Topaz DeNoise AI to both.

Skálafellsjökull at First Light: 70 mm, ISO 100, f/11 at 1/15 second and 1/30 second.

Skálafellsjökull Predawn: 25 mm, ISO 400, f/11, at 1/5 second and 1/20 second.

jefflafrenierre

[Igor_Doncov]

As you say the first one tells a story better than the second perhaps. But the second one has better overall colors. In the first image I would saturate the blues some so that it shows up in the ice. I would shift the oranges and yellows towards the red part of the spectrum to make the sky more fiery. Try that and see if how you like it.

[Diane_Miller]

I prefer the second, as it shows more context and has strong colors. It feels more dramatic to me, but I think you might increase contrast on the ice a bit.

I wish you tremendous luck in showing the world what is happening to our environment. I’m curious how this compares to its appearance maybe 20 years ago.

[Harley_Goldman]

Definitely the first one for me. I like its emphasis on the glacier detail, which to me is the heart of the image. I like Igor’s suggestion regarding the sky.

[Kerry_Gordon]

My first impulse was a preference for the second image but on reflection it is the first that captures my attention because, as Harley suggested, it tells the deeper story, which isn’t about the sunrise but about the glacier itself. I have just finished Andri Magnason’s “Of Time and Water” which gives this image even more impact. I applaud your desire to share this magnificent landscape with others and perhaps help in some way to awaken us all to how close we have come to the extinction, not just of species but of glaciers themselves.

[Chris_Calohan]

I tend to like the second one the most because of the fire and ice connotation. Regardless of what the non science believers refuse to acknowledge, the earth is warming and the glaciers are disappearing at an alarming rate. Glacier NP is almost devoid of any semblance of glacial activity. The difference between when I was at Glacier NP in 2008 and 2018 was startling. I would as Diane suggested, perhaps give the ice more contrast and perhaps bump up the blue a slight bit more in the upper right side of the sky to help balance the blue of the ice.

[David_Haynes]

What a wonderful research field you’re in Jeff. I’ll bet you have some stories to tell that would frighten most people.
Regarding your image, there’s no doubt that the second image is more colorful but it’s the first image that tells more of the story I think you’re trying to portray. I would like to see even more blue in the ice and I like @Igor_Doncov suggestion to move the yellows more towards red slightly. Is this full frame or did you crop some out? I might like more earth beneath the ice in the LLC and all along the bottom to give better balance. Not sure if that would work but the ice feels heavy with nothing supporting it in the LLC. Just a feeling that could be totally wrong. LOL Would love to see more of your glacier images.

[jefflafrenierre]

Thank you @Igor_Doncov @Diane_Miller @Harley_Goldman @Kerry_Gordon @Chris_Calohan and @David_Haynes for your feedback. I’m surprised that there was a pretty even split in which image was preferred. I have uploaded a modified version of the first image with more saturation and contrast in the ice (which is a definite improvement, I think) and with a color balance adjustment in the highlight and midtones to add in a bit of red and magenta. I’m not sure about the sky adjustment, honestly. I’m afraid it makes the image a bit more unrealistic; I also find the smoky, sickly yellow tone of the sky to be a more jarring contrast with the cool blue of the ice, which is more in line with the story this image tells. A move towards the fiery red also kind of plays into the fire and ice trope which is a bit cliched in Iceland, I think.

In any case, I’d appreciate hearing which sky you like better, more yellow or more red. And maybe more on point, I’d really like to hear if the adjustments I’ve applied are too heavy-handed or could be done in a more aesthetically-pleasing way. I’m still a beginner at many of these tools, and I prefer to err on the side of subtlety rather than risk the mistake of over processing.

This image is full-frame, so no more ground to below the ice. The pre-dawn image is cropped from the bottom to remove a very distracting pool of water that grabs the eye too strongly. But I agree, David, that more ground under the ice in both images would provide better balance.

I’ll futz with the predawn image as well to color adjust as several of you have suggested, and post that one later.

Thanks again, everyone. I’m really learning a lot from this community. Hopefully at some point I’ll be able to give feedback as valuable as that I receive.

[David_Haynes]

I prefer the redo Jeff. Nice and subtle but clicking back and forth between the two shows good improvement both in the bluer ice and the reddish sky. Looking forward to more of your images.

[Ed_McGuirk]

Jeff , I prefer the first image (the reworked version), from an artistic perspective. The glacier is more clearly dominant, and the mountain and sky are more clearly in supporting roles. In the second image the more dramatic clouds slightly compete for attention with the glacier. Also I prefer the luminosity and the highlights in the ice in the first image. The glacier just looks more imposing in the first image.

My only minor nitpick of the reworked first image is that the sky feels slightly cramped at the top edge. Here is a rework where I have added 3% blank canvas, and used PS Content Aware Fill to add some more sky (if your ethics allow for that sort of thing). PS CAF did a great job. Just to illustrate the effect of a bit more breathing room at the top.

[Ed_McGuirk]

@jefflafrenierre

I’m really learning a lot from this community. Hopefully at some point I’ll be able to give feedback as valuable as that I receive.

Don’t be shy about commenting on images posted by others, even if you feel like you are still in learning mode. Sometimes the act of simply having to verbalize what you either like or don’t like about someone else’s image can be a good learning experience for you. One that can also carry over to your own images.

[Igor_Doncov]

@jefflafrenierre

I’m really learning a lot from this community. Hopefully at some point I’ll be able to give feedback as valuable as that I receive.

You already have. The rework you did on Ed’s image was an improvement and my favorite of all attempts.

[jefflafrenierre]

@Ed_McGuirk

Here is a rework where I have added 3% blank canvas, and used PS Content Aware Fill to add some more sky (if your ethics allow for that sort of thing). PS CAF did a great job.

Thanks for this suggestion @Ed_McGuirk . I’m not sure where this would fall on my ethical scoresheet. Generally speaking, I am willing to somewhat enhance what the camera captured but I am not willing to add features that didn’t actually exist or to significantly change the shape/color of a feature. But, the sky was there and it did look like that, I just didn’t get that in the frame. So, I guess by my ethical standards, it shouldn’t be any different than cropping a bit off an image to remove something that was there, right? In the end, while I can see the value of the added space, I could also see the duplications made in the Content Aware Fill. Would anybody not pixel-peeping? Probably not, it really does a fine job. But once seen, I can’t unsee it, so I am going to stay with the original frame.

Your comment about the competition between the sky and the ice in the second (pre-dawn) image really hit home for me. While that image may be the more conventionally pretty with that nice colorful sky, that isn’t the story I want the image to tell. This realization helps me realize the first composition (sunrise) is really the one I like best. Thanks for providing clarity.

[Ed_McGuirk]

@jefflafrenierre

Thanks for this suggestion @Ed_McGuirk . I’m not sure where this would fall on my ethical scoresheet.

My primary intent with the rework was to illustrate the potential benefit of having composed the image with more sky while taking the shot. Everyone has their own sense of how far they want to go in PS, and that’s fine. But I really used CAF to show what it might have looked like if it had been composed with more sky. Having a slight bit more of breathing room at the top made a subtle but noticeable difference for me.