The Bighorn fire in the Catalina Mountains near Tucson burned for over a month. Lots of smoke some days, which made for more dramatic sunrises as the fire moved to the eastern side of the mountain range.
Hi Tony,
I like the layers and the colours in this shot. To answer your question the sun doesn’t;y look too big to me as in that it looks realistic. Compositionally though I do find it dominant as it strongly draws my eye towards the sun and I spend little time on the ridges. I’m not suggesting that isn’t a worthwhile effect though.
Tony, this is a really cool shot, I love the atmospherics that you have with the smoke here. The ridgelines are pretty interesting and your comp has arranged them very nicely. Processing looks excellent (as I would expect).
In terms of composition, I think you are asking two different, but sort of related questions. Is the sun too big? And I think you are also asking does the size of the sun compete too much for attention with the ridges?
I don’t think the size of the sun looks too big (or unnatural). However for my taste, I wish there was a little more breathing room above the sun, it feels too tight to the top edge. If you added some space above, I guess on a defacto basis it would make the sun appear smaller, but more importantly less cramped.
Whether you added space or not, I do not think the sun overwhelms the ridges. The dynamic shape of the third ridge is very powerful visually, and really grabs my attention. My eye then wanders to the pastel tones around it.
The sun is so strong that it hurts to look at it. Maybe a drop in saturation and/or tonal value would help. This is a pretty stylized image so it’s a bit hard to comment on taste. For me, the opposing saturated colors just feel to harsh. Perhaps a smaller sun would diminish that feeling.
I like it, Tony. The sun does not look too large to me. The contrast of warm and cool colors works I think. I would apply a heavy noise reduction filter to the mountains. Only the ridgelines need to be sharp and I see a lot of noise on my monitor. JMHO of course.
The sun looks like a natural size and looks good at the small size. When viewed at the large, I find it hard to look at anything but the sun. It is a super magnet for my attention, despite the fact I think the ridges should be the star of the show. The smoke sure made for some beautiful conditions.
Very useful responses. Thanks.
@Michael_Lowe, I actually experimented adding grain to this image as the mountains seemed too homogeneous otherwise. But in a web-size image, I can appreciate this looks like noise.
@Ed_McGuirk, I actually cropped this image removing some of the sky, I might add it back. But I’m thinking of maybe switching to a different comp where the sun is just starting to peek above the mountains. This might address the concerns of @Nathan_Klein, @Igor_Doncov, and @Harley_Goldman.
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Exquisite image as is. I looked at it for a long while before reading the other comments and came up with no suggestions. Seems perfect to me.
I am a bit with Igor on the saturation side, Tony, but all in all, I think the entire image works for me (size, composition, etc). The grain is an interesting technique. I have encountered a similar problem as far as detail on distant land is concerned. Very interesting technique.
Wonderful dramatic image, Tony. Iind the comments quite instructive. I especially agree that the saturation of the sun could be reduced some and that adding back some of your crop at the top would help to make the sun less harsh. Great image.
Tony
This photo really caught my eye. I think it is fine as is, but the other posters make a valid point about the sun being so dominant. It draws my eye too. I wonder if maybe taking a sample of that pinkish/blue color that is on the rest of the sky and the high ridges and painting it a little with a low opacity over the sun would back the sun off a little?
Dazzling ridges and sensitive value gradations.
The sun draws a lot of attention. To me it seems unnaturally sharp edged given the smoky atmosphere.
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Lots of great cc! I love the mood of this image! For my personal taste, it feels a little too saturated but not overly so. I love how my eye starts at the ridge in the bottom left and weaves through the layers up to the sun. This is where I get stuck. For such a hazy atmosphere, my brain expects the outline of the sun to also be hazy but here it’s very defined. Overall, I like the comp and wish I had been there to see this sunrise!