After taking in the classic view of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and the Lower Falls, we hiked a mile loop to “Point Sublime”. Predicted rain turned to snow showers passing through the canyon as we walked. I was psyched to take what is my first “proper” photo of a rainbow, except it wasn’t light refracting off rain but snow, hence the title. This is the first image I have shared for critique on NPN.
Specific Feedback Requested
I purposely chose a tight composition, with no sky and the rainbow cutting through the image. When editing (Lightroom only) I wanted to add some contrast but not too much because the snow was making the general scene hazy. I tried to brighten and saturate the rainbow was much as naturally possible. How do you find the composition and the editing? Do you have any thoughts for improvement? Thank you
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Fujifilm X-T3, Fujinon XF 18-55mm at 48mm, f9, 1/140, ISO400
Hi Kirsten, welcome to NPN! And a really nice first post too. I really like how the snowbow sort of aligns with the hills on the right. I also really like the snow above and less below.
The colors and contrast look fine to me. I can’t think of anything to change here. Awesome first image and can’t wait to see more of your work.
@David_Bostock Thanks for the welcome and your kind comments. The stunning conditions were just presented to me and all I had to do was push the shutter button - isn’t it fun when we get lucky in photography?
@Igor_Doncov Thank you for the welcome and for pointing out what you like about the image. I think I subconciously realised I liked those repeating cliffs and that’s why I cropped in a bit more and left the sky out.
Hi and welcome to NPN! I’ve never seen a snowbow quite this big before. All those tiny refracting flakes - truly special. And you’ve shot it well. The haze is still there, but the colors come through nicely. I’m toying with a scroll crop off the top, but I’m not sold.
@Kris_Smith Thank you very much for your comment Kristen. I had never seen a snowbow before so was completely floored by the moment but luckily it stuck around for a bit longer so I could grab a couple of shots. I think I also toyed with a couple of different crops, but enjoyed that small V at the top of the image, where the snow is heading off further down the canyon. What an amazing place Yellowstone is!
Welcome to NPN Kirsten, this is a great first post. Snowbow, not that is very cool. I like your composition, the strong diagonal lines of the cliffs on the left add a tremendous amount to the impact of the image. With all the diagonal lines here you have a pretty dynamic image.
In terms of suggestions, I would add some midtone contrast, and add vignetting to the edges of the image to draw more attention to the cente rof the image. And on a purely subjective basis, I would slightly warm the image, although that is a matter of personal taste. Here is a rework I did reflecting all 3 of those suggestions.
@Ed_McGuirk Hi Ed, thanks so much for the welcome and for your kind comments. I appreciate you taking the time to edit my image and your thoughts around this. I love what you did.
White balance temperature is definitely something I struggle with, mostly because my laptop has a terrible screen that I’ve never calibrated. As for the vignette, I did try to do this very subtly in my original but I will definitely think about adding a bit more now I know the image can handle it. I had a question about the midtone contrast - did you achieve this in Lr or Ps and what were your settings, if I may ask?
There are a number of ways to achieve an increase in midtone contrast. I used TK Luminosity Masks, applying a TK Midtones 1 selection to a curves adjustment layer, and then setting the blending mode of the adjustment layer to soft light. If that is over your head, there are simpler ways to achieve similar results. From with Lightroom you can go to the tone curve and move the lights slider to the right, and the darks slider to the left. If done gently enough, this creates an S-shape in the tone curve, adding contrast to the midtones, without affecting highlights or deep shadows. You could also go to Photoshop and just create an S-curve in a Curves adjustment layer directly, which also does more or less the same thing.
