I have been sitting on this one for a little bit. I think it’s time to get some fresh perspectives. This is not one of those images that I immediately like but I have grown to enjoy it but it’s probably an emotional attachment after working on it for a few days. All feedbacks are most welcome.
This is a rather late morning image, but the filtered sun cast some interesting shadows across the landscape.
This is totally my kind of image and I like it a lot. I really like the contrast you have presented. I am finding the back of the canyon just a bit too dark, but it works as presented. Excellent vision and presentation and a fine image.
Love this. Great job isolating this composition. Since you’ve gone b&w with this you might be willing to take this a little further? Hard to tell the difference between dappled light and just the brightness and variation of the landscape, but looks to me like a combo of both. The only suggestion I have would be to exploit the difference - loosely dodge the lighter areas to emphasize the light/landscape of the natural drainage and alluvial fan at the bottom. At the same time, play with luminosity and contrast of the darker areas - Harley suggests it’s alittle dark up top… Raise the general luminosity, plus bring in the contrast. Increasing the bright areas should keep the relationship in tact.
As presented, this works wonderfully and really no nits. Any suggestions above are merely experiments and alternate thoughts.
Adhika, I love this one. B&W is a good choice here, it simplifies everything down to it’s most basic elements. I also like that it is an intimate landscape that is on the cusp of being an abstract, but it sort of has one foot in the abstract, and one foot in the straight landscape image realm, you have done a nice job balancing those things here. I agree with @Lon_Overacker, if you are going to choose B&W for this image, a boost in mid-tone contrast would probably benefit the tonality and textures within this scene. But that is a nit, overall this very nicely done as presented.
Adhika - I think you’ve done a great job with this image and agree that B&W really helps to emphasize the essence of the scene…a gentle river of soft light.
To my eye, I think you’ve managed highlites/midtones pretty well…I didn’t pull the image in to see the histogram, but my sense is that the midtones to highlights while perhaps understated are well managed and again, for me, a modest boost would be OK, but I like the more restrained contrast. The lack of higher contrast makes the image calmer to my eye.
Yet, I agree with the @Harley_Goldman that the upper 10-20% of the image has gloominess or heavier feel that imposes somewhat on the softness or gentler aspects of the scene. Managing this with a crop would be my recommendation and broaden out the scene a bit, adding to the calm sense of stability of the image. Just my two cents…would be interested in your thoughts on the above.
Thanks, guys. @Ed_McGuirk, you have put it in words what has really attracted me about the scene that I took the photograph. I agree with you and @Lon_Overacker, I should take this further.
I started with @Harley_Goldman’s suggestion about the upper part and then I got sidetracked with other things to modify, playing with different dodging and burning. I did boost the midtone contrast by a level adjustment layer masked to the midtone (Lumenzia selection). But the rest has been some freehand dodging and burning actions. I am not sure if I should bring back the brightness on the drainage as @Lon_Overacker has suggested above. For some reasons the brightness threw me off balance a little bit earlier, perhaps as alluded by @Jim_McGovern above. The revision has been posted on the original post for comparison. I’d love to hear what you think.
On this one, I prefer the original. To my eye, the changes remove a lot of drama created by the contrast in highlighting the flow channel that I really like in the original post. I like the canyon sides in the original, I might just lighten the very back left canyon to give it a bit of sense of flow, if that makes any sense.
Ashoka, you have already had some really good suggestions on this and I think it is definitely worth the effort. Really nice vision. One suggestion that may be just my taste, but I would like a little more light on the back slope. I feel like I would like to explore the scene a little further up into the canyon. This may also be what @Harley_Goldman is suggesting. I do prefer your original to the rework.
Thanks, @Harley_Goldman and @Alan_Kreyger! Got it, not going down that path anymore. LOL. Alright, I posted another revision where I just dodged the back valley. I think this is more along the line of the original idea anyway.
I still like the higher contrast in the first. I am not talking about a whole lot of change, because I really love the original concept. It reminds me a bit of Michael Gordon’s work, a comparison I consider quite complimentary.
Overall, I prefer the last version where you “went crazy”. The reason is that in the first two versions, the left side is kind of a dark void with very little in the way of upper midtones or highlights compared to the right side. This makes those versions feel unbalanced/right-heavy to my eye. The last version feels balanced with the luminosity of the left and right dark areas, while the “main” path through the alluvial fan drainage is still obvious. And for what it’s worth, it doesn’t look like you went crazy with the third version to me, even if you did a lot of dodging and burning - probably because black and white’s inherent disconnect from reality allows you to take it further without appearing implausible/overdone!
I also prefer the darker vignetted top in the first and third versions - I don’t think you want to lead the viewer’s eye out of the upper-left of the frame as in the second one. Also, having more light below and darkness above is in itself a bit mysterious (a good thing in my opinion), as normally light areas are concentrated higher in the frame with standard cloudless low-angle light.
I would consider darkening the lower-right sliver of dark non-drainage land in whatever version you choose, so that the drainage path stands out from the mountain parts and the lower-right quadrant doesn’t become one big luminous blob:
I like your second image the best. I am not sure I would have seen this image. But we all have different vision when it comes to capturing creation. I like the angels and textures.
Very much like how you created and abstract image while completely retaining the reality at the same time. Maybe monochrome helped with this. The light and textures are working together here very nicely.
@Adhika_Lie I really like this. I enjoy shooting scene like this in Alaska.
My only critique would be that the lower right side seems a bit bright making the comp a bit unbalanced. I agree with @Alex_Noriega when he suggested to perhaps burn in that finger of land. It would also help make that cool valley stand out. I’d also consider introducing a little light at the top. That brighter valley is an excellent leading line into this great scene.
Black and white may have helped to define the patterns and textures. Excellent choice.
Beautiful work. I like this photo. I think that you should go crazy more often.
I played with it a little more but I can’t make a decision. It seems like every time I work on it, I go on a different direction. Perhaps what I need to do is to come back to this image in a few days. I think a fresh pair of eyes will be very good. Stay tuned. I will come back here again.
Love the second, dodged, version the most, Adhika. There the range of tones seems just perfect to my eye. This puts me in mind ( even in b&w ) of Romantic period paintings - there seems to be such energy in the rocks.
Adhika,
I am a little late to the party, but my favorite is your second repost where you went crazy. The B&W processing works well as it has a nice range of tones and I love that zigzag pattern. Great eye to spot and isolate this scene. I can see why it has grown on you.
Somehow I missed this one as well. I love the idea of having a dark arroyo snaking through the darker sides. Adding sunlight, in my opinion, is optional. I like the first and the second images, while my son likes the third. So there is no agreement. They’re all wonderful.
