An old composition, this time at sunrise and with the hills having finally lost the last of their winter coat. It was a windy morning which presented some challenges but resulted in some interesting patterns on the loch which I tried to include in the composition.
I’ve tried to control the colours to keep the image as natural as possible without losing the impact of the vibrant colours naturally present in the scene. After working on tonal balance and contrast I desaturated the blue loch quite a bit in Photoshop, although some vibrance was added in Lightroom initially.
I’ve kept the sky fairly bright as I felt that reflected the reality of the scene but also tried to bring out a little of the colour which was present.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
80mm
f/11
0.4 sec.
ISO 100
A nice sunrise scene. I would be tempted to play with adding a bit of red saturation to the hills and see how it looks. The post also looks a little noisy to my old eyes, especially in the water. I would also consider cloning out the buildings. The bright whites are a magnet to me.
Thanks @Harley_Goldman . I’ve put a bit of red back into the hills and I think it definitely gives more of the sunrise feel. I may back it off a tiny bit but I think I went too far with that in the original edit - I usually start out very cautious with prominent colours as I’m aware it’s easy for your eyes to get used to over saturated colours.
The building must have some clean glass frontage as it was like a prism. I agree it draws the eye but being centrally placed and so naturally prominent in the scene I don’t think I could bring myself to clone it out.
I’m seeing the noise also. I didn’t mask out any of the input sharpening in lightroom - I’ve been experimenting with whether this makes a visible difference in the end image - so perhaps that is the culprit. Although it was very windy so it might be that which is causing texture on the water, appears as noise.
I like this Brian. It’s obvious that you took the high road to Loch Lomond (sorry, I couldn’t resist ). I like your processing, keeping the sky bright was a good choice. I do like @Harley_Goldman suggestion to slightly bump the red saturation, its a subtle but helpful change. I think the noise in the LLC may actually just be texture in the water from wind, at 0.4 seconds and ISO 100, you really shouldn’t be getting any noise.
Aside from the nice light and color at the top of the image, I’m also intrigued by the tree silhouettes on the banks near the island. I might consider more of a panoramic crop, cropping from the bottom just below the inlet in the LRC. I think this would put more emphasis on that part of the land, and would reduce some negative space in the LLC. Subjective opinion on my part, I admit.
Very lovely image of the Loch, Brian. Maybe just a touch more red blush on those beautiful hill forms. they go so well with the lake’s blues. The first thing that captured my attention in the post stamp view…I thought that the sky was under balanced with the amount of water in the FG. A pretty easy crop to below the V of the lake notch on the right, making a stronger pano and an already strong image stronger. Just my thoughts. Well done with the polarizer.
Yes, the narrower pano format looks nice. I have printed some of this format and given them away to my reading friends as bookmarks. This would make a good one…also would look good on the wall. Nice work.
). I like your processing, keeping the sky bright was a good choice. I do like 