Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Was looking for the affect if the sunset n the valley at Yosemite. The sunset was behind me and I took this late almost blue hour.
Specific Feedback
Any thoughts would be appreciated , Looking for help with the post processing.
Technical Details
Photo Was little underexposed. It was almost blue hour and I think I was incorrect with the exposure causing post processing to be a bit difficult. I was wondering if it worked out and was worth the effect.
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A classic view! Camera, software and processing info is always helpful for advice of this sort. My immediate thought is that the trees look good, the nearest faces are a bit magenta and the area around Bridalveil is a bit high in contrast. Then the hills this side of Half Dome feel quite blue compared to the ones behind HD. The shade was probably more dense there but the blue stands out to me. The sky is lovely. So those are minor points that can probably be tweaked easily.
I’m interested what others think. This is well worth some tweaking. I doubt if any slight underexposure caused insurmountable issues. But that’s without knowing what the camera (sensor) was and what software was used. I love the soft light after sunset – it just takes a little massaging.
Welcome back, Jim. Classic tunnel view. I think it could use a few tweaks. I think web compression is very noticeable in the ULC sky. It’s hard to tell how much is glow from the sunset, but I think there’s too much magenta/red in the FG landscape and mountains. The BG might be a little too blue. Also, it’s probably just a cloud formation, but it looks like a small circle/clone stamp right above the dark cloud. It’s hardly noticeable, but once I’ve seen it, I can’t unsee it. 
Hope you don’t mind my rework. I might have gone too far the other way
Hi Jim,
It is a classic scene and not outside the realm of being able to process it. I agree with the assessment given by @Diane_Miller. I hope you don’t mind but I made some additional edits to the JPEG you posted. I did feel like the foreground and El Capitan and the Cathedrals had too much contrast, and the foreground overall had too much magenta. I masked out the sky and reduced the magenta in the land. Then I masked everything except El Cap and Cathedrals and reduced the contrast on them. I then masked everything except the midground mountains and reduced the blue in them. I also reduced the overall brightness of the everything except the sky as since you said it was near blue hour the land seemed too bright. I hope this helps.
Classic view beautifully done Jim. I agree with the comments, and @Youssef_Ismail really made this sing.
Thanks for the comments. I will retry processing with your advice.
Micheal. Thanks for all the advice. I thinks you correct and will try to reprocess the phone with your advice. I think I will repost the second try>
Yourself, Thanks for the comments and advice. I will try to digest evyones comments and retry processing the photo. Maybe I will repost the second try?
