Here’s yet another glacier image from Iceland, this one from Langjökull ice cap. Supraglacial (“on the glacier surface”) meltwater streams have incised a meandering channel into the ice surface, and once again that magical aqua blue drew me in like a moth to the flame. I was really optimistic when working this scene, and spent a great deal of time trying this and that composition before settling on this one. The ice surface behind me wasn’t smooth, and I had to dig out little platforms for my tripod legs using the tips of my crampons. Not super stable, and it was pretty breezy, so I was quite worried that the whole camera would topple over. Fortunately, it didn’t!
When I first saw the RAW file on my home monitor, I was really disappointed in how flat the image looked, but am happy that I am developing the post-processing skills to bring the RAW back to what I saw when I pressed the shutter release. In this case, beyond what I experienced honestly. I definitely have used tonal adjustments to my advantage, and while that blue color is real, it is more saturated than what I saw with my eye. I suppose the only thing missing from the scene is the classic sunburst in the upper left corner, but the clouds would never quite cooperate.
Specific Feedback Requested
Just the usual, especially suggestions on post-processing adjustments.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Sony aR7 III with a Tamron 17-28 f2/8 lenses at 20 mm. ISO 50, 1/80 sec at f/11.
I was initially thinking that a silky water surface would be the right approach, but that actually made the water very hard to distinguish from the ice, so a fast exposure time that froze the foam in place was the better approach. I used the ETTR principle, thus had to darken the bright sky quite a bit to bring it back to “eye truth”. I then dodged both the meltwater channel and the ice surface beyond to make brighten both. Finally, I used a color mask on the blues and added +50 saturation and +6 lightness to really bring the blue luminescence of the channel wall out. Too much?
Really good look at this glacier. The processing looks spot on to my eye, blues quite realistic yet rich. I find myself wanting a bit more space at the top. Maybe add some canvas and fill it? No other nits.
The channel is very interesting, and then the rushing water is a wonderful surprise! I think you made a good choice with shutter speed.
The brightest parts of the sky look blown out. I wonder if you could process a second version of the raw file and salvage detail there – maybe with a linear profile – and layer it on top of this PS image and mask.
In processing flat raw files, the addition of contrast will result in increased color saturation. Add enough contrast, and sometimes you have to back off the saturation as an offsetting adjustment. With that said, I do not think the blue saturation is too much here, it looks fine to me. And the contrast/luminosity of the ice looks good too.
I agree with @Diane_Miller about the blown highlights in the upper left corner (ULC). The rest of the sky is dark enough that I suspect you can recover this by going back to the raw file, pulling it back, and then masking it into this finished image with Photoshop layers.
This is an outstanding image, Jeff. It feels like it was shot on some distant moon. The POV is really off-beat in a way that I find riveting. It is heartbreaking to consider that within 50 years this could all be a gone, barely a memory.
Thank you once more for your feedback. I had been thinking that the brightness in the clouds was tolerable, but having made a new edit @Diane_Miller and @Ed_McGuirk , I agree, it was too blown out. So, the new edit is uploaded. Rather than fight with the original RAW a bit more, I just did an exposure blend with a file made a minute or so later. The clouds on the upper right end up darker, too, but I actually like the darker, bluer look to that brooding sky. And the cloud details are obviously much improved with the new version, too.
@Kerry_Gordon , the ice where this image was made will probably be gone in two or three years, given recent annual rates of recession. It is not implausible that Iceland could lose most of its ice over the next couple of centuries, unless we get this ship turned in a hurry. Heartbreaking is exactly right.
The rework handles this issue nicely. For me it was not just that the sky was slightly blown out, but also that the sky before was so bright that it pulled some attention away from the ice in the center . So I also like the darker sky you brought in from the other bracket for that reason as well.
