The photographer has shared comprehensive information about their intent and creative vision for this image. Please examine the details and offer feedback on how they can most effectively realize their vision.
Self Critique
Actually, I am happy with the composition. But somehow I’m struggling with the colors, although I tried balancing cooler and warmer tones. Does the image feel to “pastely”? Or do they fit the landscape according to your taste?
I am thinking about completely rebuilding them from scratch via a tonal based color adjustment.
What do you think?
Creative direction
In spite of the dramatic lenticular clouds it has been a calm and peaceful evening. That’s what I want to conserve.
Specific Feedback
See above
Technical Details
Description
It was a workshop afternoon in Death Valley in February.
Markus, wonderful composition , lots going on but you has sucessfully have drawn the viewer’s eye through the image. Re colors, I think I would like a little less highlights in the clouds along with slightly warmer tone. Reminds me very much of the clouds and sunset ones here in Colorado.
“Pastelly” is a fine look for this image! The textures and tones are really nice. I hope you also moved foreward and set that camera down low on the water’s edge and got a reflection of that tree with those spectacular clouds!
Hi Markus, I see what you mean about the colors. That was my initial thought before I read your post too. I think the comp is great and the light is great, just the image feels like it has an overall pink hue that is distracting. I’m sure the sunset was producing nice colors but in the image I can’t tell if it’s color casted or what. Color management is not a strength of mine. I’d be curious to see the raw file and how the image would look reprocessed.
Wonderful!! I don’t see a color cast, and don’t think it’s too pastely (just added that very useful word to my vocabulary). There are probably lots of ways to go with this but I think you are close. I do get calm and peaceful from it.
I think the brightest tones are too hot – maybe one for a linear profile? I wonder about less contrast on the closest FG. I’d love to see any variations you come up with. I’d be tempted to add a little more canvas on top. The cloud could use a little more breathing room.
Marcus, too like the overall image. For me, it’s about the amazing clouds in the sky and the bisected tree. Both the clouds and tree are reflected well in the water. There’s a bit too much going on for me though. I think it would be a more powerful image if the foreground were cropped so only a third or less of the grasses were in the image. You have two horizon lines here - might you used the guided feature in the transform panel of LR Classic to make the two parallel. I’d do this first because it’s going to force a significant crop. You can see if it will work before cropping anything else. After the cropping is done you can check to see if the image needs enhancing since many of the pixels will have been eliminated. I like Topaz Photo AI for this. I am not being negative about the image and would not make these suggestion if I didn’t think it is a fine image.
Holy smokes, what a beautiful scene. Those lenticular clouds are stealing the scene but are nicely complimented by the bisected tree and it’s reflection in the water and those gorgeous scrub brush in the foreground. As for the colorcast, I do see a magenta/pink colorcast but I also think it fits the scene pretty nicely and I’m not sure I would change it. What I would do though is crop some off the bottom to eliminate that bare space in the LLC. Crop just enough to remove that while retaining that glow in the brush to the left. Stunning scenery. Thanks for sharing this. You’ve got me licking my lips.
This is simply gorgeous. You’ve witness and captured so much of the beauty of the Eastern Sierra in one moment. Starting in the sky, the “Sierra Wave” of those lenticulars is fabulous. At the bottom, the classic sage lit up by late light… then the river (Owens?), the old cottonwood and of course the Sierra Crest (or is that the White Mts?) No matter, you’ve got it all captured in a single frame.
I love the colors - but more importantly it’s about the “range of light.” Yeah, I would agree with some others the highlights could be toned down a skosh. Color wise, the only adjustment for me would be to tone down the red/mag/pinks of the sage highlights. But that is completely subjective and not really an issue per se.
Lastly, I’m not generally a fan of the tall, digial format. I do think it leads to comments such as “there’s a lot going on;” which I can understand. I tried numerous crops. the first of which was to eliminate the big bush entirely in the LLC. That leads to pretty much a square crop. I think that works, but I think the grand impression and mood is lost by doing this. Maybe? I much smaller and less impactful crop up from the bottom to remove some of the empty space in the LR… but again this is a personal choice and just an optional thing for you to decide.
The only other item I wanted to point out is the vegetation on the far side of the water directly below the brightest part of the sky. I know that area would naturally be very bright, but what I’m seeing online here is somewhat washed out vegetation - not too bright, which means perhaps some tonal adjustments were made there and at least for me, doesn’t look right. Fortunately it’s not the focus of the scene, but might be a distraction in a larger print.
I still say this is gorgeous overall and it most definitely worth the effort to make this the best it can be!
Marcus,
I find the colors to be realistic, just what I would expect at that time of day. The light throughout the scene is gorgeous as are those amazing clouds. My only suggestion would be just a little crop from the bottom, just enough to get rid of that little bare spot in the LRC while keeping that warm light on the FG bush. Beautiful image for sure.
