After a long time away, I’m back and trying to figure out the new format of the site. As always, I’m here to learn, so don’t hold back! I considered cropping from the bottom to exclude the small gap near the spruce tree - thoughts? Thanks
Nikon D500, nikon 70-200mm 2.8 @ 70 mm and f16 on tripod
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Welcome back, Jay. I like your crop idea. That little gap has a tendency to pull my attention there, but it is very minor. I find it works well either way. I am finding the blue in this image works quite well against the white snow. I might back off the cyan just a bit, but again, works nicely as presented. Good return image.
Thanks Harley - I appreciate the feedback.
Welcome back indeed Jay! Upon second glance I was wondering if this was IR. But you didn’t mention and I’m pretty sure it’s frost/snow. And quite a breath-taking view! I recently posted a similar image of layers like this and I think as far as processing goes you have the right amount of color/contrast looking back through the distant valley/ridges.
I’m torn about the idea of cropping from the bottom. I see the little gap as being problematic, although not a huge deal for me. Concern about cropping is losing the detailed interest and presence of the heavily frosted trees; cropping in to them starts to make the bright bottom of the image more of a distraction than an asset - If that makes sense. It’s obvious you wanted to include the beautiful sea of trees and I just think cropping them diminishes them. Not sure how you feel about it, but you could do some content-aware cloning and reduce the impact of the dark trunks in that gap.
Hope you don’t mind, I decided to play with this a bit. I did ultimately crop a little off the bottom, but mostly to cleanup a few things. But also did clone just a little to reduce the dark trunks in that gap area. but also cropped a little from the top as I think the width of the scene looks good in a more narrow, semi-pano format. Also a slight bump in contrast during TK’s resize for web and a slight drop in cyan. Personal choices of course.
Oh, that secondary ridge with the light and shadow is working really well in this image too. Love the frosted trees at the bottom and didn’t want to take too much away from that.
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Very nice version Lon. That amount of cropping is what I was thinking as well. Thanks for your insights!
First off; welcome back, Jay. This is superbly done and the color combination of blue and white is a thing of beauty. This is without a doubt a grand view. I was going to suggest something along the line of a pano crop and after viewing Lon’s version I definitely think that is the way to go. Nicely done.
This is badass. What awesome tones and light. As amazing as the color is a b/w could be neat too with all the contrast going on. Nicely done!
aF
I’ll grab on to Ed’s comment and toss out Lon’s version with the sky cropped out. I realize it’s tight at the top, but I like the focus it gives to those beautiful receding hills.
This is really beautiful Jay, all of the tones of blue and cool whites here are simply gorgeous. I like what Lon did to re-work this, it helps the bottom. but that is a minor nit, this is a really nice piece of work.
This is beautiful, Jay! This reminds me of one of my favorite spots along the Blue Ridge Parkway with the wonderful layering. The frost adds a unique element to this kind of scene and the clear blue sky compliments the scene nicely. This makes me want to get out to the mountains for winter photography. Nicely done!