l made this image in 2017 at Denali National Park, Alaska. I intended to show the grandeur of the Alaska Range with the triangles that I hope unify the composition. I am open to any of your perceptions as viewers as well as any technical suggestions. Thanks.
Type of Critique Requested
Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
Conceptual: Feedback on the message and story conveyed by the image.
Emotional: Feedback on the emotional impact and artistic value of the image.
Technical: Feedback on the technical aspects of the image, such as exposure, color, focus and reproduction of colors and details, post-processing, and print quality.
Specific Feedback and Self-Critique
see above
Technical Details
Nikon D500, hand held (because of tour, tripod was not possible) 70-200mm f4 lens, 1/500 sec, ISO 800
You certainly have amde a composition of triangles with this image. The light in the foreground grabs the eye, which then moves you into the image and then the light on the snow drags you up further into the image. You have captured the feeling of the weather and the mood cast upon the whole scene, well done.
Thanks, Gary. I appreciate your considerate and positive comment. The perception of viewers is critical in self-assessing our images. Thanks for viewing and taking the time to comment.
Hi, Larry - Man, what a view! I do like how this is arranged such that there are several triangles within the frame. The subtle light on the foreground ridges is really nice. I can’t help but feel that including a little bit more of the foreground ridge at the bottom would have strengthened the composition. The clouds also seem a little “off” in color. I’m not on a calibrated monitor so it very well could be my screen. Lovely landscape, though!
Excellent landscape from Denali. The triangles are actually kinda subtle, but once recognized… they’re everywhere! I like the title. Having been there just once - in 1993… it really was all about the weather. Only saw the mountain for a total of about 6 hours during a 4-day visit, and spent like 22hrs in the tent due to rain… the weather is most certainly a guiding factor when visiting. And the atmosphere capture here most certainly presents those conditions I recall.
Once pointed out, I would agree on the color tweaks. The heavy clouds actually lean green, while the mountian shadows more blue. I ended up tweaking the cloud color with a midtone’s mask and color balance layer. For the mountain I used a darks mask on Levels and set the black point, which took out much of the blue in the darker parts. The bonus there was also the increased contrast gave the scene a little more clarity. After those adjustments, I lost the reds/yellows of the foreground slopes - went back and boosted saturation in those colors. Added a slight vignette.
Not sure if it’s better or fits your vision, but thought I would give the colors a work out.
A grand and beautiful landscape. Oh, one interesting observation - is what appears to be rock fall that occurred after the snowfall - brown streaks running down from the ridge down the bowl of snow. Cool little detail in the scene.
Oh, I also dodged the clouds a bit to bring they’re weight more in balance with the landscape.
Lon, we were lucky and saw Denali three times; the best views were in Talkeetna. I appreciate your detailed process to fix the colors in this image. I like your edits. I may contact you again if I have difficulty figuring out how to apply the color balance. I really appreciate your walking me through your process. That’s how I learn to use TK8 in a specific situation. Thanks again.
[quote=“Lon Overacker, post:8, topic:33818, username:Lon_Overacker”]
… your vision, but thought I would give the colors a work out.A grand and beautiful landscape. Oh, one interesting observation - is what appears to be rock fall that occurred after the snowfall - brown streaks running down from the ridge down the bowl of snow. Cool little detail in the scene.Oh, I also dodged the clouds a bit to bring they’re weight more in balance with the landscape.Here’s my edit
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Lon, Here’s my revision. I used a different method than you suggested because I couldn’t figure out how to set the black point with levels. I used both LR Classic and TK8. Cut down the blues in LRc and used the color luminosity and neutralize color cast actions in TK8. I also added a reduced soft pop in TK8. Also dodged the sky. The image certainly looks better without the blue cast. What do you think now? Thanks again.
Great job on the edit Larry! Can’t help ya with LR, but if you’re using TK8, that’s of course in PS. So, you can do this from any Levels or Curves layer. Even better if you use one of the Darks Luminosity masks, but you don’t have to. I think this is a pretty old technique, one I haven’t used in a while either. But basically in the Levels/Curves dialogue box you select the “darks” color dropper and then go click on the darkest area in the image (often when zoomed in some) and click. It will neutralize the blacks getting rid of any color cast. This can be done with the highlights as well. And with most tools and adjustments, not all of them work in all situations. Just another tool or method. Here’s a screenshot to illustrate. Have no idea what happened to the colors - they went wonky from my screenshot, but you get the idea.
