This is an image I captured in Death Valley, on a day that was rather unique for this region. Low clouds had moved in and began to drape themselves over the rock faces of the mountains, in the mid to late afternoon. Although our destination was Badwater Basin, it was clear that we needed to pull over somewhere interesting and take advantage of these rare conditions. This dragon egg of a rock drew my attention, as an anchor point in the foreground, as the atmospheric clouds began to envelop the mountains above and completely change the mood of the landscape. All of a sudden, we found ourselves at the foot of Mordor, āwhere the shadows lieā.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
Any and all feedback welcome
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
I tend to really crush my shadows and blacks, when crafting dark and moody images. I actually held back on this, but could use some feedback, as to how the post-processing works for this. Iām considering darkening it further with a masked curves adjustment in Photoshop, but could use some feedback on how the image currently reads. Also, how does the direction of the light work, to draw the viewerās eye through the frame?
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Just a lot of playing with the light, through dodging, burning, and adding a custom vignette, in order to capture the essence of the dark and moody atmosphere I witnessed. I tried to use the Z (modified āSā shape) formation and enhanced the direction of light to help draw the eye throughout the frame.
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The image works for me. I like the tones, the color, and the general atmosphere. I also like that you highlighted the top of the rock. Iām just curious whether you have any additional room up top? It feels a little tight there without more room for the mountain.
I concur with this observation. I think that one thing elevates this image. Itās a fantastic image as is. I would Not darken the blacks any further. One thing I might consider is a square crop of the left side. Itās not necessarily better but itās just as good.
I agree with previous comments and like this as is. I would not darken it any further. I also really like your emphasis on the colorful distant mountain face beneath the clouds. This does have that LOTR Mordor feel you referenced, so well done in that respect.
@Lyle_Gruby@Igor_Doncov@Alan_Kreyger@Tony_Siciliano Thank you, all, for taking the time to review my image, provide positive feedback, and offer up some suggestions. Itās much appreciated! And the consensus seems to be to not darken it any further. After further review, I whole-heartedly agree.
Lyle, to answer your question, there was not any additional room up at the top. Because the conditions were changing so quickly, I did not have a lot of time to compose images at this location. I agree that having additional room at the top would have been ideal, but my primary goal was to capture the rich atmospheric conditions, along with the strong foreground elements. I do have other images with more of the mountain and sky, but they are missing some of the foreground elements I was drawn to in this image.
Igor, I tried many different crop variations and a square format didnāt work for my taste. The closest I came was to a 4x5, but I couldnāt quite get this proportions and keep the elements I wanted to retain.
Alan, thank you for confirming you picked up on the LOTR Mordor feel. Thatās great!
Tony, I took your suggestion of lighting up the middle/right portion a bit and I think it added some further interest to the image. I have a re-worked version with this lightened middle-right section, but was getting an error when trying to add the image. Will try again later and tag you.
Coming in late here. I think you had some amazing conditions, and your processing of the image does it justice. I would not take it any darker, this is about as far as I would go to generate drama. I think the lighter midtone tan colors in the landscape play a critical role in helping to direct the viewers eye, and you would lose some of that if you went darker.
In terms of composition, I would agree with the others comments about it feeling cramped at the top. I think the tightness of the tops of the ridges to the frame edge is the culprit. I also see why you would not want to show more of the sky, it would introduce brightness that pulls the viewers eye away from the center. My other composition nitpick relates to the Z shape. The anchoring boulder and the Z shape do create movement, but I do not like having the dark part inside the Z get so thin and narrow near the right frame edge. I think it pulls the viewers eyes too far to the right, before they then go back to the left.
I would suggest the following crop which I think helps address both of my composition nitpicks.
@Lyle_Gruby@Igor_Doncov@Alan_Kreyger@Ed_McGuirk@Tony_Siciliano, apologies for the extreme delay in responding to you all. My wife and I were recently placed with a baby for our foster-to-adopt journey and itās been a whirlwind ever since! Just now getting back on NPN from an unanticipated and prolonged hiatusā¦
Ed, I do like your crop and may end up using something like that, but I also like the tension of the top portion of my original crop, because it adds to the emotional impact of the Mordor-esque theme I was going for. It may not be technically correct, but I think the tension does actually add something to the image.
Igor, I also like your crop and had considered something similar, but I felt it takes away from the journey up the path to the mountain and compresses things a bit too much.
Ultimately, Iām undecided on what to do with the image, but recent fall photography has taken precedence. I will be coming back to this image when the time is right. I sincerely appreciate the help Iāve received from each you!
