Here is my contribution from that gorgeous sunrise that @Michael_Lowe, @Ed_McGuirk and I got to witness first hand. I wound up cropping 1/3 to 1/2 0f the sky as it had a lot of blue on the left side. I hope this works for everyone.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
All C&C welcome
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
All C&C welcome
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Nikon D800, Nikon 17-35 @ 24 mm, f 14 @ 1/5 sec, ISO 400, MLU, 5 stops of GND filter, cable release & tripod
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The crop to the wider aspect ratio really works for me Ed. Nice processing. Did you have to lighten the FG or did the 5 stops of nd even the exposure enough? Love the composition with the mountains in the center framed by the fog enshrouded mountains on each side. Great work.
Ed, I like the idea of a tighter crop on the sky, to emphasize both the color in the sky and the rising fog on the left. This tighter view does a good job of maximizing the sky color that was available. But I would like to see just a small bit more sky, as presented this feels slightly tight to me. If you cropped that much sky away it should be easy to restore a sliver more.
I like your processing of exposure, contrast and color here. The WB you used has the green grass and the blue/purple lupines looking great. I like the distribution of lupines in your composition, and the fact that you left some open grass in front of the flowers to avoid cutting them off. Overall this is a great image that does justice to this spectacular sunrise.
What a beautiful scene, Ed. I saw a lot of lupines while on my recent photo trip bit didn’t get anything like this. I agree with Ed M. that a bit more sky would be nice even if it has a little more blue on the left. Combination of colors here looks great!
This has a lovely sky and the fog adds a lot. The image feels cramped on the top and on the bottom to me. This is likely due to the large amount of space dedicated to the less interesting green middle layer. A lower shot angle could have reduced the size of this layer.
Ed, I agree with Igor. The mid-ground is a bit large and it pushes the more interesting lupines and sky out to the edges. I love everything else about this, sky, fog, lupines, and the slopes of the mountains pulling you into the scene.
This has been processed very nicely. I love the scene and I think you have nailed the colors here, Ed. I am, however, with Igor about the midground. Another alternative wish is for the lupine to be more abundant throughout the scene.
Many thanks for your thoughts @Michael_Lowe, @Ed_McGuirk, @Nick_Bristol, @Igor_Doncov, @Craig_Moreau and @Adhika_Lie; always appreciated. Here is a repost with a bit more sky that I had cropped due to the blue sky. Unfortunately I did not bother to shoot any images from a lower vantage point. At the time I did not even consider it as the middle area had an abundance of buttercups which I guess did not translate very well in the post. Oh well, maybe next time.
Ed, I think the added sky makes this image better. I have a shot that’s almost a carbon copy of this. I left the sky to sort of lesson the middle ground. I also did not shoot lower because of the buttercups. They did not translate well in mine either. I bumped up the yellow saturation which brought them out a little more.
Like the rework Ed, the extra sky helps a lot. If you wanted to try to make the mid-ground buttercups more prominent, maybe try making a selection of greens (but not yellow) and reducing their luminosity. Then just mask that in to the mid-ground greens, so as not to affect the foreground greens.
Gorgeous scene Ed, I’m sure you and the boys were reveling in the moment. A sight not soon to be forgotten.
I kinda liked the choice of limiting the sky as it really helped to emphasize the field of greens and of course the lupine. I do see the point of the top feeling a little cramped. I like the repost quite a lot. Perhaps though you still have room to come to a good balance between less bright blue sky or feeling to cramped. I think you could still crop just a little and perhaps combine with darkening the brighter portion of the sky too.
Either way you slice this up though, you’ve got a beauty on your hands.
