In 2010 I visited the southern Oregon Coast for the first time, and took an image of the setting sun framed by an old, dead, tree. (You can see the image here.) Sadly the tree in the image is gone; only the stump remains.
I visited the spot again this past weekend, and thought I’d scout the location for a possible sunset. I trudged down the hill with my phone to use as a compass; I wanted to see how the scene might compose given the setting sun’s azimuth this time year. Of course I didn’t take my camera and tripod; it was a little before noon and harsh lighting. Why would I want to take the camera?
As you can guess, once I got down there the sunlight and haze made for interesting lighting. I snapped an image with my phone in black and white, and thought it looked kind of attractive. So… back up the hill I trudged and returned with the camera.
This is from a single image. The dynamic range in the lighting was pretty high; it was a bit challenging to get shadow and highlight detail. For comparison, I’ll post the jpg the camera took of this image below. (I’m posting the jpg, but I worked from the raw image.)
These high-contrast scenes are a challenge for me; I struggle with how bright or dark to make them. I’d love your feedback if you think I should have gone a different direction. Thanks in advance for any thoughts you may have.
FUJIFILM X-T30
FUJIFILM XF 10-24mm F4 at 24 mm (36 mm equivalent)
1/320 sec. at f/9.0 and ISO 160
You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
John, I think this image works well, the light and haze create a nice mood, especially when processed as B&W. Thank you for including the unprocessed color version, it helps give an idea of what you were facing. Given this is a single exposure, I think you have done an amazing processing job with the dynamic range. The details in the shadowed rocks look very natural, with a nice level of clarity (no garish HDR look here), and I like how you were able to accentuate the light rays on the sea stack. The sky is bright, but it needs to be given where the sun is located. In the end, I think you did a nice job of balancing the luminosity.
This is a matter of subjective personal taste, but it struck me that the water (especially its highlights) was more dynamic and vibrant in the color version than in the B&W. And the shadow of the seastack almost gets lost in the B&W version. I’m not sure if the water is too dark, or if the highlights in the water have been pulled down too much. I agree with what you did to burn down the distracting highlights in the LLC. Instead I think it’s the highlights in the water to the right of the stack that concern me most, I could see increasing their luminosity a bit.
I love the energy in this image, John and looking at the color JPEG, you have done a great work. I wouldn’t have thought. The light ray is a big plus in my book. One thing to nit, I would carefully select three tree in the BG just behind where the two rock faces meet, it’s slightly more contrasty than the trees farther in the BG and it becomes somewhat a distraction.
As for the waves, I can see Ed’s point but it doesn’t bother me.
Admittedly, I was a little confused at first, thinking one of the posted images was from the phone? But I figured it out now…
As pointed out by Ed, I think you did a great job handling the extreme dynamic range with one image. What stands out to me is how the sun’s rays are brought out more in the b&w version. And that you were able to extract a bit more shadow detail out of that main stack. I also like the additional luminosity in the water, although you’ve lost some of the highlight glistening that is present in the color jpg.
The only other thing I was going to mention was the sky in the UR. Interesting that the blue sky in the color version works well in the overall comp, but for some reason that darker area in the BW seems off somehow to me (can’t think how best to describe…)
I think you made the best out of a very difficult lighting situation. Looks awesome in person, but only gets difficult once in camera and for processing.
