[Bernard Wolf Participant Posts: 27]

Landscape & Nature Photography

on: August 13, 2019 at 5:03 pm

Cruising the southwest last summer shooting landscapes I explored this canyon during monsoon season.

 

[Bernard Wolf Participant Posts: 27]

Re: Rays Of Light In The Southwest

Reply #1 on: August 14, 2019 at 4:48 pm

Another version of the same shot with a little less over processing.

 

[Chris Kern Participant Posts: 41]

Re: Rays Of Light In The Southwest

Reply #2 on: August 14, 2019 at 6:17 pm

Bernard Wolf wrote:

Another version of the same shot with a little less over processing.

Yes, definitely better, I think.

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Photostream: https://www.flickr.com/chriskernpix/

[Ken Rennie Participant Posts: 153]

Re: Rays Of Light In The Southwest

Reply #3 on: August 14, 2019 at 6:22 pm

Bernard I prefer the second, the image is much more believable especially the sky. Ken

[Bernard Wolf Participant Posts: 27]

Re: Rays Of Light In The Southwest

Reply #4 on: August 14, 2019 at 6:37 pm

Thanks Chris & Ken. I got a little carried away on the 1st one.

[Andrew Molitor Silver Member Posts: 34]

Re: Rays Of Light In The Southwest

Reply #5 on: August 15, 2019 at 12:11 pm

I like the sky better on the first one and the landscape better on the second.

Obviously, dealing with region of the sky where the sun breaks through is going to be hard, but if this were mine I would revisit that area and try to work in a little more highlight detail and generally ease the transition to the inevitable blown out area. HDR-ish techniques apply, whether you use software or merely blending together multiple exposure-levels one way or the other.

The landscape in both feels weirdly “open” to me. I feel like the midtones are.. off, somehow. Maybe too much contrast has been pushed to the mids, maybe the levels are a bit high?

Anyways, all that aside.

I can’t quite tell what you’re going for, here.

The crepuscular rays and the sky are visually dominant, to my eye. It’s punchy, it’s got that sense of magic that this particular phenomenon evokes, and yet it’s crammed into the upper third of the frame. The lower two thirds is less visually punchy, and much more, hmm, “pedestrian” isn’t the right world. Grounded? Real? There is a lack of the mystical in the foreground material.

So I can’t tell if you’re after the subtle, grounded, majesty of the desert, or the sublime, mystical, beauty of the sky, and they feel in conflict to me.

[Mike Nelson Pedde Participant Posts: 641]

Re: Rays Of Light In The Southwest

Reply #6 on: August 15, 2019 at 2:13 pm

Overall I prefer the second one, but I can certainly understand Andrew’s suggestions.

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Mike Nelson Pedde
Victoria, BC
https://www.wolfnowl.com/

[Bernard Wolf Participant Posts: 27]

Re: Rays Of Light In The Southwest

Reply #7 on: August 15, 2019 at 2:55 pm

The story about this shot is that when I arrived at this location the dramatic sky you see was just happening and I shot quickly so I wouldn’t miss it. I was waiting after I captured this shot in hopes that rays of light would eventually streak across the foreground as the sun was setting but that never materialized so the foreground was always flatly lit the whole time until it got dark.

[Bernard Wolf Participant Posts: 27]

Re: Rays Of Light In The Southwest

Reply #8 on: August 15, 2019 at 3:38 pm

Taking Andrew’s advice and combining the sky of the first image with another with a darker foreground.  It’s time to take a break for a bit.

 

 

[Bernard Wolf Participant Posts: 27]

Re: Rays Of Light In The Southwest

Reply #9 on: August 15, 2019 at 7:16 pm

After stepping away from the image for a while I did another round of camera raw from scratch and added more warmth also. This is my last edit.

Sorry to bore everybody with so many versions.

 

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