Mormon Row Landscape

[andresleon]

Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming.
Taken with a Canon 5DIII and a 16-35mm 2.8L II at 35mm
HDR compostion at 5 different exposures
ISO 100
spot metering
auto white balance
f/7.1
No flash


HDR created with Photomatix and edited in Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CS6

Looking forward to your feedback and comments. Happy new year everyone!

[Don Railton]

Hi Andresleon?

I should start by saying I am not a fan of HDR but I am willing to comment so...

I like the subject, especially the barn, the mountains and the tree. The clouds also add mood. On the downside I think there is too much foreground and I would trim off the bottom so the mown grass 'path' intersects the lower LH corner.. This allows the eye to move into the image a little easier IMHO. I would also reduce some of the cloud so take some off the top also to make it more of a Pano format. There is also a little too much noise in the image but I am not sure if that due to the HDR processing so don't have a suggestion to fix that. Finally the mountain could do with a little more contrast I feel. The light is nice and I bet the scene was stunning at the time..

regards

DON

[Bill Jobes]

Overall, I like the photo and your treatment, Andre.

But I'm not sure about the yellow/brown sky at upper right.

It doesn't look quite natural, and I find myself wondering what caused it, other than the sun behind the clouds.

The impression of the photo would have been even more positive, to me, if the sky was consistently seen in its blue/slate color.

[andresleon]

Thank you, Don and Bill, for your comments and suggestions. They are much appreciated!

Don, I also don't like the overly processed HDR images. I am trying hard to create natural-looking images that can still display a high dynamic range, so this is still a work in progress. I also think trimming the bottom right up to the path can help the image's composition. Again, thank you!

Bill, I honestly don't know where the brown on the clouds came from. The sun was, indeed, rising behind me but I don't think that's why this color appeared. These same colors appear in each of my individual exposures so I don't think it is because of the HDR processing.

[David Stephens]

IME, the colors of the clouds reflect the colors of the earth beneath them, reflecting up. Since there's lots of brown in the mid area before the mountains, that coloring actually seems plausible to me. The blueness in the rest of the clouds concerns me more, since I'm expecting grey there. I'm curious, did you simply combine your images and apply global color correction, or did you layer and adjust colors of the clouds, building, etc. separately? Perhaps there's a large lake nearby, lending blue to the clouds. Is that the case?

I second the suggestion for more contrast on the mountains.

The rainbow is actually there, isn't it? Sorry to ask, but you said nothing about it and its a huge element in this image.

BTW, despite questions about colors, etc., I think this image would sell well in the right gallery. It'll pop off the wall. Hopefully you have the file resolution you need to blow it up BIG.

[andresleon]

Hi David,
I used photomatix to create the initial HDR image combination of 5 different exposures. I then tweaked its settings to make it as realistic and natural as possible, though I know it still looks a little over done. I also removed some noise with Lightroom.

The closest body of water is the snake river which is about a mile behind the house. It's a pretty big river, but don't think is the reason the sky looks so blue. When I was there the sky did have different hues of grey and blue as well a little of the brown, but this image really made them pop, which is a reason why I liked it! The exact location where this picture was taken is at this google maps link (https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!q=43%C2%B0+39.981'%2C+-110%C2%B0+39.850'&data=!1m4!1m3!1d1403!2d-110.6641667!3d43.66635!2m1!1e3!4m14!2m13!1m12!3m8! 1m3!1d511!2d-110.6648145!3d43.6665197!3m2!1i1366!2i652!4f35!4m2 !3d43.66635!4d-110.6641667&fid=7).

The rainbow was, indeed, there! I got so excited when it came out that morning I couldn't believe it! There were a few other photographers near me that morning and they were all in shock at the view. We got really lucky! I just wish I had been able to capture it more beautifully! I have a couple of other pictures of the same barn with the rainbow such as this one (http://andres-leon.artistwebsites.com/featured/the-barn-at-the-end-of-the-rainbow-andres-leon.html)

Thank you!

[Diane Miller]

I wonder if there was a huge tonal range in the middle exposure here? It would be interesting to compare what the Shadows and Highlights sliders in LR 5 can do on that one exposure, compared to the HDR. Since that processing improvement, which came out in LR4, I have often been unhappy with HDR compared to what I can do with the middle exposure. In some instances, one exposure for a darker FG and a different one for a brighter sky can be separately processed and then combined as masked layers. If you look at the image at 100%, using HDR, even realistically, there are so many small issues with subject and camera movement that you don't have in a single exposure.

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Andre,

Happy New Year

as well not much HDR fan, but nevertheless I do like to comment on this one. The FG has for me a bit yellow cast, but maybe that is you like. Up to your taste. The scene I like very much as well the clouds and color.

Have a great eve

Ciao
Anette

[David Stephens]

Andres, nice series on your web site.

I'd always include "rainbow" in the title of any version of this if I were you. You indeed had your photographer's luck with you at this moment and took full advantage of it. Preparation met opportunity.

Now that I live in Colorado, I see colors in nature that I never saw growing up in Florida and living in Oklahoma and Texas for years. A couple of weeks back I took a pre-sunrise that had the most incredible oranges and blues in it. On the radio they were calling it a "Broncos Sunrise" because it looked like the football teams colors. My photog friends and I saw and captured the same thing and every one of us said something in our description like "these colors are real, believe me." So, I'm not surprised about the colors in your wonderful shot. I believe what you're showing us is what you saw.

[andresleon]

I wonder if there was a huge tonal range in the middle exposure here?
Diane, I believe the 5 shots that make up this image were about 1 stop apart. I am going to play with the original raws with PS layers to see what results I get. Thank you!

Hi Anette, I, too, agree that there is a lot of yellow, but this color was due to the sunrise light coming from behind me. I actually think I had to tone the yellow hue a bit.

David. You're absolutely right. The colors I saw in Grand Teton were truly incredible. I appreciate your feedback regarding the title as well.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Great suggestions already for this one...I do agree on the noise, especially in the sky. I am fine with the comp as is...it works for my tastes. I think Diane is right that there is probably a middle exposure you could process to get a pleasing end result. I have also had mixed feelings about HDR and use it seldom, but when I do I tend to opt for Oloneo Photo Engine as it seems to give me the cleanest results. Nice work overall.

[Don Lacy]

Hi Andres, I really like the composition of this image and the placement of the elements within the frame, but I hate the HDR treatment here the image to my eye screams fake its all of one tonality without any shadows to create depth the image is flat and one dimensional. Since the sun is behind you I am not sure why you needed to go the HDR route like Diane I believe you could find a single frame that has enough information to produce a more realistic image that would really shine with color and depth.

[andresleon]

Andrew and Don, thank you both for your comments and suggestions. I do have a few mid-tone exposures that I can play around with to see what I get. I've been experimenting with creating HDR that look realistic and genuine. I obviously still have a long way to go! :) What I have discovered, at least about myself, is that the more I work on an image, the less realistic and natural it gets, but I fail to notice that. So I now know that I have to step back from my work, to ensure I am not over-processing. Is this just me? or does that happen to others when working on their images?

Again, thank you all for your feedback!

[Don Railton]

Andrew and Don, thank you both for your comments and suggestions. I do have a few mid-tone exposures that I can play around with to see what I get. I've been experimenting with creating HDR that look realistic and genuine. I obviously still have a long way to go! :) What I have discovered, at least about myself, is that the more I work on an image, the less realistic and natural it gets, but I fail to notice that. So I now know that I have to step back from my work, to ensure I am not over-processing. Is this just me? or does that happen to others when working on their images?

Again, thank you all for your feedback!


Hi Andrew, I too often don't see 'things' in my processing my own work that are obvious in other peoples work. I have often thought 'why do I do this' and the only explanation I can suggest is that you (the photographer) have the vision in your mind of the scene you took and maybe this dominates over the image you actually took of that scene when you are processing...? I don't really know... The Good news is that in time you get better at looking at the image as opposed to looking at the vision you have in your mind, also I have found walking away for 20 minutes and then returning to evaluate what you have done can help. Sometime after doing this I have to start again...and again....etc.

regards

DON

[Diane Miller]

I definitely find I need to compare a "work in progress" to other things I've done, or other people's work, to get some perspective. I'll usually let something sit for a few days. A classic example is using some of the Nik filters to punch things up -- clicking back to the original BG layer it always looks so much flatter than I had thought it was. I usually wind up halfway in between, though. With HDR, I'll usually process a series several ways (Photomatix and Nik, for instance) and then do what I can with the original best exposure. Since the new ACR/LR Process 2012 sliders came out, I've wound up throwing the HDRs away in favor of the single frame. I do need to learn to use PS's HDR, though -- I've never mastered it -- and to check out HDR Expose 3, of which Tim Grey recently gave a favorable review.

A critique forum such as this one is a great place to find out how other people see something.