Autumn color....

[Diane Miller]

Or what passes for it here, until the vineyards start to turn. It's poison oak -- the western cousin of poison ivy. Seems early this year, maybe because of the drought. I spotted this scene yesterday while hunting dragonflies and came back this morning just as the sun came over the hills to the east, an hour after official sunrise.

Canon 5D Mk II, 24-70 f/2.8 at 27. ISO 400, f/13, 1/100 sec. Tripod. It was dead calm and I shot an HDR sequence, but got better results by adjusting the middle exposure, Shadows and Highlights sliders in LR5. Into PS for removing a few tall thin stalks of grass that I wasn't about to pick out at the scene. And a slight burn bottom and UL. A little bit cropped from both sides and the bottom.

I'd like to try it in slightly softer light but that might kill the reds. Shots made before the sun was over the hill didn't have anything going for them.

[Don Railton]

Hi Diane

Sorry, but this is not working, for me anyway. For me the lighting is not right and as a result I think the red are not strong enough and the blue from the sky and the shadows from the underside of the tree are just too strong and dominating... Options would be to go in tighter on the Ivy IMHO or wait till the light dropped lower and then maybe a bit of fill from a flash, but wouldn't hold my breath waiting to get that right either... would a different time have soft light coming in from the right and under the trees??

best regards

DON

[Diane Miller]

Maybe this just isn't a good scene to try for. Here's an adjustment using a dark-dark-dark-dark luminosity mask (covering the left 1/8 of the tonal range) for a lightening Curve. It's a quick adjustment -- I should be able to finesse some of the flatter tones a little more. Lightened the sky and saturated the reds more.

142934

Here's a shot before the sun came up (and it came up very fast, over the roof of a building, an hour after official sunrise -- no diffusion for even a few seconds). Quite a bit of adjustment in LR.

142933

Today there were some thin clouds (unusual here this time of year) and I went back, armed with flash. Haven't had time to work on it -- if I can do anything with it I'll start a new thread.

Thanks for honest feedback!

[Don Railton]

No Problems Diane... I always try to be honest, its sometimes difficult when you don't like something and you don't know why. Analysis of this is the self learning benefit of BPN newbies might not pickup on. I think the basic problem with this image is the volume of red is quite small and its going to be difficult to make something of it unless the light is perfect or you go in tight.. My thought anyway for what they are worth.

best regards & clear skys

DON

[Diane Miller]

Critique and opinion is what this is all about!

I think I see the problem now -- too much detail of the same "frequency" with no strong focal point. The eyes saw the scene differently -- that does happen! And we tend to see our processed images with a strong bias to how we "saw" the original scene.

I posted an "artistic" version in OOTB. I think it's more successful. Would be interesting to see the reaction of the Landscape folks, even though the effect may not be their cup of tea. (But maybe the two can't be mentally separated.)

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/121677

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Diane, I think you nailed it with the 'too much detail' comments above. I wonder if it would work better right after a rainstorm (but you are in the midst of a drought) when the colors would become more saturated making those reds pop. Over here in the east I tend to prefer photographing fall colors on over-cast rainy days.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Diane, I like the one in OOTB better:S3:

[Diane Miller]

So do I, Cheryl! This one just doesn't work. But it looked lovely in person!

We never get rain here in mid-summer, when the poison oak does its thing. It only rains here between November and March -- and hasn't been doing that much, lately. The colors of this stuff are minimal -- the red leaves go brown fast. The best hope for capturing the color is just-clearing coastal fog or very thin high clouds. Also rare. The last few days have brought some clouds up from monsoon season in Mexico, and I have tried this spot a couple of more times, with about the same result. Unfortunately, the best color is shaded by an overhanging branch of that tree.