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Don Lacy
12-06-2014, 06:55 PM
One of my favorites places in Arches was Sand Dune Arch a little Arch tucked away in the sandstone that does not receive any direct light but just glows with reflected light in the afternoon.

Image was made with a Canon 6D, 16-35 f/4 IS, .3s at f/16, Manual Mode,Evaluative Metered, ISO 400, Tripod. This is a single image processed in PS with numerous layers and luminosity mask. One of my preparations for this trip was to take the time and really understand the use and power of luminosity mask as I knew they would be extremely useful for these types subjects and while there are still some techniques and uses I need to learn I have really enjoyed working with them. I also read online today yet another thread on how awful Canon cameras are since they only have 12 stops of DR at base ISO compared to 15 for Sony sensors and how much better their images would be if Canon could only make a good sensor, of course when i clicked on their 500px link I was treated to a whole page of cat images, I just found that humorous and thought I would share:S3:

Diane Miller
12-06-2014, 08:11 PM
Wonderful composition and great color and tonalities. I haven't done much with lumo masks, feeling they were somewhat trumped by the strong dynamic range adjustments in LR. But this is extremely elegant. Can you give a quick rundown of which tonal ranges you enhanced, and how much?

I'm wondering if a gradient burn from the bottom would provide a bit of a base.

Don Lacy
12-06-2014, 09:17 PM
Hi Diane, After getting the image close to what I wanted in ACR I did the following steps, tonal contrast with CEP4 and fine tuned with the opacity slider, curves adjustment with a bright lights mask to tone down the highlights, another curve adjustment on what I call a shadow shadow mask to brighten the shadow, another curve adjustment with a mid tone mask to punch them up a bit, used a layer set to overlay and filled with 50% grey to burn the highlights further in one area of the image, a saturation layer to desaturate the reds slightly. I set my luminosity masks up as follows for highlights they go from what I call lights,light lights, bright lights,and super bright lights and four mask for the shadows using the same progression. For those who do not understand how luminosity mask work here is a link to Tony Kuyper tutorials on them http://goodlight.us/writing/luminositymasks/luminositymasks-1.html
Also here is a link to a small tiff file with all the layers active open it in PS and turn off all the layers by clicking on the eyeball next to them then turn them on one by one starting from the bottom and you will see the progression of the layers and how each built upon each other to get to the finale image. You can also click on the adjustment icon to see the curves I used and also the mask to see them. https://www.dropbox.com/sc/qoonb2oy0c6pso0/AABwpESahYTYeGx45t2o3_xPa

Don Railton
12-07-2014, 08:53 AM
Beautiful composition Don... I can see why this might be a favorite spot. I love the colour tones and gradients, and those arches are magnificent... I actually wrote my own set of mask actions based on the Tony Kuyper referenced sticky top of this forum... I find them very useful.

Sorry to be the halo finder but I do see a hint of one under the two arches mid frame, and these edges look different to the rock RHS...Maybe a bit of edge refinement needed with that mask..? I also think the rock behind the arch looks a bit 'pushed' in processing, or maybe its not pushed enough, not sure where you started from with that. To me it sort of looks like too much 'detail extract'. I also like Diane's suggestion of the gradient burn (but I would make it slight..) from bottom.

I really hope you have lots more of these...

best regards

DON

Don Lacy
12-07-2014, 09:30 AM
Hi, Don you really have a good eye I selectively sharpen the areas you are talking about its an old trick the viewers eye will naturally settle on the brightest and sharpest areas of an image, As a photographer you want to control the viewers eye and lead them through the image. Here there are not any leading lines so I used sharpening to achieve it. Looks like I need to tone it down since it really should not be obvious to viewer.

Diane Miller
12-07-2014, 11:44 AM
Thanks for the TIFF -- what a great idea! Always wonderful to follow the thinking on developing an image.

I have the TK actions, just need to spend some time exploring what they can do. Sort of like buying a book and sleeping with it under your pillow...

dankearl
12-08-2014, 02:27 AM
Excellent photo of this small tucked away arch.
I might take a bit off the bottom.

Don Railton
12-08-2014, 03:52 AM
Hi, Don you really have a good eye I selectively sharpen the areas you are talking about its an old trick the viewers eye will naturally settle on the brightest and sharpest areas of an image, As a photographer you want to control the viewers eye and lead them through the image. Here there are not any leading lines so I used sharpening to achieve it. Looks like I need to tone it down since it really should not be obvious to viewer.

Uh Huh... So now I'm learning some of your tricks... Thanks for letting me in on this one....

regards

DON

Andrew McLachlan
12-10-2014, 07:29 PM
Very nicely done Don...all I can say is that I gotta get myself there one day :S3: