The Ogwen valley

[Jonathan Ashton]

Two images one for sky other for ground:-

Camera Model Canon EOS-1D X
Shooting Mode Manual Exposure
Tv(Shutter Speed) 0.3 and Tv (Shutter Speed) 1/10
Av(Aperture Value) 16
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
Exposure Compensation -1.66 and 0
ISO Speed 200
Lens EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Focal Length 24.0mm

I look forward to your feedback, I have tried to inject a little moodiness, the light was rather flat on the ground.

[David Stephens]

This is a perfect situation for realistic HDR, as you've done. It's a lovely scene.

The big rock in the immediate foreground is drawing my eye too much. I think that looking up the valley to infinity should be the main focus. For your ground exposure, I think that you should have used some +EV to bring out more detail. As it is, I'd pull down highlights a little more and raise shadows a bit more, but try to keep the valley floor about where you have it. Overall, is this about the brightness that your eyes saw?

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks David, the image is not remotely like what I saw on the day, the light on the ground was totally even and flat. I used a duplicate layer of soft light and dodged and burned to create different lighting levels. I note your comment regarding the large rock in the foreground, I like it - maybe take a bit off the base say about 3cm? I think it needs something there, I toned it down to make it less obtrusive.

[Don Lacy]

Hi Jonathan, I really like the potential this image has and thought it just needed a touch more work in PS to polish it off. As always these are my thoughts and you might not like where i went with the image, I wanted to really focus the viewers eye to move through the image from the foreground to the end of the valley so the first thing I did was crop off the bottom to lessen the importance of the large rock in the frame so it would not hold as much visual weight. I then used some dodging and burning to lighten the valley and darken the cliff walls to create a path of light to follow . So now the viewer has a path through the frame with the end spot being the bright clouds at the end of the valley but I though they were just a tad to bright so I lowered their tone a bit which had the nice effect of bringing out more detail. I also thought the image could use some micro contrast so i added some using USM with the following settings 10,60,0 and I bit more sharpening so I did another round using a technique that incorporates the blur filter that I really like when it comes to sharpening rocks in a landscape. The final touch was to use Niks to brighten the center of the image while darkening the borders again which helps focus the viewers eye into the frame. Anyway this is how I would present the image if it was mine most of what i did is a matter of taste but I do feel if nothing else cropping the rock and lowering the tonal values of the clouds would have the most impact.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Don - wow and thank you I think that is a significant improvement, I will have to see if I can recreate something similar, thanks very much indeed much appreciated.

[David Stephens]

I really like Don's rework.

[David Cowling]

A little bit too much rock in the foreground in the original post and I would have suggested a crop just about where Don has placed it. Good composition leading the eye through the image. I like the branches of the old tree on the right as I feel that it adds something to the composition. The light looks good to me Jonathan, nice and moody as you want for this type of image. TFS

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Jon - A nice look down the valley and I really like what Don has done, especially with the crop from the bottom. I do wonder whether the scene/grasses were that orange, perhaps drop the reds some. I would take a look at the where the sky meets the ground as I think there is a pretty apparent edge there with a halo along it.

TFS,
Rachel

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks everyone your comments are well recieved

[Morkel Erasmus]

A nice view and good job on the blending and dodging/burning to create an interest in terms of light.
I like Don's repost as lot. Have you tried the new blending mode in LR? Makes it come out quite natural-looking IMHO if you want to do a quick blend.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks Morkel, I don't have Lightroom, I use DPP and CS6. As were most I was impressed with Don's repost and I intend to do something similar.