The Majesty of the Sierra

[Adhika Lie]

I am not really sure which mountain this is on the Sierra Nevada. Shot from the roadside going out of Mono Lake, I think this is Mt Lewis at which base is Parker Lake.
Shot at 200mm, f/8.0, ISO200, 1/1600 sec, black and white conversion with warming filter. 24MP to 20MP crop for composition from the top and slightly from the bottom to take out some offending tree tops.

As always, looking forward to reading your thoughts and C&C on this image. Thanks so much!

163051 (http://adhika.photoshelter.com)

[Glennie Passier]

Adhika, so bold and as you say, majestic! My eyes wander from the summit to lake through all the gullies and past the trees. Beautiful. I thought at first glance the white of the snow/ice may have been a bit bright, but I'm OK with it now. Would you consider just a little more lightness in the FG?

Well done Adhika!

[dankearl]

Way too much contrast for me, sky too black, snow too white.....

[Don Railton]

Hi Adhika, Sorry, but I have to agree with Dan... The land looks like it was shot at night using moonlight, while the snow is almost without detail, not that i expect a lot of detail but it just looks too bright...

DON

[Adhika Lie]

Glennie, Dan, and Don - Thanks so much for stopping by! Sorry for not replying earlier, with Father's day and all, it's been a packed weekend.

It's okay to disagree with the image. My experience tells me that our creation won't please every one. From my notes and map, it looks like this scene is about 8 miles away from where I shot this so I'll be damned if I can resolve details in the snow. At the same time, it's my way of showcasing zone 8-9 in the tonality map. I might have gone a little heavy handed on the warming filter, I will see what will be revealed when I lift up the shadows on the sky by a bit; I am kinda in the Mitch Dobrowner mode lately.

[Don Railton]

Hi Adhika, When i say detail I am not talking about bugs in the snowflakes, more about larger patches of snow with different textures etc..

[Adhika Lie]

Hi Adhika, When i say detail I am not talking about bugs in the snowflakes, more about larger patches of snow with different textures etc..

Hi Don, this was shot last week of May and the snow was already on their way out; it's more like packed ice than snow at that point. I remember not seeing textures on the original raw but I could be mistaken. Let me see the raw file again and get back to you on that. FWIW, it could very well be caused by sun angle. The sun was right behind me and a little up. My note says about 40deg from the horizon. I was aiming for the sun to illuminate the peak for some contrast because otherwise it was a little flat when shot at that distance with that focal length.

Let me get back to you on the snow details when I have access to the raw file.

[Luis Patacao]

Hi Adhika, i have to agree to the previous comments, too much contrast plus the bottom looks a bit faded.

[Adhika Lie]

All good suggestions!

I thought the image worth to get another look from the beginning. So I rework the image a little bit and I can see what Don said about slight texture on the snow. Since there was no blown highlights I was able to use luminosity mask to tone down the highlights on the snow (the highlight slider was already -100 in LR so need some more potent juice). I also brought up shadows on the sky a little bit. It's interesting how much details it can reveal. Also since the 800x1000 px image with JPEG compression might not to do justice to the details in the snow, I post some 100% screen grab of the snow. Very good learning experience with this image! Thanks so much for the good suggestions everyone!


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[Don Railton]

Hi Adhika, I much prefer the last post...

[Don Lacy]

Adhika, The repost is where I would have directed you the tonal adjustment work well,

[Adhika Lie]

Don & Don, thanks so much. This image is just another proof how valuable are the inputs from others here. The composition for me really depicts my vision of the Sierras and thanks to Don's suggestion I am able to improve the shortcomings in processing the image.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Adikha - For me the rp is a huge improvement.

TFS,
Rachel

[Adhika Lie]

Hi Adikha - For me the rp is a huge improvement.

Thanks so much, Rachel. I am glad the RP works for you! Credit to the gentlemen above for their suggestions.

[John Hackney]

The repost is much better looking shot. Great subject to shoot.