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Douglas Bolt
09-08-2008, 11:28 AM
Canon 5D, 24-104 @ 55, -1.3, f22, 1/5, ISO 50, tripod, cropped a bit from the bottom.

This scene was just a few hundred yards from the falls show in the previous images of the falls in Jiuzhaigou NP, China.

Someone suggested I should return to the location and select a time with more ideal light. Believe me, I'd love to. I was with a group of birders on a schedule, so that limited my photo options somewhat, but still, the trip was a fantastic exposure to southern China that I'd like to repeat. Although the scenery and the birds were great, the highlights of the trip for me were the Chinese people and the many changes they have made since I was last in their country back in 1985. But, I digress...

PP: Linear Burn (40% opacity) blend mode on the highlights selected with Color Range, Screen (33%) on the shadows, increased Sat of yellows and blues in H/S, and a little selective sharpening on the trees and mountains.

My thoughts: Lacks central point of interest, dark trees are a bit muddy looking, maybe a little crisp in the light yellow shrubs/trees.

Kaushik Balakumar
09-08-2008, 08:10 PM
Liked the far off snow-capped peaks and the 2 triangular segments of vegetation...
But would also agree with ur self-critique that the image lacks central point of interest.

Robert Amoruso
09-09-2008, 06:54 AM
Douglas,

You snow-capped peak is in the center of the image making it appear static. In the repost, I crop from the right and move the mountain that way. This also moves the diagonals of the two opposing slopes to the right giving the image more tension, thus appeal.

I also did a local contrast enhancement using USM on a background copy at 20/15/0. Then a curves adjustment to lighten the overall image and masked out the sky and mountain so only the FG slopes are affected.

Of course on your original you can work to tone down the snow.

Roman Kurywczak
09-09-2008, 12:37 PM
Hey Douglas,
While the Mtn. is centered........I think it is can carry this scene. I liked Robert's local contrast boost.........so I took your original.....(I know your PS skills are VG so you should be able to do better with the original).....recovered a few of the highlights first.............then applied local contrast adjustment to the entire image. I took a pretty severe pano crop to it.....this eliminates the entire muddy FG you were talking about and IMO now makes a very strong Mtn. scene. Let me know your thoughts on it.

Joanna Trescott
09-09-2008, 10:36 PM
I like Robert's repost. I love the lushness of the deciduous trees. The contrast enhancement did the trick. Nice shot.

Douglas Bolt
09-10-2008, 10:35 AM
Thanks for the helpful comments and reposts.

I like the improvements that Robert made with curves and CE and I like the crop that Roman made. Removing the shrubs in the foreground shifted the flow of the image towards the mountains in the back and away from the trees in the foreground. However, I felt that cropping a little more from the right side might give a better feel to the image. Yes, I don't know what "feel" to an image means, but it seemed like a good word choice at the time. Maybe "balance" would have been a more descriptive word. Anyway, thanks again.

Roman Kurywczak
09-10-2008, 02:52 PM
Looks good to me Douglas. Adopting the feedback certainly helped tweak a very nice image even more!