Icelandic winter sky

[Tom Dolezal]

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u314/erding/Landscape/IMG_2898-Edit-2-2.jpg

Technical: Canon 5D, Canon 16 -35 Mk2, ISO 400, f/8, 1/640, 0 EV, handheld

C&C welcome

Thanks for looking

Tom

[Robert Amoruso]

Tom,

Excellent colors and I like the composition with the different colors from left to right. I think placing the rays in the center of the horizontal was a good choice. I was wondering what this would become opening up the shadows. I tried a curves adjustment but got terrible skewing inthe colors, so I did the following.

1) Convert to LAB mode to keep colors from skewing like they did in a RGB Curves adjustment.
2) Curves adjustment, lightness channel (see next post for settings).
3) Shadows/Highlights, Shadow settings used to open up dark areas and Highlights used to tone down highlights in sky.
4) Mask 50% gray painted over curves adjustment left side where the yellow clouds are as the shadows were too light.
5) I selected the water below the bright strip in the water, made a layer with it, moved it up, blended the interface using the eraser tool on a soft setting (could be better but you get the idea). I then recropped the image to remove the repeating patterns at the bottom.


You could reduce saturation if you like. SOme noise ended up in the dark clouds on right. I am not sure where that bright strip inthe water comes from - does not appear natural.

[Robert Amoruso]

My LAB Mode Curves adjustment

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Tom,
A lot of drama going on in that sky......and Robert's re-post brought out the details even more. I like the way the rays near the water now stand out. It may be a bit much for my tastes........but you do get a good idea as to where you can go with it and tweak it to your liking. I don't mind the saturation.........but that is a personal choice again. Running a bit of NR on the darker areas should help if you choose to lighten it. Is the light strip open water???.......either way I do see what Robert is saying.......as it does draw the eye quite a bit.....so IMO....the removal was a good choice.

[Tom Dolezal]

Many thanks Robert for your valued comments and taking time doing an edit. I think the edit has brought out some interesting aspects of the sunrays and the clouds. The scene is looking down over a lava field , green moss covered initially in the fg when the lava looses the moss covering and then down to the sea - that bright strip is the sea at the shoreline - and then further out to sea where the sea is darker in colour due to the overhead clouds. The light transition from left to right is due to the dark night sky still being visible on the RH as it moves towards the West. The night to day transition causes the dark overtone to the image which is part of atmosphere of this scene.

I think that image editing is always going to be subjective and to personal taste. In my landscape edits I try to reflect the actual scene whereas, with respect, I think your edit is more to illustrate the underlining potential of bringing out the detail of that image.

You mentioned initial skewing of colours - have you any idea what caused that. I predominately use Lightroom - v2.2 - for my editing and would be interesting in trying to replicate that issue.

Tom

[Tom Dolezal]

Hey Tom,
A lot of drama going on in that sky......and Robert's re-post brought out the details even more. I like the way the rays near the water now stand out. It may be a bit much for my tastes........but you do get a good idea as to where you can go with it and tweak it to your liking. I don't mind the saturation.........but that is a personal choice again. Running a bit of NR on the darker areas should help if you choose to lighten it. Is the light strip open water???.......either way I do see what Robert is saying.......as it does draw the eye quite a bit.....so IMO....the removal was a good choice.

Many thanks Roman fro your valued comments - very much valued and appreciated.

Many of your comments have been covered in my reply to Roberts edit so I won't duplicate them here.

The light strip is the sea at the shoreline - the sea goes from that point back to the horizon.

Tom

[Robert Amoruso]

Thanks for your thoughtful input Tom. I have come to see that removing the bright strip was inappropriate as it is an integral part of the image. I apologize for doing that.

I perfectly agree with your points on the tonality of your image which BTW if I was not clear I like a lot. It all comes down to the photographer's goal. In my images I want to expose the underlying tones - the shades of gray so to speak. I guess being a B&W Zone System practitioner from many years back, makes me that way. I have seen Ansel Adam's Moonrise over Hernandez printed straight from the negative and after he worked his magic - the difference is astounding.

Either interpretation is fine, correct and beautiful but ultimately up to the photographer. It is interesting to explore alternate ways of thinking to expand one's horizons and I have learned from our exchange. Thank you.

For the tech question on the color skewing:

When adjusting contrast in RGB you are affecting both luminosity and color saturation. A large (steep) slope (traditional s-curve) will increase contrast and color saturation whereas a small (gentle) slope (reverse s-curve) will reduce contrast and saturation. An outcome of the type of adjustment I did to your image, to open up the shadows and mid-tones, produced an undesirable affect and oversaturation of the colors.

LAB mode correction was done on the luminosity channel which does not affect colors. A good resource here is Dan Margulis's Professional Photoshop and Photoshop LAB Color, The Canyon Conundrum books. The LAB Color book can be a tough read but worth the effort.