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Jory Griesman
01-11-2009, 10:05 PM
No critters seen on hike of Valley of the Five Lakes, near Jasper, Alberta, just this beautiful view of the 3rd lake. Cropping was tricky, as I already cropped at the bottom, and didn't want to cut off more of the foreground rock or part of the tree's reflection.

Nikon D300, 24-70 mm 2.8 lens at 24 mm
f/4.5, 1/200 sec, ISO 200, 0 exp. comp., with Singh-Ray graduated ND filter (sorry, don't know how many stops) and polarizing filter.

Robert Amoruso
01-12-2009, 01:12 PM
Jory,

I think that adding a bit back at the bottom would be good so that the lower left corner is grounded in the FG better. Comp is good overall and I like how the smaller tree and reflection on the left balance the tree on the right. The V in the water is a great leading line to the BG mountain.

What doesn't help here is the high-contrast and saturation. I would suggest a reverse s-curve ( tutorial at http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=20434 for info) and lowering saturation.

Jory Griesman
01-12-2009, 01:40 PM
Thanks, Robert. I was actually going to note in my image data that I only made minor Clarity/Vibrance changes in Lightroom, and that the saturation, which I thought looked overprocessed myself, was fairly natural. I made some minor brightness/contrast changes in Viveza, primarily in the trees. I'll look at your tutorial and see what I can do, but I generally find it difficult to follow these, as the terminology and use of channels is beyond my understanding of these concepts and beyond my limited Photoshop abilities.

Roman Kurywczak
01-12-2009, 06:14 PM
Hey Jory,
Ahh...the other side of digital photography.....the PP'ing......first on the comp though......I am not sure the tree adds to the comp in this instance......moving a bit left if possible.....and eliminating the tree all together would only further emphasize the very nice V Robert mentions of the land even further....I also agree with thim on incorporating a bit more of the rock. Now for the PP'ing......I definitely agree and would offer this......you don't have to master all the techniques (the more you know though the easier it is for you).....but you should get a very strong handle on the basics......and the rest will follow and only improve the final result. This is the nature of the digital beast.

Jory Griesman
01-12-2009, 07:24 PM
Thanks. I've recropped, leaving more room on the bottom, and taken a bit off the left. I think removing the large tree altogether upsets the balance (looks almost too symmetric without it). Tried a reverse 'S' curve, and a few other Amoruso tutorial adjustments. Hopes this helps.

Roman Kurywczak
01-13-2009, 04:50 PM
Hey Jory,
I definitely like the rock back in....grounds the image a bit more....maybe somewhee between the 2 for the contrast to my tastes.......but there is always a loss in the jpeg compresion......so may not be that noticable on the original.

Fabs Forns
01-14-2009, 11:52 AM
I like the original, but it may need a bit of clockwise rotation.