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Gerald_Gilligan
02-28-2009, 01:10 AM
Sunset at Tunnel View

This image was created on 12.28.2008 at 4:35pm
RAW Canon 10D 17-40L 1/2-1/5-1/10 sec. F18 ISO 100 @22mm
This is a three image exposure blend in Photomatix. W/7 point CS4 adjustments.

It was about 20 degrees Fahrenheit in the afternoon just before the magic hour. I drove up here to find the valley starting to cover itself with a heavy mist/fog... I was very excited to see this display when I arrived and immediately set up and took multiple images...okay over 100 images...(I don't remember taking this many)

I really like the lingering fog as it moves through the valley and thins out as it moves to the left. The mountain to the left of El Capitan seems to be troubling me, should I leave it alone as it helps establish a starting point for the eye or should I crop some of it off and also loose some of the valley fog meandering through the lower part of the image from right to left?

All idea's and suggestions are welcome...

Jerry

Robert Amoruso
02-28-2009, 12:31 PM
Gerald,

I like the composition. The diagonal of the trees on the right and the fog act to lead the eye into the image. Diagonal on the left side mountain provides a balance to the right with it's apposing direction. You even have a diagonal with the morning light.

With HDR you should have gotten much better shadow details. I notice that you only used a 2 stop range for the three exposures. I feel -2, 0 and +2 would have been much better here. In images that are predominately in shadow, more range is needed. After I create a series of images I will look at the histogram and make sure that my highlight exposure (generally the first exposure) records highlights in the four box. Then I look the subsequent exposures and watch how the shadows emerge from the left side of the box. I will create enough exposures in the series to either get the shadows all the way into the third or fourth box, or increase the bracket range (say 1 stop to 2 stop) to make the happen.

The image looks to be sharpened too much. I would dial done the sharpening some.

Are you tone mapping or using one of the exposure blending methods in Photomatix. With the exposure blending - adjusted, you can pick how much averaging is blended either towards the shadows or highlights.

Roman Kurywczak
02-28-2009, 02:01 PM
Hey Jerry,
I'll leave the HDR specifice to Robert (I haven't even tried one yet!)...but as he pointed out....the classic comp here is very effective......what makes yours a little more special...is the fog in the valley. My only recommendation is to maybe soften those con-trails some or totally get rid of them (man....they bug me in the field). Yes, they were there...and there is nothing you or I can do with them in the field.....but we now have that magic eraser ability....so I say use it!
I really hope you can tweak the HDR work....as the potential end result on this one is huge!!! Way to get out there when the time was right!

Gerald_Gilligan
03-01-2009, 02:59 AM
Here is a re post with some adjustments of the observations noted...

Robert,
I re processed all six RAW images (I used three on the first post, Hmm ???) and converted them to TIFF files in Capture One.
I combined them in Photomatix using the Exposure Blend mode with Highlight and Shadows-Adjust set at
Strength 3, Color Saturation 4, Blending point 3.
Opened them in Camera RAW and did minor tweaks, PS4 for final processing.

Roman,
I have to agree with you...why do these airplanes fly around leaving their con-trail at magic hour ? I do not even know what a "con-trail" means, but I know what it looks like...

I could not find a tutorial on the magic eraser (BPN, Youtube, Google) on how to remove these background trails while restoring the sky as desired so I played with the healing brush (first time) so I hope that the results are okay...Do you have any guidance on this technique ?

Thank you both again for the constructive critique's...

This version seems to be darker after the jpeg compression.

Jerry

Fabs Forns
03-01-2009, 05:51 PM
Lovely scene, I like the mood of the original, although I'd have liked some more grounding for the foreground trees.
I'd go for the first one, with less sharpening.

Dave Mills
03-01-2009, 11:20 PM
Hi Gerald
I was playing with the image myself because I liked your basic comp. I also liked your original sky minus the contrails since some clouds did afford some interest. I like the warm light in the original. The only thing I was looking for was more definition in the shadows which you now have....I guess a combination of the two.