Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

[Steve Patterson]

I just got lucky with the light here....

40D 17-40 f/4 @ 24mm
1/200 f/8 is0 250

http://www.pbase.com/spatterson/image/86541405/large.jpg

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Steve,
Very dramatic lighting here but I feel it needs a few PP tweaks to really make it shine. As presented the FG is a little dull and the mountains a little overly bright. Did you try some shadow highlights??....to tame some of the brightness and bring some definition to the FG? You could also work selectively on the layers with seperate layers. Many possible options to really emphasize the dramatic lighting. I was going to recommend a crop off the bottom but will reserve judgement until I can try a few tweaks out when I get some time. I do like the comp and lighting.....just feel it needs a few tweaks.

[Steve Patterson]

Thanks for having a look, Roman.....if you have a minute look at this in a little larger format. I do think the contrast looks much better than in this resized version. I would appreciate your opinion.
http://www.pbase.com/spatterson/image/86541405/original

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Steve,
Definitely stronger. When the tops of the trees catch the light like that.....they tend to pop even more .....and that is what catches our eye! The larger version is really close and I think a little more tweaking will put it over the top. Cooking dinner right now so maybe I'll get to it after.

[David Thomasson]

Steve, this is really a striking image. I love the dramatic light. Hope you don't mind my playing with it a bit. The reds were clipped in the bright areas of the sunlit stone, so I toned those down a bit, increased contrast in the clouds, and opened the foreground shadow details just a little. Not much needed for this outstanding shot.

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/4200/capitolreef2a.jpg

[Paul Marcellini]

Really nice one. Like John's earlier post, great light and dark skies, my favorite. I like the repost, except for the added contrast to the sky. The comp has a lot going on and the added texture to the sky makes for more to look at. I find the more monotone dark sky of the original give the eye a bit of rest and sets off all the details more.

[John Blumenkamp]

Hey Steve... nice work! I like your overall composition here, and those clouds are awesome. I find images like this can really be explored in post-production to see what one can do with the various tones in the image. I'd be curious to see this one in black & white. Great job... hope to see more!

[Dave Mills]

To satisfy John's curiosity.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Steve,
See you got a few more ideas! On my re-post.....I used S/H at 37A...32 Tonal...and highlights at 35/50. I also did a LCE (local contrast adjustment) at 23/40/0. I did a few minor tweaks and even though I was OK with the bottom.....I felt a crop strengthened it as it wasn't that strong. You can play with all the settings......but it really popped the colors and sunlit through the clouds look. let me know your thoughts.
PS I did use the healing brush on the LL bush to blend in a few hot spots.

[Steve Patterson]

Thanks everyone....fun to see the different ideas and examples. I appreciate you taking the time.
David... really like this version. It does have more pop...which I like. My only nit would be that the trees look a little oversharpend/over contrasty to my eye. But overall I think it is a definite improvement over mine. Thanks.
Dave..thanks for doing the B&W conversion, too. I usually like B&W versions better than the color, but in this case I think the color is too interesting. I believe I will stick with color in this one, but it really isn't a bad black and white either.
Roman...I do think your rock face is an improvement. It seems to show more detail....although my full size version isn't bad. I do like the foreground left in I think, as it anchors the photo to my eye and adds some scale. The overall pop is better though, I think.

[David Thomasson]

David... really like this version. It does have more pop...which I like. My only nit would be that the trees look a little oversharpend/over contrasty to my eye. But overall I think it is a definite improvement over mine. Thanks.


Thank you, Steve. Taking a second look, I agree. I oversharpened the trees.