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Hilary Hann
09-28-2009, 05:53 AM
This photo was taken on a fairly murky day in the Masai Mara, Kenya. I have looked at this file for months wondering what I could do with it as it had the lovely variations in light and dark over the shallow hills and I felt that there was a landscape trying to escape. Not sure whether I have overdone it though so would appreciate any thoughts.
Cropped from the top and slightly from the bottom.
Taken with a Canon 20D, 28-135mm lens at 75mm.
F11, 1/125, ISO 400
Plenty of post production, levels, curves, gradient map, sky enhancement.

Cheryl Flory
09-28-2009, 06:13 AM
I like the expanse of grass at the bottom (reminds me of that famous painting whose name I can't remember off hand). I like the composition and everything happening in this image to look at. I just wish the sky had color and more depth to it.

Hilary Hann
09-28-2009, 06:19 AM
Cheryl, thank you. I agree … the sky worries me a bit too. And the big expanse of light in it. I have tried all sorts of things to get some colour into what was a very grey day but haven't got it quite right yet. I haven't given up though!

Cheryl Flory
09-28-2009, 06:23 AM
Hilary, this is a great place to post photo which you want help with! Not only are the members here amazing photographers, they are also great at post processing and even better--they are willing to help and share their knowledge! If it can be done, they will know how to do it. :)

Kyle Marie Barcelos
09-28-2009, 03:12 PM
I like the FG and the way you framed the tree, not sure about the clouds, they really don't have character to them to keep them, like the light hitting the grounds. TFS

Hilary Hann
09-28-2009, 06:15 PM
Kyle Marie, I agree totally. I hope to have time in the next day to get more character, depth and colour to them.

Lance Peters
09-28-2009, 08:46 PM
Hi Hilary - I have asked Roman to pop his head in and have a look at this one for you.
No better advice than Roman's.

Hilary Hann
09-28-2009, 09:28 PM
Thank you Lance, I would appreciate some advice.

Gus Cobos
09-28-2009, 10:07 PM
Hi Hilary,
I like this composition and capture. I would increase the saturation and contrast in the clouds to make them pop a little more...:cool:

Thanaboon Jearkjirm
09-28-2009, 10:46 PM
Really nice foreground at the bottom, the grass, the solitary tree and the hills. The gray clouds don't bother me that much, but the empty white space between ground and sky kind of does, I think you have too many of it here. I love the rain on the right side by the way, wish that it rain in a little off the center so you don't have too many empty white space.

Roman Kurywczak
09-29-2009, 03:47 PM
Hi Hilary,
I do agree with the others on the brightest sky area and since Lance did ask me to drop by, I will offer a few tips; In the field this was a perfect situation for the split ND filter! I highly recommend it and you will get a ton of use out of it during landscape shoots. By decreasing the sky by 2 or 3 stops......the tonal range of this image would have been much closer and given you more impact and the PP'ing tweaks would have been substantially easier.
Now....I have a few recommendations for PP'ing tweaks......B4 you do any corrections in the original file.....you may want to look into Robert Amoruso's reverse s-curve (here's the tutorial link; http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=20434 )
This will lower the contrast of the brightest area quite a bit and then bring out some depth to the area. I did a slight one. I also tried a shadow/highlight recovery on the image.......using the highlight slider I did get out a bunch more detail in the whites....if are you converting into 16 bits this will also be easier....and I believe there is more in there. Finally I did also use selective color and added black to both the neutrals and blacks for more punch. I did crop.....but if you can pull out more detail in the original.....I may change that recommendation.
Again.....this is a very interesting composition and sky and while I am working on a small jpeg.......any corrections you may do on a larger file may add more depth to the sky's brightest area which will give this image a bit more impact. It is worth exploring some of these possibilities to bring out the full potential of this image.

Hilary Hann
09-29-2009, 07:56 PM
Thank you Roman, that is fantastic advice. I have started playing with the image again to see if I can reproduce the extra detail but with the higher res image.

I hope to be back in the Mara in November so will add the ND filter to my pack.

I'll repost today, hopefully!

Hilary Hann
09-29-2009, 10:26 PM
Well, I have tried lots of techniques from Robert's tutorial with varying success. I can't get as much out of the white area of sky as you have Roman as I get my clouds too muddy.
So I have reposted my best effort which has increased noise in the sky, but hopefully not so that it is not worth looking at. I also added another gradient map with a tinge of purple in it to give the rain that edge of colour.

I will be interested in what everyone thinks.

Lance Peters
09-30-2009, 12:59 AM
Hi Hilary - Takes a little practice - your repost looks a tad overdone as evident by the colour noise now visible in the sky - Romans repost looks pretty good - try to replicate that as best you can.
The more you get right in camera the easy your PP will be - The ND Filter - IMHO is a must for this sort of thing.
:)

Hilary Hann
09-30-2009, 01:27 AM
Lance I agree totally. However, I have learnt quite a bit in the process of producing all that colour noise in the sky so it hasn't been a totally wasted exercise. Thanks everyone for their help.

Roman Kurywczak
09-30-2009, 04:33 PM
Hi Hilary,
You may want to look into Noise Ninja by Picturecode or a similar product....may help in these type of situations. Although I will always recommend the in camera technique first, these type of tools can only help! Glad you learned a bit in the process too!

Hilary Hann
09-30-2009, 06:24 PM
Thank you Roman, I have Noise Ninja (or I did have it) but lost it in a hard drive melt down. I will re invest.

Hilary Hann
10-02-2009, 03:59 AM
I know that it's a bit like a dog with a bone, but I just wanted to reduce the noise and repost. I can't get the same level of detail as Roman but I have managed to reduce the noise quite a bit. Now I'll move on! :)

Thanks everyone for being patient.