Rock on the hill

[Roman Kurywczak]

This was from my first day in Yellowstone during some pretty wil stoms. I passed this rock on the hill and spent some time composing different scenes with it.... always trying to keep the seperation betweeen the rock and ridge line. wasn't easy as the slope was pretty steep. converted to B&W using CS2 and plenty of levels and contrast layers and some selective dodging and burning.....borderline overboard even for me ......how about you?
Canon 1D Mark lll with the 17-40mm lens at 17mm for 1/3 sec. at f22 and ISO 100 and 2 split ND's stacked (3 & 2 stop soft ) and HH the rest tripod mounted.

[Harold Davis]

the processing is borderline over the top, but i like it!!! the rock seems overpowering to me. too big an element in the frame. the clouds are rocking, and i think i want to see more of them. the ridgeline in the middle of the frame seems to throw me here. i think if you were lower and minimized the hillside, while including some more sky, it would be better, even if the rock did intersect the horizon.

OK, now you can tear apart my critique!!

[Dennis "Curly" Buchner]

Love the tree line and the clouds in the BW very nice, but the rock is to shiny and takes me to the rock not the clouds.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Guys,
Not bad Harold and Curly!..you are both on the right track ...but how do we fix that in the fiel? BTW.....the shiny part on the rock is lichen/moss growing on it......but still a valid point Curly. I probably couldn't do what I am going to recommend.....but think about it and come back with a reply!

[Dennis "Curly" Buchner]

Would a polarizing filter work?

[Robert Amoruso]

Killer technique Roman.

I too think the rock is too large in the frame.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

If you are trying to convey desolation and an inhospitable environmnet, then I think you have achieved your goal Roman. For me it is too much contrast, but it is all a matter of taste. I do like the tension between the rock and the horizon, and the composition overall.

[Michael Pancier]

I love the sky and clouds on this; maybe too much contrast on the rock and I'm a contrasty guy....

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey all,
Thanks for lloking in and I agree that the rock is too large! Lowering the contrast may help.......but ideally I needed to get further back. That was somewhat possible but to keep the rock clean of the horizon.....I needed to have a ladder as the slope was way steep! I did go up slope.......and shoot wider with the rock in a central palcement.......but it is still too dominant IMO. I posted this one mainly to show everyone that sometimes.....too much of a good thing (FG element) can over power an image.....but if you had relative level ground and were able to back up a bit and add base while keeping the seperation......that was the way to go. Another possibility that I didn't explore was going lower....but the sky above the dramatic clouds was Eh!

Dennis.....a CP would have been OK but since there wasn't any glare......relatively useless in this case......add some water sheen....and that is the 1st choice.

[Indranil Sircar]

Excellent discussion! I like your approach. For me, the ridgeline holds a lot of interest. Agree that may be going further back would have achieved the result which, in this case, may not have been possible because of the steep hill. The only other suggestion would be to straighten the trees on the left edge of the ridgeline.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Hey Roman

Interesting points of discussion here. I dig the clouds immensely and feel your contrasty B&W has succeeded in making this image jump out at me, but I agree the rock is grabbing too much of the attention, maybe not because of size but because of the contrast/glimmer.

I love the treeline and the texture in the FG and clouds.