Storm over the Dordogne

[Bill Dix]

D70; 18-200 VR @ 18mm; ISO 1600, 1/500s @ f/13. 0EV. Pano from 6 images.

This was taken from the French village of Domme, looking out over the Dordogne River valley in September of last year. Wasn't sure whether to post here or in Travel since it's no match for the beautiful landscapes often seen here. Minutes after these images were taken the storm hit our ridge with a fury -- luckily there was a nearby cafe to duck into. (Looks better as a 30" print than a 1024 jpg.) C&C appreciated.

[Robert Amoruso]

Bill,

I like this view and the inclusion of the cliff on the right. River also good leading line in the image and the clouds add a lot of drama. I felt some additional post-processing was needed to accentuate the tonal relationships and off the following:

1) Local Contrast Enhancement using USM on BG copy at 20/50/0. This cuts through some of the haze (you don't want to lose it all) and better defines the clouds.

2) Shadows/Highlights in PS4 set here: Shadows 71/34/30 open up FG and Highlights 49/25/30 to accentuate clouds better. Midtone contrast at +33.

3) Reverse S-Curve as the above made it too contrastly.

4) USM on BG at 150/0.3/0

Given the low-res JPG, IQ is not good here and I got some blocking of the highlights in the clouds. Starting from scratch on the TIFF will be better results.

Steps 1, 2 and 3 above covered here in my tutorial http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ad.php?t=20434 (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=20434).

I think a CCW rotation is needed here as well.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Bill,
I'm OK with it here as it is showing the landscape more than buildings clearly.

I like Robert's repost and the way he brought out some details nicely although I may have been inclined to include more of the river curve (did it go right?). The LH rock does frame the image nicely and does balance well with the rh side.....you may want to now erase a few of the building at the lower edge of frame if so inclined but they aren't that big of a deal. I do like the progression of the image from the rocks and city on the left to the pastures on the right but do believe the river would have added even more strength to the overall image.

[Bill Dix]

Robert and Roman, thanks for the helpful comments and for taking the time to repost. That is a major improvement, and I'll try those interventions on the TIFF. The river does go to the right, and if I had thought about it at the time I would have done a second row of images or turned the camera to vertical so I could include it. It would have helped a lot. The lightening of the near river area helps to bring out some detail -- I tried to do that but my PS skills were lacking. Good idea about the near-view houses - I hadn't thought about those. Deleting them would help to lead the eye across the bridge. As to the rotation, I thought it needed it too, but when I blew up the image and put a vertical line on things like the bridge piers it looked straight. I believe the mountains do slope up from right to left, and get closer (thus seem larger) as they sweep around the river toward me.

[Harold Davis]

love the repost. great suggestions above. just means you have to go back and do it again!! :)

[Dave Mills]

Hi Bill, I like the lightening of the repost with removal of the houses in the foreground. Agree that more of the river would strengthen the image. I saw much countryside like this in France this past summer and it's beautiful to behold!!