PDA

View Full Version : Craters of the Moon in snow



Malcolm Mackenzie
03-02-2008, 02:34 PM
Canon 1Ds MKIII, ISO 250, EF 70-200mm at 145mm, f/11, 1/160, hand held.

Craters of the Moon National Monument was a little out of my way, but worth the time it took to detour.
I was fascinated by the shadows created by the late afternoon sun but troubled by how to capture them.
Your comments and suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks for looking.

Malcolm

Robert Amoruso
03-02-2008, 04:42 PM
Hi Malcolm,

I found the image interesting with nice use of sidelight and good exposure. But my eye was looking around for a center of interest and did not find one. I tried a crop (above) and liked the diagonal the rocks in the center of the image made. I also did a reverse s-curve in a Curves adjustment to lower contrast and in a Selective Colot adjustment added 2% black to black and neutral channels to provide a bitr of pop to the image. Also in selective color I subtracted black from cyan and blue color channels to lower the blue cast in the shadows. I like how the large rock in the FG left balances with the rock in the BG right.

Malcolm Mackenzie
03-02-2008, 05:42 PM
Thank you Rob.
The whole landscape was like this. I struggled to find a nice clean bottom edge and yet still give some of the scope of size. You make a good suggestion and took the time to work the image and explained your techniques well. Thank you.
I will continue to work it and try and get it close to yours.

Cheers.
Malcolm

Robert Amoruso
03-02-2008, 06:55 PM
Hi Malcolm,

I think you picked the right position for the direction of light as the shadows and highlights accenturate the details well and exposure was good and thats a big part of the battle in this type of image. Next is finding that right arrangement of elements that creates a pleasing image and thats the rest of the battle. You are heading in the right direction. When the big picture (think wide-angle) is not working for me, I go for details as you did at 145mm. I cropped it further to limit the images to less details of the rocks to give the viewer a more well-defined selection of elements (shadows/highlights on the snow and the rocks) to lead the eye around the image.

Keep up the good work.

Bret Edge
03-04-2008, 10:58 AM
Looks like a foreign landscape. The snow texture is wonderful and the dark/light contrast between snow and rock is very neat. I like the crop of the 2nd version but prefer the color in the 1st one. Nice work!