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View Full Version : Clouds over the Sleeping Ute Mountain



Bill Randall
08-20-2010, 09:17 PM
This is a 4 shot pano shot in vertical position stitched and converted in CS4.
This is our western view from the house.

Roman Kurywczak
08-21-2010, 09:11 AM
Hey Bill,
That is quite the view! Please post some of the other specs to help us better evaluate an image and offer some other possible advice.

Looking at the clouds at the base of the mountain it appears you need a serious CW rotation.......although looking at the buildings in the FG.....not really.....so must be a slope. I will confess that I am not the biggest fan of those FG structures. The light appears harsh in the image and judging by the shadows.....close to mid-day. Works pretty well for IR photography but nos so well in other conversion methods. You did maintain some decent depth to the clouds.....another time of day would really bring them out. I do wonder if you had more lens to go wider.....including more of the cloud.....I realize you probably lost some in the stitch.....just some things to keep in mind next time out.

Bill Randall
08-22-2010, 06:53 PM
Roman, you are correct the land slopes as shown. Note the forground land is level as well as the houses in the middle ground. If I rotate to level the land in front of the mountains the foreground and middle ground would be quite funky. If the land didn't slope most of us locals wouldn't be able to irrigate our pastures since we for the most part flood irrigate.
I agree with your observation concerning the houses but I was not to up to removing them since I didn't think they were too objectionable, but you picked up on it so I guess I made a bad choice there. You are also correct concerning the tod, but you takes what you get concering clouds in this part of the world.

Robert Amoruso
08-23-2010, 10:18 AM
Bill,

I looked at your image before Roman commented but was on my way out for a long weekend and just got back. I would agree with Roman's comments and do understand you play the cards your dealt, but I would like to give you some alternatives.

I do like the toning you used, I feel that helped to make the high-contrast work in you favor here. I feel more sky was needed. The top of the clouds feel truncated. The houses are a major distraction for me because they are small and grab the eye - however without any detail in them they just don't add to the image.

I construed the the range was sloped but when I first look at your image of this scene, the repost is what I pre-visualized as if I were there. It is a departure from reality, but art in photography does not necessarily require us to remain truthful to what our eye sees. Just some things to think about. BTW, in my repost, I would but didn't clone out the remain structures.

Bill Randall
08-24-2010, 02:56 PM
Robert, I hope I can disagree with out trying to defend what I did, but in your repost the foreground is lost and I think it gave a better balance to the image. The distracting houses could be cloned out which would be my choice. Removing the slope while may be pleasing to others makes me feel a little off balance Pehaps because I know what it looks like and fully expect the slope. I am not obsessed with reality, but in this case, it works better for me. I do not disagree with your point of view nor am I being defensive, just stating may reaction to the repost. Please don't take offense and please don't stop giving me your reaction to the images I submit. I carefully consider what you have to say and I learn what others think of the image even if I don't totally agree.

Dave Mills
08-27-2010, 09:59 AM
Hi Bill, you have a perfect right to disagree and you will always have the final say on your images. Over time you will see that the mods do not fully agree all the time either.
I don't think anyone would take offense to your comment but it's also good to remember that there isn't a need to justify ones decisions after they hear a critique. You could either accept or reject it...your call.
Pertaining to the image it has alot of impact due to powerful cloud formation. The sepia adds a feel to the image which is pleasing. I like Roberts repost but would like just a bit more(not much) bottom.
IMO The OP version would be improved without the small buildings giving it a sense of being away from civilization as Roberts portrays...