PDA

View Full Version : Death Valley Simplicity



Jay Gould
12-13-2010, 09:22 PM
This was taken a couple of hours after the Death Valley Morning Color; yes, the sky had dramatically changed!

Camera: 5D2
Capture date/time: 13 Oct 09; 9am
Light condition: After sunrise
Lens: 24-105
Focal length: 24mm
Distance:
Extender: none
Tube: none
Flash/Comp: no
ISO: 200
Exp Prog: Av
Speed: 1/40 sec
Aperture: f/22
Exp Comp:
Metering: Evaluative
WB: Auto
AF Drive: One shot
Tripod: yes
Filter: SR color intensifier
Crop: none
Images Changes: Extensive cleanup of foreground sand dune

Processed in LR 3 and CS5 -
plus Viveza, InFocus,
and Pixel Genius Sharpening.

All C&Cs gratefully appreciated!

Dave Mills
12-14-2010, 12:18 AM
Hi Jay,looks like you were on an upper area of the dunes. I like the low angle along with the detail in the sand. While it's not first light the sand still has a pleasing tonality. If this were mine I would crop the sky down to a small bit above the well defined clouds. To my eye the sky appears a bit unnatural. Possibly a bit too much cyan?

Robert Amoruso
12-14-2010, 07:26 AM
Hi Jay,

A very classic type of image from DV done well here. Nicely seen. I agree with Dave on the crop on top and the color cast. Magenta is creating a purple color cast in clouds and lower valley cliffs.

Roman Kurywczak
12-14-2010, 10:01 AM
Hey Jay,
Doesn't last long ....does it?!!! and the Avain guys above say they have it hard:2eyes2:! Just want to see if they are paying attention.
Agree with above comments and want you to try one more thing in PP'ing.....from the horizon down.....take the brightness down a bit and then play with the slider of contrast....upping it a few points. I think this will bring out even more texture in the sand w/o affecting the color. You can also probably do this in levels or selective color....but brightness/contrast should show you quickly if it will work to bring out more detail in the sand.
Small tweaks will definitely take this upa notch.....and I know how well you like direction:D!

Dave Leroy
12-14-2010, 05:07 PM
Interesting scene and good for you to see it.

I like the vertical shot. Good idea.

I like the idea of a bit off the top as well.

If you redo as per Roman's suggestion, it would be nice to see.

Dave

Jay Gould
12-14-2010, 07:48 PM
Hi All and thanks for the many suggestions.

Roman, I do appreciate and WANT lots of direction.

Well, back in LR we did the crop and then using the adjustment brush selected the mountains and the sky for some adjustments, and the sand for others; then, over to CS5.

In CS5 after selecting the the mountains only and putting them on a separate layer I then had trouble making changes only to that layer until I asked my friend "Viveza" to work only on the selected layer which it promptly did!

To change the color in the brown world from the blue/magenta world I went to my friend "Google" and found the RBG value for a "brown" and the rest is history.

Back to all of you! :D

Andrew McLachlan
12-14-2010, 08:22 PM
Hi Jay, love the sand. I like the repost, the above suggestions helped. I wonder if you could pull a little detail out of the shrub. To me it looks a little dark. The one section just to the left of the shrub still looks a little magenta. I wonder if you could use Viveza - put a control point on it a desaturate it. I find that that sometimes works for small localized areas. Nicely composed image.

Dave Leroy
12-14-2010, 10:17 PM
Boy that really popped up the sand nicely. Made the contours more noticeable as well.

Dave

Jay Gould
12-15-2010, 07:05 AM
Hi Jay, love the sand. I like the repost, the above suggestions helped. I wonder if you could pull a little detail out of the shrub. To me it looks a little dark. The one section just to the left of the shrub still looks a little magenta. I wonder if you could use Viveza - put a control point on it a desaturate it. I find that that sometimes works for small localized areas. Nicely composed image.


Hi Andrew, I really appreciate the time you take to comment on mine and others landscape images. I intentionally left that strip with the magenta rather than go to the brown. I wanted the eye drawn up the sand to the magenta and then up to the sky. I see the magenta foothills and anchoring the midground of the image. I will have a play with the bush and if I can make it better/different will post a second RP.

Roman Kurywczak
12-16-2010, 09:18 AM
Hey Jay,
I really like what it did to the sand and colors too!!! I can see what Andrew is talking about but it didn't jump out at me.......so great job with the suggested tweaks and I hope you see the improvement yourself! Always nice to have other eyes look at an image!

Dave Mills
12-16-2010, 09:42 AM
Hi Jay, nice going! a marked improvement!

Jay Gould
12-16-2010, 05:18 PM
Mates, that's a Down Under expression that I have gotten into the habit of using..........

Buddies :cheers: not only do I see the benefits and improvements of the tweaks, the education received at BPN is second to none and I always post on BPN, do the tweaks, and then post of other forums for additional input.

Thanks everyone for all of the assistance and education.