This shot kind of blows my mind a bit. I exposed it off the middle portion of the caldera primarily trying to get the detail of the various volcanic textures and colors. To look at the vanilla raw conversion the entire sky except for a small triangle in the upper left corner is blown. There is no evidence of the horizon or of the billowy low clouds. Just 100% R 100% G 100% B in the LR histogram. Imagine my surprise in working this first with the exposure, and highlights and whites sliders. Then with SEP for detailing. Just a few cameras ago I would have expected a silhouette. This is accentuates the dynamic range of the sensor. Like I said, just blows my mind.
I can't completely explain the diagonal of blue across the sky. The sun was where it is in the "Curves Ahead" photo early mid-morning height on the right. Maybe light bouncing off haze?
Thanks for looking.
Cheers,
-Michael-
02-06-2016, 02:54 PM
Dennis Bishop
The scene is breathtaking. I think it's knowing that you were above the clouds that really grabs me. Because the top is so much lighter than the bottom, I'd be inclined to darken it a bit and -- with an inverse mask -- lighten the bottom a little. While I was playing with that, I flipped the image horizontally. In my mind, it made a big difference. Perhaps that was related to the triangle you mentioned. By the way, I have no explanation for the triangle. I wondered about cropping some off the top but rejected that because I like the way the blue in the sky balances the blue in the foreground.
02-06-2016, 07:25 PM
gary ellwein
Michael, the setting is dramatic. Being above the clouds with one's feet on the ground is a special experience. The foreground on my monitor is quite under exposed. Using Dennis's suggestion of a gradient mask with an increase in brightness opened things up nicely.
02-07-2016, 06:32 PM
Diane Miller
Wonderful! I wonder if the magenta-ish area in the sky is a looming high-level cloud formation. The horizontal formation of clouds are at a low level, as clouds go, with the sum reflecting off the underlying marine layer haze at their base.
Would be interesting to see how far you can go lightening the darks and darkening the lights.
02-09-2016, 01:50 PM
Anita Bower
Good job, Michael. Lovely view. What a treat to be there. I like the diagonal blue in the sky. I also liked it flipped horizontally. Wonderful what cameras are able to capture these days.
02-11-2016, 12:26 AM
Michael Gerald-Yamasaki
1 Attachment(s)
Dennis, Gary, Diane, Anita,
Thanks much for your comments. They are much appreciated. Agree that the fg is a bit dark. Working this one some more... This is a lightened detail (100% crop). See the hiker(s) about in the middle of the yellow strip toward the bottom center? Gives you an idea of the scale.
