Oregon Coast

Colors on a foggy morning

Lovely fog image, Bill. I have two suggestions...

First, if this were my image, I'd probably clone out or soften the light streaks in the water below the rocks.

Also, you've cut the top off the rock/mountain in the BG - do you have more room on the original to add that tip back in? If not, you might consider cropping down more (even going pano) so it doesn't look so obvious.

I love the monochrome feel of this with that blast of aqua on the rock...nice composition as well (except for that missing top!)

I love fog images! In addition to adding a bit of head room for the image, I have two suggestions, try reducing the darkness by a little bit on the front of the right foreground rock, and second, put it on my living room wall! :D

Here is a repost with the suggestions implemented.

Nice Bill and I like the repost. The image is quite lovely with the subtle shades, and of course the fog makes it. It would have made for quite a different image but were you wishing for a person to be up against the railing looking over the sea?!

The image reminds me of some of the canyon images Dan Margulis talks about in his Photoshop LAB colour book, with their muted tones. I ran a "Margulis Curves" on the A and B channels just for fun. I probably went over the top but you can see how the technique "lifts and separates" the colours. This sort of thing cannot be done easily in RGB using the Saturation slider.

Love the repost!
John...What is a Margulis curve? amazing colors!

John,
I tried to respond to your post, but I forgot to post the response. I think that the colors are a bit over for my taste, however, the process and the results are fascinating. I would like to learn more and experiment with the technique. Can you give a little insight on how to get this quite astonishing result?

The technique is a simple one. First, convert the image to the LAB colour mode: Image->Mode->Lab color. Then bring up the Curves window (Command/Control-M). Choose the A channel (Adobe calls it "a"), and make the slope of the curve steeper by dragging in the top right and the bottom left corners. You can do this for A and B or one or the other, and you can make the curve steeper or not so steep.

Note the options I have set in the Curves window: Pigment/Ink % is clicked, and the finer grid line option is chosen. These are options that Dan Margulis uses. If you chose Show Amount of: Light then the LAB colours are reversed so no big deal.

To desaturate colours, make the A and/or B curves shallower. To adjust colour casts you can cinch in the top right or bottom left points unequal amounts. To change contrast, try these adjustments to the Lightness channel rather than A or B.

Thank you John. I will try this out soon.