Looking Past Mt Tam

[Diane Miller]

Another aerial captured a few minutes after the previous two posts. Looking NW past Mt Tamalpais, about 15 minutes before sunset.

Canon 5D Mk II, 70-200 f/2.8 at 200. HH. ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/500 sec. Basic LR tonal adjustments then to PS CS 6 for some minor cloning, NR and local contrast enhancement with Curves.

[Don Railton]

Saving the best to last Huh Dianne...! I really like this, the layers of colour all stack up to one great shot IMHO.. Don

[Anette Mossbacher]

Great image Diane, did you try a Mid-tones luminosity on this. Just for contrast. It brings out a bit more the sky when used selective!
Love the layers of it

Ciao
Anette

[Diane Miller]

Thanks, everyone! Yes, Anette, the tones, and mids in particular, are pushed WAY beyond the original RAW interpretation, and maybe a little too far on the mid-distance hills. The scene was very flat. The clouds were barely visible, even with polarized sunglasses.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Diane - I like the layers a lot (similar to my image from the Smoky Mountains) but there's a strong halo at the edge of the closest ridge. Personally, I would also probably crop from the rhs to eliminate the hand of man elements (generally, I don't clone).

TFS,
Rachel

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Diane, lovely layered hills again. Rather than crop I think the hand-of-man elements could be cloned if you are not opposed to such photoshop work. This is a lovely scene but as an alternate version to this I also favor a crop from the top for a pano of the layered hills...I think it gives the hills more impact. Beautiful work!

[Diane Miller]

When I work up an image I'm interested in the esthetic aspects more than the photojournalistic ones, and would have no problem cloning out the tower and power poles. I only left them in because Mt Tam with its observation tower is such a well-known silhouette here in the San Francisco Bay area. For a more generic hill I probably would have removed them first thing.

I do like the idea of cropping out most of the sky, but cropping from the right just feels a little awkward.

The halo above the FG hills came from too much Clarity -- I should go back and get rid of it.

Thanks for the comments! Always good to have more eyes!

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Excellent layered image Diane, like what you have done with the dark FG, draws the eye in nicely. I also like the light tones and haze. A stunning scene.

[James Fuller]

Beautiful scene captured here Diane! I like the shadowed foreground and clouds/haze between the hills.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Halo noted.
The layers and misty look create a powerful visual appeal. I agree with Andrew on cropping the sky from the top.

[Diane Miller]

Thank for all the comments! I do like it with less sky. I left a little of the clouds here, but think it could also work with even more off the top. Halo issue addressed.