Chugach Range, Alaska Taken down on the river just below our house - last winter before there was much snow. This was at about 2pm - solar noon here with the sun relatively low on the horizon. I wanted a dramatic print with look of old B&W with red filters. I burned in the sky some on a seperate layer to get the drama I was after. A large print currently on exhibition has zones 0 to 10, with amazing details, but I reduced the specular snow highlights here for web viewing - otherwise they just looked cooked on some monitors. The Baryta print version is cropped from the top, but I'm not sure now that I prefer the crop over full frame presented here. The sky is much of the drama.
D800, Nikon 70-200 f4 VR @82mm, f7.1, 1/100, ISO 100, mirror-up, full frame, spot meter off brightest snow plus 2 stops, NX2, CS5 color process, Nik Silver Efex Pro II, back to CS5 for finalcontrast/curves and also for blacks added to neutrals on jpeg version. I'm still not sure this jpeg looks right on some monitors.
I love it, John. Great layers and textures with killer tonal range and contrast. Maybe a bit busy for some but not for me.
I love using a red filter on the sky for these conversions.
I Think the processing is superb, a ton of range for a B & W.
The sky is a bit busy for me with a few too many too bright clouds, but just a personal taste thing.
The mountains are stunning.
Diane, Jack, Morkel, and Dan,
Thanks for the great feedback on the image.
Morkel, Yeah I'm with you on the red filters. It works great in PS sky conversions, just like putting a red filter on an old film body loaded with Pan x.
John, this is incredible Although the sky is dramatic I can see it with a crop from the top. To me, the lighting on the mountains is as much the centerpiece as the sky. Beautifully done.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly" - The Little Prince
Well, now I'll give away mine
For those who may have never exposed and printed black and white film, a red filter over the lens will filter a huge amount of blue out of the sky, sometimes making it impossibly dark - even black. A super way to boost contrast against clouds, snow or vegetation in a landscape.
John, this is incredible Although the sky is dramatic I can see it with a crop from the top. To me, the lighting on the mountains is as much the centerpiece as the sky. Beautifully done.
Thanks much for the feedback, Cheryl. I was torn as well with the whole sky or the crop when I made the print.
Well, now I'll give away mine
For those who may have never exposed and printed black and white film, a red filter over the lens will filter a huge amount of blue out of the sky, sometimes making it impossibly dark - even black. A super way to boost contrast against clouds, snow or vegetation in a landscape.
Pan x or Panatomic X was a fine grain Kodak B&W film rated at ASA (ISO) 32
Even better was Kodak Super-XX. Ansel used to call these skies, especially those exposed at high altitude with red filters,
"nuclear". He would back off to an orange filter instead of using the red filter, later in life (he discusses the use of red filters on skies in his section on "the diving board" (half dome) in
"30 images"
Yes, I was a user of super-xx before its demise in 1979. This was large format film.
Hi John, now that is a scene I wish I could see out my front door everyday. For me this is perfection...I love everything about it and would change nothing.
Chugach Glitter
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Although the sky is dramatic I can see it with a crop from the top. To me, the lighting on the mountains is as much the centerpiece as the sky. Beautifully done.
Originally Posted by John Ippolito
