My neighbor takes these absolutely drop-dead gorgeous landscape photos at Red Rock and thus, inspires me. Alas, I have lots to learn...as you can see, I'm trying to achieve that deep perspective by anchoring an element in the foreground (green bush, llc), so how did I do? what's missing? Too much sky? C&C encouraged and greatly appreciated!
Canon 40D; Av f11, 1/250; Eval +2/3; ISO 400 and 24-105 @35; HH
Katie - I agree with the above comments - good dof (you could even close the aperture down a bit more perhaps); the richly colored mountains with the dusting snow are exquisite.
I have been reading about composition and wide-angle images lately, and I am still very much a novice at this. If this were my image, I'd be asking myself about the foreground. What is it about the foreground that I am trying to show? The pro's often suggest using a strong anchoring object in the foremost foreground to anchor the image.
The pano image of the mtns is what I'd focus on trying to get - maybe getting closer to them?
Just some ramblings; I am sure that there are lots of folks who are more expert at this than I am. Sure would be fun to be there now trying to find that perfect image. Nothing like snow in the desert for great images.
I'm also thinking those mountains are so beautiful I would like seen more of them. Understand trying to anchor the image but don't think there is anything powerful enough there? It is a lovely image in every way and you captured a great feel.
For the mountains you can tweak the contrast some. Not sure what you are using but in LR the fine adjustments have been made easy
Lovely photo Katie. Tough decision though about what to do about fore ground. FWIW, when I scroll up and down, i like it best when about 1/3 of photo is fore ground, 1/3 mountains and 1/3 sky/clouds. It seems to seems to open up to the mountains more. Mystical.
Brought the image into PS and selected from the base of the mountains to the top of the sky and applied shad/high and gave the top a bit more contrast. I put the bottom in levels and played with it until I got a result I liked better. I cropped the image only so you could see it that way. There really is not much in the foreground to rest on as was stated. This image has alot of interest and it would be a good idea to work the subject more. You might walk around and look for a better foreground.
Hi Katie,
I think Alfred's recommedations would be mine........the FG isn't strong enough to carry the composition. ..........but here's the good news.........I cropped this down to a pano.....then I did a multiplied layer at 60% opacity(Robert A's tutorial here); http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ad.php?t=20434
and then I did the local contrast adjustment in unsharp mask Amount 20.......radius 40....threshold 0.
I did clean up a few stray twigs at bottom of frame......may need a bit more.......let me know your thoughts..........because I really like the Pano!
This was very nicely done and all it needed were a few tweaks. I will recommend my signature 3 stop grad ND filter in the field next time........as this was the perfect situation to use it......it would have just darkened the sky about the same as my PP technique.
Thank you Roman and Dave; I like both of your fixes and even more, I thank you for taking your time to help me learn. I think landscapes are more difficult than birds because the eye sees so much more and so differently than the lens. I'm also realizing that my approach to saturation and contrast is too cautious. The nod goes to the pano!
Red Rock Canyon in the snow
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