Assignment: First Light

[Cheryl Flory]

Canon 40D
Tamron 17-50mm

1/1600"
f4
ISO 400
EC -1.67

OK, this is my before-sunrise image. Made some major mistakes here, mainly instead of underexposing to reduce the bright areas in the sky, I should have used a one of those graduated filters. But since I didn't, when adjusting I had to lighten the trees a lot, and also still darken some of the sky areas. I suppose I could have lowered the ISO also, probably didn't need 1/1600" for a landscape. :D

Yup, this was the place where I go to find deer, but didn't photo a single deer yesterday!!! :( so shot landscapes. something new for me.

well, what do you think??

[David Thomasson]

Wow, Cheryl, this is beautiful. The light looks like something from one of Renaissance masters. When I look at
this, I can hear Grieg.

Two bits of tweaking I would suggest. There are brush strokes visible in the sky; looks like the brush needed a softer edge. (I smoothed them out
here with the smudge tool.) Second, I would dab a little more light on the leaves that are catching the sun. (Try a warming filter adjustment layer.
Push the strength to 100%, invert the mask, change blend mode to screen, and paint with a small brush, 10-20% brush opacity.) Great job!!

[Jenny Wren]

Oh my Cheryl, Just beautiful. I didn't notice the brush strokes until David pointed them out. His tweaking has, I think, improved an already great shot. I'll have to try his technique on a couple of mine. There is nothing more I would do to this.

JW

[Stephen Cunliffe]

Whatever the imperfections, this is definitely a lovely oil painting by the eighteenth century English landscape painter, John Constable. He must have been surprised to find himself in what is now Michigan!

[Kerry Perkins]

Cheryl, I can only repeat what has been said - this is beautiful and the light is superb. I get a Maxfield Parrish feeling from this as well as the masters as noted. To have David Thomasson take an interest in your image is a compliment indeed, and his repost puts this one over the top! Well done!!!

[Lance Peters]

Gorgeous light - very pretty scene - love the colours - davids repost puts it over the top.
Would look lovely hanging on a wall.

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Cheryl,
I like the capture, the shadow area along the tree line needed to be adjusted...Dave's repost brings it out and puts this beautiful landscape over the top...:cool:

[Cheryl Flory]

Wow, you guys liked it! It still surprises me when any of my images "passes inspection" here. lol
Thank you, everyone for taking your time to comment. And now you know another reason why I enjoy going to this woods to photo deer. Deer or no deer, it's a beautiful place!

David, thanks to your clear description, I was able to use the warming filter, which I am been trying to figure out since I upgraded to CS4. However, when I pull up the warming filter, I no longer see the blending mode option list. Where is that?

Thank you, everyone!

(David, I sent you an email off list, please let me know if it doesn't get through.)

[David Thomasson]

Wow, you guys liked it! It still surprises me when any of my images "passes inspection" here. lol
Thank you, everyone for taking your time to comment. And now you know another reason why I enjoy going to this woods to photo deer. Deer or no deer, it's a beautiful place!

David, thanks to your clear description, I was able to use the warming filter, which I am been trying to figure out since I upgraded to CS4. However, when I pull up the warming filter, I no longer see the blending mode option list. Where is that?

Thank you, everyone!

(David, I sent you an email off list, please let me know if it doesn't get through.)

Got it. I sent you a reply.

[Alfred Forns]

Excellent base image Cheryl and the tweaks by David just took it over the top !!! Big Congrats !!!

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

A very beautiful image, awesome light, and the repost makes it even better. I might try to rotate ccw a bit and see what happen. Seem like a really great place to be in the morning.

[Cheryl Flory]

Thanaboon, it does look like it need some ccw, but I leveled it out according to the bridge that I cropped out of the image. so the question is: keep it accurate or move it so if "feels right"??

[Cheryl Slechta]

Cheryl, this is so beautiful!!! It looks so much like a painting - I love everything about it:D

_______________
Cheryl

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

Cheryl,
That was a tough but good question, I don't know the answer to it. Depend on the situation I guess, for this image I go with the "feel right," but other might say differently.

Maybe it's the distortion from the lens that made it looked a bit slant, but I'm guessing here.

[Cheryl Flory]

Thanaboon, the river banks curve and are not straight, so the feeling isn't accurate. In this case, after removing the bridge, I agree with you to go with "feeling", when there is nothing in the image to accurately level the image. Here there are no tree trunks, and no longer a bridge, and not even a straight river bank.

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

Oh, so this is a curve in the river, now I get it.
Just curious, is there a higher ground where you can take picture of the whole river, with this light it probably make another wonderful image too.

[Cheryl Flory]

That would be a wonderful view, Thanaboon. Unfortunately, it is flat land for nearly the whole two states near here. flat flat flat. And in this area, it is difficult to find a place out of the trees near the water. There are 3 places on this side of the river, that I know of. I have another morning pic from the next clearing west of this spot. I will try to post it today or tomorrow. very different.