Tuolumne Meadows

[denise ippolito]

Canon 30D
16-35mm
ISO 100
1/60 sec. at f/18
Tripod
This was one of the first landscape images I ever took. I know the lighting is not great-but I was wondering about composition and PP tweaks. Should I darken the FG just a bit? Thanks in advance.

[Robert Amoruso]

Hi Denise,

All in all the light is not too bad - no large deep shadows. Interesting though on darkening the FG. It's lighting appears appropriate but I agree it does seem to draw the eye. I say give it a try.

At the top a crop through the middle of the cloud will give you a nice white border to frame the blue and mountains. Notice that the large right FG rock's top tip merges with the top of the river bed gravel - a higher elevation if possible would have eliminated that. And yes that is an ultra-fine point.

River acts as a leading line to the BG - always a good move compositional-wise.

[denise ippolito]

Thankyou Robert. Good advice on the top crop-I hadn't thought about that.

[Dave Mills]

Denise, Agree with Robert regarding the top crop. I also cropped the right side using the large rock as an anchor.
Since darkening the foreground was mentioned I did a light burn which brought out some color. As mentioned the lighting is a bit flat however it is even with no highs or lows.

[denise ippolito]

Dave, Nice repost. Do you think we could keep the entire group of trees on the right in the frame and still have a good comp. I also did want a wide angle view. Let me know your thoughts.Thanks.

[Dave Mills]

Enhancement of the color improves the overall look of the image quite a bit. Regarding the comp thats totally up to you. Since you originally questioned it I thought I would show you another view....

[denise ippolito]

Thanks alot for your help Dave. I appreciate it.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Denise,
Comp wise I like the FG rocks but agree a bit bright. Judging by the shadows.....light appeared fine so i went with a few PP'ing tweaks. Your Re-post brought out some more definition and pop and I like where you chose to crop there too! I took the OP....reverse s curve from the mountains down......a B/C layer lowering the brightness too. I also did a shadow highlight adjustment....not so much on the shadows.....more on the highlights. I took the neutrals in selective color....added black and finally a LCE of 20/40/0. Looks more appropriate to the shadows and brought out the colors. Let me know what you think.
PS took out shadow in PP'ing as well as rock in FG edge.

[denise ippolito]

Roman, Thankyou very much for all your help and tweak advice! Great job w/ the repost. I also like the inclusion of the tree group on the right.

PS. Your new signature and LOGO ROCK!!!

Robert, When I did the repost -I forgot to take some off the top as you suggested-sorry:o

[Desmond Chan]

Denise, your repost is much better than the original, which looks a bit brighter than necessary. With the adjustments, the repost also looks sharper and with more details. Good show !

[denise ippolito]

Desmond, Thankyou very much. I appreciate you taking the time to comment.