Death Valley Morning Color

[Jay Gould]

I like big skies with big color. The RAW has more blue as well as the magenta; I decided to bring out the magenta since the distant mountains were bathed in the magenta at capture.

There is always that one moment when the sky pops both at sunrise and sunset.

If it is too saturated for you, I can understand that; Jackie and I like hot colors.

Camera: 5D2
Capture date/time: 13 Oct 09; 7am
Light condition: sunrise
Lens: 24-105
Focal length: 32mm
Distance:
Extender: none
Tube: none
Flash/Comp: no
ISO: 800
Exp Prog: Av
Speed: 1/2 sec
Aperture: f/14
Exp Comp: -2/3
Metering: Evaluative
WB: Auto
AF Drive: One shot
Tripod: yes
Filter: SR GNDs
Crop: none
Images Changes: Extensive cleanup of foreground sand dune

Processed in LR 3 and CS5 -
plus Viveza, DeNoise, InFocus,
and Pixel Genius Sharpening.

All C&Cs gratefully appreciated!

[Jay Gould]

:o Jackie - SWMBO - has now decided that she wants me to significantly tone it down. She says it is now "art" and not a landscape. Perhaps I should have posted it in the OOTB forum. :p

RP on the way!

[Dave Mills]

Hi Jay, awaiting the repost before commenting

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Jay,
Greetings from Arches NP! Andy Warhol would be proud!!! I agree with Jackie that it has gone to the pop art side....so I will comment on that aspect and copy it to OOTB. I think you could bring up the clouds in the UR to balance the image a bit as well as some of the brush under the silhouette area. As for the color......that is subjective but not a huge fan of it myself personally. Interesting take on this so hope the folks in OOTB can offer you a few more suggestions!

[Nick Palmieri]

"Purple Haze" man...Compositionally I would either crop out the dark trees on the left or lighten them up a bit.

[Dave Mills]

Looks like there isn't a repost so I'll comment as is.
First I would crop out some of the silhouetted bushes . I would crop to the left of the first main bush.
I agree that the color is a bit much. While pretty it's not very natural. If this were mine I would crop the sky down to about 3/4" above the dark bush. Finally, if possible I would have positioned myself a bit higher so the bush wouldn't merge with the distant mountain range....

[Jay Gould]

Dave, thanks for all of the suggestions.

I can't change my position NOW; however I do think the suggested crops will enhance the image for OOTB - and it will make for a more interesting pano.

For landscape I am doing a completely different version - it will be posted - promise.

[Dennis "Curly" Buchner]

Great art a very pastel feel

[Jay Gould]

Well, I tried to address everyone's suggestions! A bit of cropping, toning down - that was tough because there was a lot of magenta in the sky at the moment of capture, cropped down the central bush to give a clear line to the mountains. Best I can do with my limited PS skills. All comments appreciated.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Jay,Due to your corrections the image appears improved. The mountains stand out more and the sky is a bit more realistic(hard to know the true color since I wasn't there) I also feel the crops strengthened the image. I notice that noise has been introduced in the sky and don't know if it shows on your computer or if it came about due to resizing...

[Jay Gould]

Thanks Dave. I am not completely happy with the image. I know there is a lot more potential in the Raw; someday with better PP skills I will reprocess and RP.

I think I like the OP sky with the other changes in the RP.

Thanks everyone for your assistance.