Do these work?

*Eaglerapids* · 11-11-2007, 07:49 PM

I can't make my mind up on these two, taken today. I like them but I think they could have been better but I'm not sure how.
First one is taken with SMC Takumar 50/1.4

This one with the Super Takumar 200/4

Enlarged the second pic for m8o:-).

*weatherwise2* · 11-11-2007, 08:02 PM

I like the 2nd one better because the mountain line up with similar curves. The overall contrast and saturation are low even though I have seen some of the Mt photos with haze appear brighter. I'm not enough of a PP processor to tell you how to improve these photos in that direction

*m8o* · 11-11-2007, 08:16 PM

RE: Do these work? ... AND HOW!

The first moreso than the 2nd for me. On one hand though I wish that the 2nd picture didn't have the detail on the one hillside, to match the sillohettes of the other three hills. On the other hand there is something to say for the dichotemy of that one hillside with all the detail while the others are just a colorful sillohette. Wishing the 2nd was bigger in any case.

and · 11-11-2007, 08:22 PM

Composition is very nice, especially the second one, I see a lot of landscapes where the photographer doesnt take the time to include lines and shapes in the composition and those two are quite nice.

As for improvement, I guess the weather was your challenge here, it got a bit hazy. Normally to combat haze you can use a skylight filter, I havent tried an actual physical skylight filter so I cant say how well they work, but I am including a "soft-skylight" example from photoshop, this one is a comercial one that also does a bit of warming but I am sure if you google for skylight you can find tutorials or free filters.

Not the biggest improvement. There are other PP techniques like HDR and Contrast Masking that could be tried too.

I didnt apply it to the whole image, to show before/after

*Eaglerapids* · 11-11-2007, 10:01 PM

Thanks guys.
Weatherwise, I can brighten it up but then I start to lose the sun rays. This was a difficult exposure problem for me. If I add more contrast the pictures seem to darken even more. The real problem here is that I thought I'd gotten a decent capture when more time should have been taken exploring more possibilities. This was my first time to this spot, I was out scouting. The morning dawned partly cloudy but by the time I got to this spot it had clouded over and the sun started shining through when I got here, very cool. It lasted a bit longer but I didn't take advantage of it:-(.
Andreas, I'm the world's worst at layer masking and all that stuff but I'm gonna spend some time with this picture and see what I can come up with, hopefully I can learn something in the process. I like what you did with it.

Arpe · 11-12-2007, 01:58 AM

My immediate reaction was: more contrast. But you tried that, I think I would like it, even if it's a bit darker. It's tricky, what you need is a less hazy shot of the haze!

*Eaglerapids* · 11-13-2007, 10:56 PM

Lol Arpe:-).
Well I tried eveything I knew but was hitting a brick wall with this photo. My PP skills just aren't up to snuff. While I was kicking myself for not taking the time to set up for an HDR shot, it hit me. An idea! In Lightroom I saved five photos from the original, adjusting the exposure slider from 2 stops down to 2 over. I took these photos into Dynamic-Photo HDR and processed a HDR .tiff, then back to Lightroom where I played with it a bit more and then saved this jpg.

*J.Scott* · 11-14-2007, 04:32 AM

Bingo! That one really jumps out at me. This latest version has lots of depth and character - I like it!

Arpe · 11-19-2007, 04:58 PM

Yep, best yet.

axl · 11-20-2007, 12:56 AM

Originally Posted by Arpe

Yep, best yet.

agree there.

Adnan EROL · 11-22-2007, 01:57 AM

Originally Posted by Eaglerapids

Lol Arpe:-).
...An idea! In Lightroom I saved five photos from the original, adjusting the exposure slider from 2 stops down to 2 over. I took these photos into Dynamic-Photo HDR and processed a HDR .tiff, then back to Lightroom where I played with it a bit more and then saved this jpg.

Well done, HDR looks great.