[uday029]

I have never done much b&w before. After visiting Yosemite and looking at some Ansel Adams photographs, I thought I do some b&w photos. Please let me know your frank thoughts on the image. Thanks.

[alamo5000]

Definitely has a lot of potential. If it were mine for this particular image I would pay more attention to when you go shoot. The sky and the rock faces should not have as much contrast. I don't know the orientation of this spot (IE were you facing east or west)...so it could help shooting very early if it will help have better light on the rock faces....

Then the overall picture I would lighten up some. Maybe not excessive but I would lighten it some to bring out the details of the rock. Also if you can sharpen it in post that would help too.

[uday029]

Definitely has a lot of potential. If it were mine for this particular image I would pay more attention to when you go shoot. The sky and the rock faces should not have as much contrast. I don't know the orientation of this spot (IE were you facing east or west)...so it could help shooting very early if it will help have better light on the rock faces....

Then the overall picture I would lighten up some. Maybe not excessive but I would lighten it some to bring out the details of the rock. Also if you can sharpen it in post that would help too.

Thank you for the tips. I was facing north when I shot the pic. Most of the rock faces are east-west oriented in the Yosemite Valley. I shot this right after sunset so the whole waterfall and the rock was in the shadow but there was still quite a bit of light in the sky. Now that you mentioned it, the difference in contrast b/w sky and the rock is really distracting.

[alamo5000]

Thank you for the tips. I was facing north when I shot the pic. Most of the rock faces are east-west oriented in the Yosemite Valley. I shot this right after sunset so the whole waterfall and the rock was in the shadow but there was still quite a bit of light in the sky. Now that you mentioned it, the difference in contrast b/w sky and the rock is really distracting.

It's not so much the contrast between the sky and the rock face... yes but no... it's the whole picture and how it's lit and balanced. A south facing wall like this I would think would pose a challenge because when would it ever be lit properly? About noon might work. 11am to about 1pm or so...if you could do that on an overcast or cloudy day that might work...

It's hard to tell without being there or watching the thing.

[CreationBear]

I'm digging the square crop on this one--and I have to say, the cars at the bottom of the frame really make the shot for me...adds a bit of scale (not to mention whimsy) the proceedings. Other than that, I think this is an exposure that you'd do well to revisit in the upcoming years as you get comfortable with more PP options. FWIW, when I see an expansive scene like this, I always think "luminosity masks"--they might help you find selective adjustments for different tones.

[uday029]

I'm digging the square crop on this one--and I have to say, the cars at the bottom of the frame really make the shot for me...adds a bit of scale (not to mention whimsy) the proceedings. Other than that, I think this is an exposure that you'd do well to revisit in the upcoming years as you get comfortable with more PP options. FWIW, when I see an expansive scene like this, I always think "luminosity masks"--they might help you find selective adjustments for different tones.

Thank you very much. I think I need to change the brightness of my monitor. I am getting similar comments on facebook about the image being too dark.

[uday029]

Tried to edit it a little. How does this look compared to the previous?

[dms]

I would crop it quite a bit, dropping out the bottom, and right and left, to a square format--contrasting the large and small falls, and would lighten it a lot more than you did in the 2nd version.

Also you may want to sharpen it some--just take care that the sky-to-rock line does not show halos. Actually sharpening it will change emphasis/draw attention to the rock face as well--which I think is a better back drop to the water.

[mikeSF]

fine job here and yes, the cars really add to the wow factor of the scale.
I am having trouble with the bright blank sky; if you can pull down some highlights or blend in an underexposed frame, etc, that would help as my eye wants to go straight to the top of the frame instead of all those luscious nooks and crannies in the rock face.
Fine work and lovely mono conversion!

[Mahadragon]

This is pic of Upper an Lower Yosemite Falls. The sun rises from the right (east) and sets to the left. This pic was taken north-north-east. I have been to Yosemite many times. I've been to top of Yosemite Falls and I have plenty of pictures of it at various times of the day. Later afternoon is best time to photograph.

I would never shoot anything at noon unless it was overcast and the light was diffused. Lighting and shadows are a nightmare at that time, especially at Yosemite. Generally speaking, as a rule of thumb, the lighting looks better early morning or late afternoon.

[Schraubstock]

Hi

I had a bit of a go at it as I like to experiment.

Firstly, I attempted to work on that little bit of sky as it looked a bit too bright and washed out to my eye and in the process discovered that there is a fair bit of detail to be had. Hard to coax out what is hidden in 8 bit JPG but you can see there is a fair chance to recover more in RAW.

Secondly, To my eye there is too much contrast, often a byproduct in B&W conversions. It can be artistically desirable but here, because of the vast expanse of sameness over the whole frame, is is a bit much. As you can see I have reduced a bit of contrast which, I feel makes viewing the image a bit more pleasant. I have also brightened the picture a bit particularly the bottom row of trees.

Lastly, and this is a very personal thing, I am not too keen on very slow exposure waterfalls or moving water. A little bit is O.K., in your take I would have liked just a bit more texture, not too much but just a little bit.

Nice shot

Cheers

[uday029]

Hi

I had a bit of a go at it as I like to experiment.

Firstly, I attempted to work on that little bit of sky as it looked a bit too bright and washed out to my eye and in the process discovered that there is a fair bit of detail to be had. Hard to coax out what is hidden in 8 bit JPG but you can see there is a fair chance to recover more in RAW.

Secondly, To my eye there is too much contrast, often a byproduct in B&W conversions. It can be artistically desirable but here, because of the vast expanse of sameness over the whole frame, is is a bit much. As you can see I have reduced a bit of contrast which, I feel makes viewing the image a bit more pleasant. I have also brightened the picture a bit particularly the bottom row of trees.

Lastly, and this is a very personal thing, I am not too keen on very slow exposure waterfalls or moving water. A little bit is O.K., in your take I would have liked just a bit more texture, not too much but just a little bit.

Nice shot

Cheers

Thank you for your critique. How did you manage to change the sky? I already had highlights at -100 in LR and didn't know how to further lighten it. I was attempting to create a "Ansel Adams red filter" effect and I guess I went overboard with contrast.

[Schraubstock]

How did you manage to change the sky?

Hi
I don't use LR, so I can't help you here.

There are different ways to do this. But in each case you must select the area of the sky by isolating it from the rest of the image. Only this way can you squeeze out any detail from there without affecting the rest of the image. I do not know how to select a particular area in LR.

In PhotoShop
1) Quickest way here because of the clear sharp edged area, use Magic Want (say 20 strength) click on area and add left over spots by going over it with the Magic Wand tool while holding down the shift key. Next select Image > Adjustments and use slider to reduce Brightness and increase Contrast.

In Photoshop you can do this also with adjustment layers, (confine adjustment and fill layers to specific areas, there are tutorials available on the net) it is a bit more complicated. Probably all this is done best before converting the image to B&W. And it helps if the image was shot in RAW.

2) Use Nik Viveza, put a control point over the area of the sky - reduce brightness and increase Structure. As Nik is a PS Plugin you can also do this while the area is still selected by the magic wand, this way it limits Viveza's adjustment only to this area alone. Also best done before B&W conversion.

Nik is the lazy man's manipulation tool, now available for free by Google. (It used to be quite expensive)

Cheers

P.S.
I have actually done the posted image in PS using adjustment layers but it is a long and slow process. I have then used Nik Viveza to do the same and let me tell you I could not see any difference ! Using Nik took seconds PS more than twenty minutes.