Diane Ferdig  


Spring Morning with Silver Star Mountain by Diane Ferdig

May 2023 - Spring Morning with Silver Star Mountain

About the Image(s)

This is part of our view from our back deck except we have trees that block some of it. One morning the sky was a beautiful pink and I saw some fog. I’ve been wanting to get moody fog images. So I drove down the road and found a look out area with this view. And I found fog in the valley! The sky was not quite as pink anymore. I took several shots trying to get a nice composition. It would have been epic if the local herd of elk was in that clearing, oh well…. Shot in RAW with my Canon R6 and kit lens at 70mm, 1/80, f8, iso200 handheld.
My first edits where too bright I felt. So several edits later I came up with this. I tend towards a fine art approach and feel. I wanted to keep it realistic yet have lots of atmosphere. I love the fog and the lighting as well as the pink sky that I had to bring back with editing (looks a little more purple) as I said it was almost gone by the time I got to the site. Please let me know how this image makes you feel. Do the edits work for a fine art image? Any critique is welcome. Thank you.


This round’s discussion is now closed!
8 comments posted




Larry Treadwell   Larry Treadwell
I find this to be a most calming and natural feeling image. I like the early morning fog and the soft golden/orange light of the new day. I can feel myself walking into the scene and being at one with the environment. The blues of the sky and the orange/yellow of the foreground work well as to create complimentary color palette. I believe your edits work and this does not feel over done. However I feel cropping out the buildings on the right would make a big difference. This is such an inviting nature scene that the hand of man comes across as a harsh intrusion. (See suggested crop below) There is a pleasing diagonal line stemming from the bright trees on the left to the mountain peak in the center that works well. I do with there was more of the mountain peak, it just seems so small. I'm wondering if that could be addressed in post?   Posted: 05/09/2023 15:27:51
Comment Image
Diane Ferdig   Diane Ferdig
Thank you Larry for your critique. You describe the atmospheric feeling I was going for. I understand what you are saying about the building (barn). I've taken so many photos of this barn from my deck that I guess I didn't think anything of it. To me it is an image of my "neighborhood" and shows off the beauty of where I live. But I totally get what you are saying. I think I'd rather clone out the barn because personally I like the mountain peak in the middle. The clouds you see at the base of that peak are along a ridge line of mountains in front of it so that's all we see of Silverstar Mountain unfortunately. And I'm shooting from (live on) a small mountain so I can't get a much of a higher vantage point. I can think of one place that might work but I'll have to hike or ride my horse to that. Might just do that!   Posted: 05/11/2023 11:07:55



Michael Jack   Michael Jack
I like the composition of a foreground, midground and the distant mountain peak and the sharpness throughout. As an option to Larry's crop, I would be tempted to clone out the buildings leaving the image in a more pano mode and the star of the image, the mountain, in the middle. To my eye the foreground seems to have a magenta cast. Moving it to a more warm color (yellow) would complement the colors more.   Posted: 05/10/2023 15:07:09
Diane Ferdig   Diane Ferdig
Thank you so much for your critique. I think I agree with you that I would prefer to clone out the building versus a more narrow crop. To me it feels more balanced with the current crop. It's interesting you notice magenta in the foreground. In my edits I usually adjust the color channels but I didn't think I touched magenta. I just checked in LRc and I in fact did not adjust magenta at all. I only adjusted orange, yellow, blue (decreased saturation) and purple where I increased hue +5 which actually made no difference. I did however very slightly decrease the green tone curve midway towards purple but that was to remove some green and give the image warmth. Then I noticed I did do a mask on the bottom half where I did increase tint +15 (added 10) and temp +25 (added 25) in order correct the white balance on the fog. Since I shoot in RAW I recreate what I believe I saw or what seems beautiful to me. For this image I was going for atmosphere with warmth and trying to balance out the little bit of pink/purple that was in the sky to create a fine art feel. I did go back to the mask (after reading your comment) and increased temp and it was also pleasing to me. Thank you again.   Posted: 05/11/2023 10:26:17



Barbara Gore   Barbara Gore
Very nice image Diane. The image conveys a quiet peacefulness to me. The image is sharp. As the others have mentioned the removal of the barn would keep the scene pure from human involvement. The object selection tool and content aware fill works great as another option to cloning. This image feels best in a pano mode to me.   Posted: 05/15/2023 10:00:55
Diane Ferdig   Diane Ferdig
Thank you for your critique. I can see how the barn might take away from this peaceful scene. The clone tool you mention must be in PS? I still need to get comfortable using PS. So far I do most edits in LRc.   Posted: 05/22/2023 12:40:52



Bill Peake   Bill Peake
I really love the way the mountain peak seems to float on the clouds, that really is the star of this image. If this were my image, I think crop it a lot closer in to the mountain, probably a pano crop close to the tree line with just a little of the meadow showing, and a little of the sky on the top. I do like Michael's idea to clone out the buildings. I do like the mood of the image and your manipulation of the hues!   Posted: 05/16/2023 19:43:15
Diane Ferdig   Diane Ferdig
Thank you for your critique. I see what you mean and why you would crop in closer. I was just so excited about the fog in the valley lol.   Posted: 05/22/2023 12:45:02