Darcy Quimby
About the Image(s)
Camera Canon Rebel T5 Shutter speed 1/1250 f6.3 ISO 100
I love water and reflections and these were both present. This is from our trip to Mount Rainier National park in June 2018.
I am going back and editing or reediting pictures with my gained knowledge of photoshop. That said, I thought the original was fairly flat. In ACR I isolated the highlights and brought up the exposure and added some texture and clarity to the snow. The mid-tones I brought down the contrast added highlights and more white. I used a radial filter to put a spotlight on the reflection ice chunk. Finally I put a vignette on the outside.
Please let me know if this is overprocessed.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
18 comments posted
  Posted: 05/02/2022 11:33:48
I totally agree that Mark's photoshop comments are pushing my limits. I need to start taking better notes when I take the photos. I do know this was in the np but I do not know exactly where, sorry.
I have the Topaz filters and I use them very sparingly. This summer I will definitely be experimenting with faster ss.
  Posted: 05/07/2022 12:21:43
Thank you for that suggestion of the 16 x9 crop. It does bring the attention more to the reflection. One more benefit is that the horizon now is not dead smack in the middle. I also used content aware and removed some of the sticks in the foreground that became more obvious after the crop. Let me know what you think.   Posted: 05/07/2022 12:26:56
I decided not to take the trees out in my opinion it kinda anchors the horizon. I did though remove more of the snow.
  Posted: 05/17/2022 13:46:46
On the technical side I like the use of negative space with the snow bank and the texture you have included with the snow and I like the composition with the reflected image centered in the water and the way it brings my eye to it. I also think your use of the low key lighting and exposure add to the sense of the image. Great job, and thanks for making me think more of the artistic elements of the photo.   Posted: 05/16/2022 11:31:55
I do not think I've ever made anyone uncomfortable with my art. Thank you for sharing that. My main goal in photography is to allow people to see common things in a new unique light. I enjoy stretching people's boundaries.
  Posted: 05/17/2022 14:25:53
This is very much the kind of image I really like. Very moody, very intriguing. Technically well executed in support of the effect. I find the "real world" subject only suggested, not clearly documented. That is an effect not easy to pull off well and one that I really enjoy when I encounter it.
I'm vaguely reminded of the abstract expressionist movement, as well as of paintings by Mark Rothko.
I really like the very subtle color palette with just a hint of warm / cool contrast.
I think there are a couple of "tweaks" that might make the image a bit more impactful. I find the dark splotchy areas lower left to be distracting; is almost as though they form a bit of an anchor to a "reality". In the attached I took them out. A similar story with the texture in the upper portion of the frame. I tried cropping to remove, and I found that I much liked the resulting balance with the upper portion occupying much less of the frame.
I also think a little bit of heightened contrast painting on the central subject helps, and I liked the effect when I accentuated the dark edge above, and the light edge below, the gray band that stretches across the frame.
These "tweaks" are all about subjective effects, and you might not care for them at all.
  Posted: 05/17/2022 09:25:33
I feel you are an awesome asset to this group. I enjoy your feedback an learn something every month.
I also debated about the dark areas at the bottom when I took the suggestion of others to crop in on the photo, I noticed they stood out way too much, so I removed them.
You stated
I also think a little bit of heightened contrast painting on the central subject helps, and I liked the effect when I accentuated the dark edge above, and the light edge below, the gray band that stretches across the frame.
Would I use a gradient filter to achieve the effect?
Thank you for your help.   Posted: 05/17/2022 14:33:49
However, as you asked about using a radial gradient, I thought I'd experiment in LrC to see if I could achieve a similar effect, and indeed I could. For the subject in the center/, yes I applied a radial gradient; then (and this is important) I *intersected* it with a luminance range mask, limiting it to the mid-tones and feathering out to the sides; it really helps when doing this to tick the "show overlay" check box while creating the mask, and then to uncheck it to mask the adjustment. Having created the mask to suit, I then pulled down the shadows slider slightly and pulled up the highlights slider slightly. One can always go back in an fiddle with the mask after dialing in the adjustments.
For the lines above and below the grey band, I used a brush to define the mask. My usual technique, which I used here, is to be a bit aggressive initially with the brush, and then to more carefully erase (hold down the ALT =or OPT key) the part that I overpainted. Again, I intersected the resulting brush mask with a luminance range, to get the final mask. For the dark line, it was just a matter then of pulling down the blacks. For the lighter line, I needed to nudge both the whites and highlights.
Hope you find this helpful. I encourage you to experiment, either in LrC or in Ps. I found both tools intimidating at first, but it doesn't take long to get some basic familiarity.
  Posted: 05/17/2022 17:12:03
Thank you
I will experiment and post my results. I use ACR and Photoshop   Posted: 05/17/2022 19:18:41
Here goes I tried the radial filter. I think it looks better I did see a subtle difference. Please tell me what you think   Posted: 05/20/2022 19:56:26
When you write that you feel the original is flat, do you mean flat compared to how you remember to scene?   Posted: 05/20/2022 13:45:29
  Posted: 05/23/2022 09:45:49