Peter Clark, APSA, GMPSA, EFIAP/p, FRPS
September 2023 - The Black Church at Budir
About the Image(s)
My favourite church in NW Iceland (Budakirkja) captured during my final visit in February 2019 using a Panasonic GX8 fitted with the Lumix 12-35mm lens set at 24mm (35mm equivalent 48mm), 1/400 sec at f7.1, ISO 200.
Converted to monochrome in SEP 2 and processed as usual with CEP4 Detail Extractor and Pro Contrast layers with further minor adjustments with Curves. Finessed in Topaz DeNoise AI and sharpened using the High Pass filter in Soft Light mode and sharpening halos removed where necessary.
9 comments posted
(Group 32)
This is so lovely. You have fantastic detail in the snow and I like the balance between the church and the gravestones. The drift is a leading line and just manages to stop before the edge of the frame. I wondered whether you needed quite such an expanse of sky at the top. Posted: 09/05/2023 05:52:11
Susan Quinn
I enjoy the simplicity of this scene. I have not used CEP4 Detail Extractor but I suspect this tool may have enhanced the simplicity. I will try using it when I process another image. I agree with Diana that the height of the sky might be cropped a bit. Susan Posted: 09/05/2023 14:14:49
Susan - I use Detail Extractor at the default setting of 25% and increase the Contrast slider to 20% to eliminate the slight HDR effect generated. Occasionally I will add a second Detail Extractor layer at reduced opacity to further improve the image.
A Pro Contrast layer always follows the Detail Extractor layer for fine tuning then I move onto Curves. Posted: 09/09/2023 04:00:57
A Pro Contrast layer always follows the Detail Extractor layer for fine tuning then I move onto Curves. Posted: 09/09/2023 04:00:57
Peter, another excellent image.
The church is well placed and the headstones give context.
As Diana has stated, the detail in the snow is very impressive. Posted: 09/06/2023 03:00:56
The church is well placed and the headstones give context.
As Diana has stated, the detail in the snow is very impressive. Posted: 09/06/2023 03:00:56
Hi Peter: Burrrr how cold was it? I love the image. To my eye it is absolutely perfect. I would not change one thing and believe it is another outstanding landscape image. Posted: 09/07/2023 06:44:36
Peter, A very fine image and processed perfectly. That collapsed snow bank is a bit of a dominant feature/distraction. Have you consider the impact of cropping it out or cloning a repair? Posted: 09/08/2023 19:42:10
Hi Peter
Another great landscape I especially love the curves,rises and falls in the snow which have been created by the wind,as always composition,texture and detail are perfect. Posted: 09/09/2023 13:50:58
Another great landscape I especially love the curves,rises and falls in the snow which have been created by the wind,as always composition,texture and detail are perfect. Posted: 09/09/2023 13:50:58
Ed Ries
Peter, your landscapes are always impressive. Wonderful snow detail. Peter, is there a reason that you use pro contrast after detail extractor? Posted: 09/17/2023 13:39:21
Ed - I prefer to get as much detail as possible from the original capture before adjusting the contrast. Hence my first adjustment layer is Detail Extractor in which I set the contrast to 25%, followed by Pro Contrast to fine tune the image.
My logic is - extract as much detail from the image as possible and then apply contrast to the enhanced image. Posted: 09/19/2023 11:54:03
My logic is - extract as much detail from the image as possible and then apply contrast to the enhanced image. Posted: 09/19/2023 11:54:03