The post by @linda_mellor sent me digging for Oxbow pictures, which are all old, to see how they stand up to my standards today. They didn’t, so a couple of HDRs were reprocessed.
Specific Feedback Requested:
All comments welcome!
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Canon 5D2, 24-70 at 43, ISO 100, 1/2 to 2 sec HDR, f/13. Redone with LR’s Merge to HDR and processing with the TK Linear profile. Early morning light. Into PS but only for NR.
Is this a composite? (focus stacks or exposure blends are not considered composites)
No
And another one for comparison – this one is pseudo alpenglow. There was a big fire to the east and the light was filtered through the smoke so the colors are different. It’s from 2009 – also an HDR, reprocessed with LR Merge to HDR. The old Canon 20D – my first digital camera. I went digital in 2004.
Thanks @Mario_Cornacchione and @linda_mellor ! But really, Linda, I’m cherry-picking back through 12 years here. There would be a few decent ones in there for anyone.
These are both soothing and majestic. The stripe of light on the trees on the left in the one with the moon is pretty sweet. The other shoreline has just enough light to see the trunks and some grass, but it’s mostly silhouetted against the lit mountains. Quite nice.
The other has those lovely clouds - just breaking up it seems and the light coming through to light that side, but not the other. Another terrific effect.
Thanks, @Mario_Cornacchione, @linda_mellor, @David_Bostock and @Kris_Smith! I had to restrain myself from making the moon bigger, although I had turned right around and shot it with my 500mm lens of the day. (No, I wouldn’t make it THAT big, but it would have given a much cleaner piece to paste in after shrinking it down.) As it was, I took it from the lowest exposure of the three, as it didn’t look that good in the HDR.
I also resisted bringing out the mist more. Am I losing my sense of adventure? Turning into a stodgy grownup?? I hope not.
Years ago, when all this foolishness was just beginning, Galen Rowell was having a huge print made of a landscape that had an almost blown-out featureless moon. People were encouraging him to have its detail maximized with the fairly primitive tools of the day. (Not by compositing another exposure – just tweaking the one he had.) He apparently thought that was a terrible thing to do – that it would destroy his reputation or something. But he finally relented, and the result was a very lovely image.
On the other hand, if I ever make a huge print of that file, I’m sure I’ll drop in that more detailed moon.
And re the new discussion on banding, I think I have it in that file in the FG. I was in a rush to re-process it and assumed it was subtle waves, but I need to go have another look.
Diane, I had the Canon 10D and 20D…both had horrible banding problems because they just did not have the dynamic range…So, no way you can do much to fix it.
Usually a cloudy sky beats a blue sky but not in this case. A cloudless sky with a gradient is a thing of beauty. In this case you have two gradient skies, one above and one below. I get better ‘vibes’ from your second image. I’m not a fan of the moon, but that’s my problem.
Thanks @David_Bostock and @Igor_Doncov! Igor, I love gradients in skies too. This one was augmented by tonal adjustments and Dehaze, but not beyond that by added gradients.
David, I was curious about the apparent banding and looked more closely. The sky shows none, although it is lighter, but the water was not darkened more except by what Dehaze decided to do. So I went looking at the raw files and found one that was taken a few minutes later – just an average exposure – and processed it the same way. The moon’s reflection in it shows obvious wave action. And waves are seen in the reflection of the trees and mountains – so I think I dodged the bullet here, but by luck! It’s waves!! Or MOSTLY waves.
They both are great, I’m hard pressed to express a preference of one over the other. They both have nice alpenglow. But if forced to choose, I’d pick the one with the moon, because it’s a more unusual take on Oxbow bend. There is more of a feeling of interesting geometry in the moon shot as well. But both are really nice images.
I love both of them, Diane. I love the color of the mountains in your original post and the clear sky & moon in the second. Also, the reflection in the first one is just magnificent. I have zero nits for your original post at all.
