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- This topic has 10 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 7 years ago by
James Staddon.
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January 4, 2018 at 11:36 am #28084
Dan Cope
ParticipantI took this shot in Badlands National Park one morning last August. It was a hazy sunrise and lacked the drama that every landscape photographer hopes for, but I tried to make the best of it. With less than 24 hours to spend in the Park this would be my only opportunity to photograph the sunrise in this unique setting. After picking my way around the overlook area and steering clear of other photographers and nature lovers, I found this small shrub of greenery clinging tenaciously to the edge of the precipice. I tried different angles and finally, with one tripod leg literally right on the cliff’s edge, I was able to obtain this composition. The hazy sky didn’t offer the best of interesting color but I did my best in post processing to bring out what was there in a natural way. I’m not sure how well I succeeded so maybe you have some suggestions as to how I could improve my editing as well as any comments and suggestions concerning composition.
Nikon D7100
f/11
1/20
12mm
ISO 100January 4, 2018 at 1:41 pm #28086Dan Cope
ParticipantI might add that this is a blend of two exposures. The EXIF data that I provided is for the foreground. The sky was taken at f/22 and 1/13 sec in order to obtain the starburst effect.
January 6, 2018 at 11:37 am #28093Ryan Madaris
ParticipantBeautiful! I would have tried to get a lower angle, but that’s about it as far as I can see.
January 9, 2018 at 12:35 pm #28158Dan Cope
ParticipantThanks @rmadaris!
I went back to this photo this morning and made a few changes. It seems I’m always trying to discern that fine line between getting as much color and vibrancy as possible without making it look over-processed!
January 12, 2018 at 4:21 pm #28211David Frazer
ParticipantWow, nice composition! I like how you have created a spiral with the sun, bush, and the ridge in the mid-ground. You could try cropping a bit on the left and un-cropped a bit on the right if that is possible, but I would not have done as well as you did here! Another nit-pick would be that to my eye it needs rotating 0.1° clockwise. 🙂 I know, that is a ludicrously small adjustment, but I have learned to see that kind of thing from doing real estate photography…
I am curious what kind of screen you have – it may be just personal taste, but on my imac screen I generally find your photos a bit over-saturated. In that respect I actually prefer the first edit, particularly for the plant.
January 12, 2018 at 5:59 pm #28227Joseph Camuso
Participant@dan-cope, nice job!
I really like how the plant stands out in the second picture!January 13, 2018 at 11:29 am #28231Dan Cope
ParticipantThanks guys! @dfrazer, I’m using a Dell monitor. My struggle in editing this photo has been to obtain the right tint. It seems like it naturally has kind of a greenish-yellow hue that I don’t like but somehow I haven’t been satisfied with my attempts to correct it. Making global adjustments to the white balance never seemed to yield the desired results and so I attempted to use local adjustments. Here’s the result of another attempt. Let me know how this looks on your screen.
January 16, 2018 at 4:07 pm #28328James Staddon
KeymasterI have some thoughts about this shot. Will see if I can’t explain them tonight, http://www.lenspiration.com/photo-critique-with-lenspiration-jan-16/
January 18, 2018 at 12:58 pm #28398James Staddon
KeymasterIf ever you need access to it, the webinar replay is available here: https://www.lenspiration.com/video/webinar011618/
January 18, 2018 at 8:33 pm #28445Dan Cope
ParticipantThanks James! To answer a question you had during the webinar, I believe the colored area in the valley is actually dry grass and definitely became over saturated during my editing process.
January 19, 2018 at 6:17 pm #28510James Staddon
KeymasterAh! That’s what it is! Very good.
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