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Archive 2014 · Two from Rocky Mountain National Park

  
 
jonnyt5050
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Two from Rocky Mountain National Park


Hi all,

Here are two photos from recent roadtrip with family out west while at Rocky Mountain National Park. C&Cs welcome!

1.
Lonesome Tree by Jaybird5050, on Flickr

Nikon D610, 14-24mm F2.8 / F10, ISO=200, 1/5 sec.
Two images used to produce realistic HDR using Photomatix. (1 image for sky, 1 for foreground)


2.
Elk Meadow by Jaybird5050, on Flickr

Nikon D610, 24-70mm F2.8 / F16, 24mm, ISO=100, 1/100 sec.
Single image. I happened to stumble on this awesome scene with elk and had very little time to set up before sun was going to set.

Edited on Jul 07, 2014 at 09:05 PM · View previous versions



Jul 07, 2014 at 08:04 PM
dgdg
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Two from Rocky Mountain National Park


Nice shot
Don't get mad at the elk.

David



Jul 07, 2014 at 08:57 PM
JimFox
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Two from Rocky Mountain National Park


Hi Jonny,

You came across some nice conditions here. I like #1, but I would crop a little off the bottom to lose those 2 holes in the dirt. And #2 could be really good, but it's going to need more contrast in the bottom, and more recovery of the blown highlights in the sky. Hopefully you bracketed with this scene. It's one where you would need to use a layer mask to blend the properly exposed sky with the properly exposed ground. The exposures would be a good 2 to 3 stops different. Trying to use shadow or highlight recovery alone won't do it.

Jim



Jul 08, 2014 at 01:44 AM
barrye
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Two from Rocky Mountain National Park


I like the serenity of shot number 2 showing the elk grazing as the day ends. It has a peaceful feel about it. Good shots.

Barry



Jul 08, 2014 at 10:26 AM
ckcarr
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Two from Rocky Mountain National Park


I like number two far better than number one. In number one there is too much bare earth where it should be a field of wildflowers. It also has a lot of distortion at the edges, looking at the trees. Number two has all the elements of a very interesting and cool shot. It just needs a little more work, like Jim Fox is suggesting.


Jul 08, 2014 at 10:49 AM
lord.frost005
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Two from Rocky Mountain National Park


Number 2 is killer! That rock is on the far left is slightly distracting so I might play with cloning it out. How did you manage to capture the scene without startling the elk??


Jul 08, 2014 at 11:44 AM
jonnyt5050
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Two from Rocky Mountain National Park


Thanks Jim, Barry, and ckcarr!

Jim, unfortunately, I haven't picked up that talent of knowing when I need to bracket yet so I'll have to live with blown out sky a bit in shot #2. I think instances like this where a fantastic shot is merely a good shot will help remind me to do that. I've just started taking photography semi-seriously in the last 7 months so I sometimes have issues pulling off a shot with limited set up time.

In shot #1, I do have another one I'll post a bit later which loses the patch of dirt (but also loses the yellow flowers). But I think I agree that losing the dirt patch is more important than keeping the yellow flowers. I'll see about cropping the edges a bit to lose/lessen the wide angle distortion.

Again, thank you for all the comments! I've learned a ton on this website and the many great photographers keep me inspired to keep shooting.



Jul 08, 2014 at 11:50 AM
jonnyt5050
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Two from Rocky Mountain National Park



lord.front005: When I turned the corner, almost all of them stopped grazing and stared at me. I guess I didn't look like I was about to start chasing them for dinner because they quickly went back to grazing. I've seen 2-3 elk occasionally but never dozens like this. This shot, while full of elk, doesn't show nearly all of the elk that were hanging out.

FYI: This was on the Cub Lake Trail head. (we had probably hiked about 3/4 mile from the parking area to get to this meadow).



Jul 08, 2014 at 11:54 AM
Ernie Aubert
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Two from Rocky Mountain National Park


Nice shots, Jonny. I really like the way you blended the two exposures for the first image; did you use HDR or simply exposure blending in Photomatix?


Jul 08, 2014 at 12:19 PM
jonnyt5050
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Two from Rocky Mountain National Park



Hi Ernie.

Hmm. Well, I selected 2 photos in LR5. Then I selected option to import into PHotomatix. I selected "natural" (or possibly balanced?). Then did a save/reimport to Lightroom 5.

I think I'd call it HDR but whatever it is I've described in above paragraph, that's what I did.



Jul 08, 2014 at 12:57 PM
rbn920
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Two from Rocky Mountain National Park


The second is a great scene and good composition but the PP just doesn't work for me. It's too un-natural looking for my taste.


Jul 08, 2014 at 03:40 PM
jonnyt5050
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Two from Rocky Mountain National Park


Ok, a few more photos of same scenes.

3.
Rocky Mountain Tree2 by Jaybird5050, on Flickr
Single image. (no HDR blending). This image is nice but loses the color in clouds, loses the yellow flower. But it also loses the distracting dirt patch.

4.
Rocky Mountain Tree 3 by Jaybird5050, on Flickr
Basically, this is the same as image 1 but cropped in to cut out he dirt spot and side distortion.

5.
Elk Meadow 2 by Jaybird5050, on Flickr
I don't know that this works all that well with this type of crop. I'd like to crop more off the left but can't seem to sort out which elk get cut out.



Jul 08, 2014 at 06:57 PM
davidnholtjr
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Two from Rocky Mountain National Park


Love the 2nd one. Very nice.


Jul 08, 2014 at 08:10 PM
harshaj1
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Two from Rocky Mountain National Park


Really nice. As others have mentioned the 2nd one can benefit from contrast adjustments.
Harsha



Jul 08, 2014 at 08:16 PM
jonnyt5050
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Two from Rocky Mountain National Park



Ok, Elk Meadow but I toned down the saturation and vibrance. Contrast cut back. Put back in some shadows. I think it does look more natural but perhaps loses some punch? Let me know if there are any adjustments that would make this better. Thanks!

Elk Meadow 3 by Jaybird5050, on Flickr



Jul 08, 2014 at 10:08 PM
natken
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Two from Rocky Mountain National Park


Color tone is awesome. I feel peaceful when see your photo.


Jul 08, 2014 at 11:04 PM
kmunroe
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Two from Rocky Mountain National Park


the Elk Meadow image is very nice indeed


Jul 10, 2014 at 02:57 AM





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