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Archive 2016 · Help with a print candidate

  
 
ben egbert
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Help with a print candidate


This image is one I would like to print. Ever since Kent showed me a dramatic version I have been working to get one that is realistic. I also have trouble with the crop. I want the dinosaur track to be larger, should have zoomed in more, but I also want much of the sky. No matter how I crop, I end up with a centered horizon.

I will include two uncropped SOOC versions for play one dark and one bright. The included finished image is actually the darker version. I choose the darker one to retain sky drama. I have tried blends, but I almost always prefer none blends if I can pull it off.

Any suggestions are appreciated.




my current best effort







dark exposure







light exposure




May 27, 2016 at 10:38 AM
lighthound
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Help with a print candidate


I'm going to hold off commenting until I can view this on my good monitor. I don't want to trust my crap work monitor.

But I can say that you are correct in pursuing this one for a wall hanger.

Dave



May 27, 2016 at 10:59 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Help with a print candidate


Thanks for looking Dave. The SOOC were converted in Adobe faithful which is why they are so flat. Just shows how much they can be pushed.


May 27, 2016 at 02:59 PM
FLSTCSAM
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Help with a print candidate


Ben,

I tried to merge the 2 images but they don't line up. Looks like your tripod moved.

Sam



May 27, 2016 at 03:39 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Help with a print candidate


FLSTCSAM wrote:
Ben,

I tried to merge the 2 images but they don't line up. Looks like your tripod moved.

Sam


Strange, but no problem, just use align images, works even with hand held.

I just tried the full size and the downsized and they aligned fine for me. I would still use align images however. It was a very windy morning.



May 27, 2016 at 04:12 PM
Camperjim
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Help with a print candidate


I did a quick PP on the dark version. Mainly I wanted to look at the crop. The sky is great, but I still think I would crop in on the canyon.







May 27, 2016 at 04:19 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Help with a print candidate


Thanks Jim, yes, crop is my biggest question. You are saying take more off the bottom?


May 27, 2016 at 04:56 PM
Camperjim
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Help with a print candidate


I took off on all sides, maintaining the original aspect ratio.


May 27, 2016 at 05:58 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Help with a print candidate


I was shooting for a 16x9 aspect. But I could get that with your crop and some off the bottom.


May 27, 2016 at 06:41 PM
RustyBug
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Help with a print candidate


Took a stab at some things working from the light version ... WIP







May 27, 2016 at 06:48 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Help with a print candidate


Thanks, Kent, your first one inspired me, and this one is pretty good too. Maybe a bit dark in the mid section, and light in the sky, but I like the crop.

The formation seems to draw a diagonal and leads to the bright cliffs. It seems you took some from the left and top.

You got good color on the plains, I worked on that, any added darkness or contrast tends to turn it too red. The ground is red of course, but not as red as I was seeing. Jims is also pretty good in that respect. If I printed Jim's, it would look like yours



May 27, 2016 at 09:26 PM
FLSTCSAM
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Help with a print candidate


I still couldn't get them to align, but it could,simply be the small size.

Here is something in the direction I would go.

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-mWsB4Dq/1/XL/i-mWsB4Dq-XL.jpg

Edit: Some how I am loosing some of the red color in the foreground?



May 28, 2016 at 09:45 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Help with a print candidate


Wow, now that is dramatic. The foreground looks fine, I have been getting too much red. I like this crop too. You stayed closer to 16x9 and took most off the sky which helps the centered horizon.

The sky is a bit purple, and the bluffs could be brighter, but overall very good.




My attempt to match the last one.




May 28, 2016 at 11:01 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Help with a print candidate


Here is a better one. I started with daylight WB, much cooler than AWb and tried to keep the sky from getting too warm.




cooler version




May 28, 2016 at 01:01 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Help with a print candidate


I am stuck here. Many suggestions and the last is the one I am leaning towards, I will need to make it brighter for print of course.

I like the crop suggested by FLSTCSAM and the cool sky. But he cropped the sky and pulled it down to get the aspect ratio and drama. This works but it interrupts the crepuscular rays on the right and eliminates the hazy snow capped mountains in the right horizon. They look good at print size, but sort of lost at web size. His is also a bit too dark and purplish in the sky.

My last has a violet cast on the horizon that I like sometimes and worry about other times. It was windy and I suspect the horizon is affected by dust.

My last gets the horizon slight off center and I really like the way the canyon arm points to the left corner.

I might like a bit more pop in the red cliffs. I think I have the plains about right with regard to red tones.

I would like some confirmation of this or refutation.



May 29, 2016 at 10:50 AM
lighthound
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Help with a print candidate


This is a tough one Ben. I played around with it myself for close to an hour but I can't get everything in there you wanted and not have it centered. I think you will need to decide what are the most important elements in the image to convey the message you intend. To my eyes I'd like to see the dino track up close and just in from the bottom left corner to act as a leading line and let the rest fall where need be.

To me, this is a good example of where "rules" could/should be broken.

I like your cooler sky but maybe dial it back somewhere in between your warm and cool edits.

I'm of no help on your colors but agree you should pull a little more pop out of the cliffs. I think Kent did an outstanding job in that part of his edit.

This one is well worth your efforts Ben. Keep tweaking it and walk away for a bit then take another fresh look. Maybe even make several different copies to view.

Dave



May 29, 2016 at 03:14 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Help with a print candidate


lighthound wrote:
This is a tough one Ben. I played around with it myself for close to an hour but I can't get everything in there you wanted and not have it centered. I think you will need to decide what are the most important elements in the image to convey the message you intend. To my eyes I'd like to see the dino track up close and just in from the bottom left corner to act as a leading line and let the rest fall where need be.

To me, this is a good example of where "rules" could/should be broken.

I
...Show more


Thanks Dave, I ran an exposure of +.4 gamma 0.9 to get some brightness and it did add some pop to the hills. I just printed a proof version and it is still way too dark. I am not sure how much I would need to increase exposure. The print is still way darker than my monitor even with direct light on it.

Running shadow Highlight and exposure +0.6 gamma 0.9 an d warming the sky a bit produces the following image which when printed is a pretty good match to the previous much darker version,

I am planning to upgrade my video card and get a new monitor. Maybe I will get a closer match.






brightened for print




May 29, 2016 at 03:23 PM
lighthound
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Help with a print candidate


I missed your last edit for printing here.

I like what I'm seeing. If you can match that in print I'd say you got a winner!

Dave



May 30, 2016 at 10:01 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Help with a print candidate


lighthound wrote:
I missed your last edit for printing here.

I like what I'm seeing. If you can match that in print I'd say you got a winner!

Dave


I printed it and decided this image is just too dark for print. It works ok under light, but we seldom have the lights on and I have found I just don't like my darker images. I am seeing an eye specialist in a couple weeks, going to ask about cataract surgery, everything is blurry these days and darker,



May 31, 2016 at 09:44 AM





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