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Archive 2016 · This mornings effort

  
 
ben egbert
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · This mornings effort


These might be ok at web size, but I was focus stacking to get DOF and did not like the results at 100%. So I am going to break my rule of showing one or two at a time and giving a general impression of the morning.

This place is 22 miles from home and on the east side of Mount Timpanogos. I find I get the best subject and foreground light and contrast with the sun at my back, but often the sky color is best towards the sun as you will see in my first shot into the sun compared to the others with the sun behind me.






Into the sun






sun at my back, tight view






Sun at my back, wide view






Walking back to my truck, I saw this light,




Jun 29, 2016 at 12:56 PM
lighthound
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · This mornings effort


Yep, into the sun the sky is always more vibrant because the light is punching through the clouds. From the other direction you're seeing the light bounce back at you after it has punched through the clouds.

I have always been amazed to see what great color you always seem to get with the sun to your back. I don't know if it's just the difference in landscapes (East coast vs West coast) or what, but I seldom see the intensity you seem to get on a regular basis. Heck, thanks to your images I have learned to look the other way just in case something magical happens behind my back. It does happen around here but I don't seem to see it often.

Image #3 has it for me! Love the color you got there. Is that purple I'm seeing or is that more pinkish?

Dave



Jun 29, 2016 at 03:13 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · This mornings effort


Thanks Dave. I think it's pink.

I just found something out. I process these on my wide gamut monitor and convert to sRGB and view as a background image on my Dell low gamut monitor. They look fine, but if I view the web post on the Dell, it looks washed out.

The reason is because Win10 does not color manage background images and tends to over saturate them. That oversaturation makes the image look like my NEC monitor when it is color managed. I probably need to check the images in Photoshop on the Dell before making a web copy.






Jun 29, 2016 at 03:24 PM
beavens
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · This mornings effort


3 for me as well.

Damn you west coasters!

Jeff



Jun 29, 2016 at 03:34 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · This mornings effort


beavens wrote:
3 for me as well.

Damn you west coasters!

Jeff


Thanks Jeff.

I don't know what the rest of you guys see on the web, but I just fixed my web version so that it looks about the same on my Dell as it does on my NEC. See what you think. It could still have a bit more saturation, I just hit the image with a gamma of 0.9.






darkened for web




Jun 29, 2016 at 03:55 PM
beavens
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · This mornings effort




Thanks Jeff.

I don't know what the rest of you guys see on the web, but I just fixed my web version so that it looks about the same on my Dell as it does on my NEC. See what you think. It could still have a bit more saturation, I just hit the image with a gamma of 0.9.



I do like the extra punch/contrast of the rework!



Jun 29, 2016 at 04:15 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · This mornings effort




I do like the extra punch/contrast of the rework!


Thanks, I may add an action for web stuff. I probably need to see if its uniform or variable.



Jun 29, 2016 at 04:21 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · This mornings effort


Here is another very bad shot of the buck that was staring at me. Hard to do good work with a landscape lens that maxes out at 70mm. This is heavily cropped, But it was a great morning and me and the buck were all alone.








Jun 29, 2016 at 09:16 PM
lighthound
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · This mornings effort


Your last sunrise rework looks better to my eyes. Much better contrast and colors.

You mean you don't carry your 100-400II out with you on your shoots!? I'm shocked I tell ya!

I have had this happen to me so many times now that I have now started to lug around my entire backpack full of all my gear. Major PITA but it's nice to have it handy. The only thing is that I don't like swapping out lenses while outside in uncontrolled environments. I did this out on the beach many many times last week and now I need to do a major sensor cleaning, which I hate doing.

Why did you shoot him @ f/11 Ben?
You don't need to answer that, I'm just being a smartass because I do the same thing.

Dave



Jun 30, 2016 at 09:12 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · This mornings effort


The 100-400 was in my truck about 100 yards away, but the deer did not stick around long. I used f11 because I was on a tripod and wanted as much dof as possible because I knew I would need to crop a lot.

I could probably sharpen this, it does not have any usm. It is a 100% crop as is.



Jun 30, 2016 at 09:34 AM
lighthound
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · This mornings effort


Ah! So you intended to use f/11.
In my case, I always forget to change it in my haste after swinging around while shooting a landscape. What can I say, I'm a rookie.

Things are looking nice and lush out there now. That buck looks like he's a happy boy with lots of available food.

Dave



Jun 30, 2016 at 09:52 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · This mornings effort


I took another stab at focus stacking the 3rd image. I used 4 images and used align image> blend image in CC. It did a very good job of finding the sharpest elements. The rest of the processing is similar to the first image. When the sun is at your back, DR is seldom a problem. I did come up with an action to darken the image for Web.

One thing I cannot do is create the same color range of a wide gamut monitor to a sRGB monitor. But at least the overall brightness and contrast are similar.

Like to hear your opinion on this one, it is one I would like to print.





Focus stack 4 images, add a web action




Jun 30, 2016 at 09:33 PM
lighthound
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · This mornings effort


Well Ben, on an improvement scale from 1-10 (with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best)
I would say your new rework is a rock solid 10!

Every single thing about it is MUCH better. Hell you even improved things I didn't even notice was lacking in your OP. Tonalities and color are vastly better now and I think the IQ sharpness goes without saying. The focus stack was an excellent choice here and your processing looks fantastic. Nice job bringing back the contrast too!

I think you are hugging the very edge on your saturation which is exactly where I like to see it. To my eyes's it's not overdone and has nice deep and rich colors.

If I could trust my eyes more I might say that your FG might be a little on the cool side but I do not want to miss guide you. If it actually is at all, this is only a small nit and really doesn't matter considering the entire image.
I hope Kent or someone stops in here and comments on this. Would love to know for my own purpose as well.

This is going to be gorgeous hanging on the wall Ben. This has to be amazing to see full sized with that kind of IQ and details.

Fantastic job on all accounts!

Dave



Jul 01, 2016 at 07:55 AM
chiron
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · This mornings effort


Hi Ben.

I really like the final re-work. In general, in some of your pictures that you are offering for critique, the foreground sometimes feels a bit disconnected from (flatter, less interesting, different tonalities) and more prosaic than the background.

In general, in your pictures that I like best and find beautiful, there often is minimal foreground and an emphasis on intense, variegated color and massive forms.

In this final re-work, the tonalities of the foreground feel more joined to the background and visually integrted with it than in the earlier versions.

Also, the foreground becomes one of three planes in the picture (the foreground plane, the background plane, and a plane created by the darker clouds coming forward in the sky). Having the three interacting planes makes the picture feel deeper and more unified and also more complex. The foreground is more balanced against the other elements.



Jul 01, 2016 at 08:19 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · This mornings effort


lighthound wrote:
Well Ben, on an improvement scale from 1-10 (with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best)
I would say your new rework is a rock solid 10!

Every single thing about it is MUCH better. Hell you even improved things I didn't even notice was lacking in your OP. Tonalities and color are vastly better now and I think the IQ sharpness goes without saying. The focus stack was an excellent choice here and your processing looks fantastic. Nice job bringing back the contrast too!

I think you are hugging the very edge on your saturation which is exactly where
...Show more

Thanks Dave, this version looks a bit garish on my NEC, and understated on the Dell sRGB monitor. But I will print the non web adjusted version. It gets hard to work in wide gamut and then post for web. I need other eyes to tune this web processing in.



Jul 01, 2016 at 09:18 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · This mornings effort


chiron wrote:
Hi Ben.

I really like the final re-work. In general, in some of your pictures that you are offering for critique, the foreground sometimes feels a bit disconnected from (flatter, less interesting, different tonalities) and more prosaic than the background.

In general, in your pictures that I like best and find beautiful, there often is minimal foreground and an emphasis on intense, variegated color and massive forms.

In this final re-work, the tonalities of the foreground feel more joined to the background and visually integrted with it than in the earlier versions.

Also, the foreground becomes one of three planes in
...Show more

Thanks for the very detailed analysis, it is very helpful. As a way of explanation, I am fond of the vegetation in these places and at 100% the detail is fun to see at print size, but does not come off so well at web sizes.

I wil pay attention to the idea of better integration.



Jul 01, 2016 at 09:21 AM
lighthound
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · This mornings effort


ben egbert wrote:
Thanks Dave, this version looks a bit garish on my NEC, and understated on the Dell sRGB monitor. But I will print the non web adjusted version. It gets hard to work in wide gamut and then post for web. I need other eyes to tune this web processing in.


That makes my head hurt just reading it Ben. I am in awe that you can do this from one wide gamut monitor then on a sRGB monitor and THEN figure out all that is needed to make it look right coming off your NEC when you go to print with it.

If I ever get out your way someday, I would love to swing by and see how these look on your monitor and then see the final prints. I could learn so much from you about this process. Other than my "color issue", getting correct prints is my biggest hurdle which is why I hardly ever print anything. I want to in the worse way but my prints always look like crap compared to how they look on my monitor. I've thought about sending some to someone for print but I'm worried I'd send them an image with a heavy cyan cast or something and they would simply print what I sent them and still wouldn't look anything close to what I thought it should. It's a little too costly to experiment with.

Dave





Jul 01, 2016 at 10:19 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · This mornings effort


lighthound wrote:
That makes my head hurt just reading it Ben. I am in awe that you can do this from one wide gamut monitor then on a sRGB monitor and THEN figure out all that is needed to make it look right coming off your NEC when you go to print with it.

If I ever get out your way someday, I would love to swing by and see how these look on your monitor and then see the final prints. I could learn so much from you about this process. Other than my "color issue", getting correct prints is my biggest
...Show more

I would love to have you stop by, or any other regulars here.

You never get prints to look like the monitor, but you can get closer and you can make good prints. I think you need to print at home to get there and make lots of trials. I still need to make proof prints and make adjustments. Color is seldom the issue, but brightness is always one.



Jul 01, 2016 at 10:29 AM





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