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Archive 2016 · Painted hills morning.

  
 
ben egbert
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Painted hills morning.


It was still dark when I arrived with a 3/4 moon I tried some moonlit shots but did not like them. I went back to the evening location and got the first image predawn. The light is even and was enough to provide brightness on these highly reflective hills however there is no glow on the background mountains.

As soon as the sun comes up shadows ruin it. So I went to another place where the sun was at my back and shot westward for the second image.

I always try to include a bit of the immediate foreground so it does not look like I am shooting from an airplane window. I like grass, so these image have some. But after the previous comments, I attempted to crop back as far as possible. But probably still have too much.

Like to hear you comments anyway.












Sep 12, 2016 at 08:32 AM
sbeme
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Painted hills morning.


Two beautiful images, Ben.
The second is my pick on composition. The foreground yellow brush echoes the colors in the hills and the bands of light and dark have a wonderful rhythm. I'll leave it others to comment on technical aspects.
The first is well-composed, positioned and creates a more somber mood for me. The one aspect I do not like is the intense green in the distant valley. Maybe reduce the intensity there.

Scott



Sep 12, 2016 at 08:47 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Painted hills morning.


Thanks Scott for your input. The green is irrigated fields, you can see the water from the sprinkler system in the original. I can tone it down however.





100% crop of field




Sep 12, 2016 at 09:07 AM
lighthound
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Painted hills morning.


I prefer the second image for the color and the FG grasses. This image also has a nice leading line from the edge of the hill you are standing on that leads the eye right down and into the scene.

The FG shadows are hurting this image but the shadows off in the distant hills helps give this depth.

Don't trust me on this but I wonder if it would help if you warmed up the shadow areas to nudge them closer to the warm direct light.

Have you ever tried shooting these painted deserts in direct late morning or early evening light? I'm just curious if this would allow you to get the rich colors and avoid the shadows. I think you would want some small shadows to help bring out the depth.


Dave



Sep 12, 2016 at 09:14 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Painted hills morning.


Hi Dave:

This is about 1000 miles from home so I don't get here often, In fact this was probably my last time.

I can certainly bring up the shadows, or warm them. In photoshop it's easy to go to far so I try not to do that.

As far as late morning or early evening light, I think this second image is getting close to the end of the good light. One of the big issues with golden hour is the shadows. Now the first image shows predawn which has very even lighting but far less drama.

I have many series of sunrise from predawn to full light without shadows. By the time the shadows are gone, the golden hour effect is mostly gone.




Sep 12, 2016 at 09:24 AM
lighthound
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Painted hills morning.


I'm just curious what you could do with a full light no shadows image even if it meant "cheating" a little in post. This is more of "just me wondering" kinda thing and not a suggestion for something you would print. I've never been there so I don't know what is possible under more harsh light to get away from the big shadows.

If you have such an image and have the time to play, I'd like to see what could be done in post by pushing it to get the "cake and eat it too" kinda image. I know some say that's cheating but in this case where it is impossible to get both warm direct light with no shadows then I personally would try it if for nothing else then to learn and see what it would look like.

If you don't want to I understand, I'm just curious.
Or heck, just send me a raw file in harsh light and no shadows so I can play.

Dave



Sep 12, 2016 at 10:08 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Painted hills morning.


Thanks Dave, I understand, but I left soon after the second image so I don't really have one. I may have something from other locations, I would need to see.

I did take image 2 and warmed and raised the shadows, I also toned down the green field in the first for Scott.





warmed and lightened shadows







Muted green




Sep 12, 2016 at 10:46 AM
Mado
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Painted hills morning.


The light of the 2nd one is superb.


Sep 12, 2016 at 12:53 PM
lighthound
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Painted hills morning.


Call me crazy but to my eyes your edit looks much nicer! You calmed down the transition from shadow to bright light such that it's not so "in your face".
And the warmer tone helped I think.

As for the green field that Scott pointed out. I was thinking... "Green? What green?"

I actually didn't even see it until you posted the 100% crop.

Dave



Sep 12, 2016 at 01:21 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Painted hills morning.


lighthound wrote:
Call me crazy but to my eyes your edit looks much nicer! You calmed down the transition from shadow to bright light such that it's not so "in your face".
And the warmer tone helped I think.

As for the green field that Scott pointed out. I was thinking... "Green? What green?"

I actually didn't even see it until you posted the 100% crop.

Dave


I think the warming did more than the exposure boost, good insight. I could do more, but then it may start looking HDR.

I understand you on the green, some of us are not blessed with such good color vision.

By the way, I shot a bunch of fall color stuff yesterday in mid day sun. I will show you as a sort of response to your other question about non golden hour light. Maybe tomorrow.



Sep 12, 2016 at 01:40 PM
lighthound
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Painted hills morning.


I'm amazed that you are rolling into fall already Ben. It seems like just a month ago you couldn't make it to one of your locations because the winter snow had not melted enough. I know it was probably longer ago than that but man, your seasons are super short out there.

We're just now starting to get out of the mid to upper 90's here and everything is burnt to a crisp. I don't have high hopes yet again for our fall colors this year. Last year I had big plans but the colors never came. At least nothing worth shooting.

Dave



Sep 12, 2016 at 01:53 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Painted hills morning.


We are also just dropping below 90 but I am at 4500 feet and the places I go are around 8,000 feet, that makes a difference. The seasons are not so short at home, but they are up high.




Sep 12, 2016 at 02:10 PM
lighthound
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Painted hills morning.


Ah yeah, I keep forgetting you have huge mountains out there to climb.
I'm at about 1200 ft at the house and maybe 4500 to get to one of my honey holes. More like a slight bump in the road for you.



Sep 12, 2016 at 02:34 PM





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