Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

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Randy Walton
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p.1 #1 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

This year while there all the sunrises and sunsets I shot were pretty much void of much color but on occasion had some great clouds. We arrived and were set up for shooting long before sunrise. Even at the elevation though the temperatures although cool were exceptionally warm for this time of the year.
Here are some images from that mornings shoot.
Randy

Sunrise at Rock Creek Lake

Before Sunrise (lots of fish activity before the fishermen arrive)

This image is copyrighted by the owner

Grand Entrance

This image is copyrighted by the owner

Prime Time (This is a 2 image HDR combined and tone mapped in Photomatix,
with final editing in PSCS 3)

Since there is always immediate speculation regarding doing too much to an image when you identify it as a HDR image I wanted to show the small difference between the HDR and a mnually blended image in PS prior to regular workflow. As I noted someone else recently mentioned I don't process my images to exactly mirror the actual scene but do enhance them to become what I feel is more visually attractive. When I use HDR I mention that in my post, and it is not my intention to fool or mislead anyone in thinking that was the exact scene.

You'll find that there is not much difference between the two, and neither has any noticable haloing even with the small web jpeg enlarge to 200%.

This image is copyrighted by the owner

Is there a difference between the two, yes. I happen to prefer the HDR version. All the information is there and with the use of Photomatix you can pull what is actually there in the image out.

Edited on Oct 13, 2008 at 04:11 AM · View previous versions

Oct 11, 2008 at 09:41 PM

mooch
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p.1 #2 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

Hello Randy , the 1st shot is my favourite from the series but what is that brown err....splodge , for want of a better word , in the water ?

Oct 11, 2008 at 09:55 PM

Randy Walton
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p.1 #3 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

mooch wrote:
Hello Randy , the 1st shot is my favourite from the series but what is that brown err....splodge , for want of a better word , in the water ?

Thanks Mooch! That my friend is a photoshop blunder!

I'll repair....much have accidently hit the mouse. Thanks!

Oct 11, 2008 at 09:59 PM

Rick Loomis
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p.1 #4 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

I have a wow on no 4 . I think it is great.
Rick Loomis

Oct 11, 2008 at 10:17 PM

Randy Walton
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p.1 #5 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

Rick Loomis wrote:
I have a wow on no 4 . I think it is great.
Rick Loomis

Thanks Rick! I like HDR but many people don't. Tried to keep it under control and corrected the final image in Photoshop.

Mooch, fixed the slpodge! Thanks!

Oct 11, 2008 at 10:28 PM

Klaus Priebe
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p.1 #6 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

Randy,
Very nice series. The last image is a beauty and the color is wonderful.

Oct 11, 2008 at 10:30 PM

bshamilton
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p.1 #7 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

Lovely set, Randy! Love the 1st, especially. You know I love the soft, pre-dawn

And a deft touch with Photomatix in the last

Nice work, bud!

Barry

Oct 11, 2008 at 11:20 PM

ifernau
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p.1 #8 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

Hey,
I remember that morning

Oct 12, 2008 at 03:20 AM

Bandi
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p.1 #9 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

Hi Randy,

I'll echo the sentiments about the first. Beautiful stuff. Also like the shadow play in the second and the golden feeling in the last. Great set

Anthony

Oct 12, 2008 at 03:24 AM

pearlstreet
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p.1 #10 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

I am wondering about the direction of the light on the foreground in the first and last, Randy. Were you shooting with the sun behind you? Love the color and light in all the shots, but I particularly love the compositions in the first and last.

Sharon

Oct 12, 2008 at 04:29 AM

dswiger
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p.1 #11 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

Randy,
Numbers 1 & 4 have my vote.
My only caveat is the HDR on #4 is just a we bit more than I like to see, .
BUT a nice image just the same

Oct 12, 2008 at 04:31 AM

Randy Walton
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p.1 #12 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

Klaus Priebe wrote:
Randy,
Very nice series. The last image is a beauty and the color is wonderful.

Thanks Klaus! I knew when I posted the HDR that some would like and some wouldn't. It does even when used very lightly as this image was it does impart a different type of look. Glad you liked the set and that image.

bshamilton wrote:
Lovely set, Randy! Love the 1st, especially. You know I love the soft, pre-dawn

And a deft touch with Photomatix in the last

Nice work, bud!
Barry

Glad you liked these Barry! Great place to photograph and fall is a great time. Appreciate your input on the HDR. Thanks!

ifernau wrote:
Hey,
I remember that morning

Great composition in the first on. Nice HDR as well. Back in Bishop after a long drive over Hwy 88 in the snow.....Colors sucked today, it snowed everywhere I went. This cold is really taking its toll on the leaves even the green ones. I am happy we went when we did the first time.
Inge

Thanks very much Inge. Was thinking about how you were doing up there this morning. Sorry to hear there might have been too much snow. I'm glad we went when we did too! Thanks for taking me to many of your favorite spots!

Oct 12, 2008 at 05:01 AM

David Leask
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p.1 #13 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

Great shots Randy - #1 and #4 are stunners!
Well done.
David

Oct 12, 2008 at 09:30 AM

Adrian Cray
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p.1 #14 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

A very pleasing series , Randy , and I can see what you mean about searching for fine clouds ! My favourite is the last shot ; no objection to HDR techniques when used sensitively , as in this case . The brightness behind the right hand cliffs seems a bit off to me , but it may be the decrepit laptop I'm using at present !

Oct 12, 2008 at 10:35 AM

Randy Walton
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p.1 #15 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

Bandi wrote:
Hi Randy,
I'll echo the sentiments about the first. Beautiful stuff. Also like the shadow play in the second and the golden feeling in the last. Great set
Anthony

Glad you liked these Anthony! Thanks!

pearlstreet wrote:
I am wondering about the direction of the light on the foreground in the first and last, Randy. Were you shooting with the sun behind you? Love the color and light in all the shots, but I particularly love the compositions in the first and last.
Sharon

Hi Sharon, #I was shot from a hill above the lake and the sun was rising to my left and the 4th image was taken at lake level. In the 3rd image you can see the sun about to rise and that shot was taken approximately 20 to 30 degrees to the left of the 1st and the 4th. Glad you enjoyed those shots!

Many thanks!

dswiger wrote:
Randy,
Numbers 1 & 4 have my vote.
My only caveat is the HDR on #4 is just a we bit more than I like to see, .
BUT a nice image just the same

You definitely got some better morning skies than I did at North Lake.
I visited Rock Creek area on 10/1 mid day, and couldn't figure out where to go.
I hope to visit Rock Creek & South Lake next time.
Thanks for posting
Dan

Hi Dan, glad you like the 1st and 4th images. Not sure I understand what is a wee bit more than you like to see on #4

But still glad you liked it. Where the color is at pretty much dictated to Inge and I where to go and the best location this year at that time were the higher elevations around Bishop.
Btw, HDR is nothing new it's been around since the mid 1930's just not commonly known by many photographers. Like folks used to regard digital vs film with disdain, hdr is the future of photography. Don't keep blinders on reagarding its use.

Link for interest: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dynamic_range_imaging

Oct 12, 2008 at 02:03 PM

Allen_Maestas
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p.1 #16 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

Lovely images Randy, beautiful colors.

Al

Oct 12, 2008 at 03:33 PM

Tim ONeill
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p.1 #17 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

Excellent series Randy. Would you consider an HDR black and white conversion? I'm seeing (and doing) some of it in the Black and White forum. It is pretty effective, and give the shots a very different (and pleasing IMHO) look.

Oct 12, 2008 at 03:43 PM

phil hawkins
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p.1 #18 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

Holy Crap! The first one is really good! The last one doesn't look natural.. The HDR looks way off to me... Sky is too dark in relation to the foreground... And the mountains have a halo, and are light at the bottom and conspicuously dark at the top. But that first one is excellent!!

Oct 12, 2008 at 04:17 PM

night86mare
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p.1 #19 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

i think #1 is extremely beautiful.

#4 is overdone in my book - i appreciate what hdr can do, but here you have lost sight of the correct hierachy of light - how can your rocks be brighter (or as bright as) than the sky?!

Oct 12, 2008 at 04:56 PM

kschweichhart
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p.1 #20 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

I like first and second one, Randy.
Karl

Oct 12, 2008 at 07:09 PM

Randy Walton
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p.1 #21 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

David Leask wrote:
Great shots Randy - #1 and #4 are stunners!
Well done.
David

Thanks David, glad you like those two!

Adrian Cray wrote:
A very pleasing series , Randy , and I can see what you mean about searching for fine clouds ! My favourite is the last shot ; no objection to HDR techniques when used sensitively , as in this case . The brightness behind the right hand cliffs seems a bit off to me , but it may be the decrepit laptop I'm using at present !

Thanks Adrian, glad you approve and liked. Some mention of this and the lighting have been mentioned. You can seen in the original raws that those features did indeed exist. From this point the sun was rising almost directly to my left.
Randy

Allen_Maestas wrote:
Lovely images Randy, beautiful colors.
Al

Thanks Al, I'm happy you enjoyed these!

Tim ONeill wrote:
Excellent series Randy. Would you consider an HDR black and white conversion? I'm seeing (and doing) some of it in the Black and White forum. It is pretty effective, and give the shots a very different (and pleasing IMHO) look.

Thanks a lot Tim. Yes I would, especially after seeing your work in the B&W forum. Although I have to admit I hadn't thought of it till you mentioned.

Oct 13, 2008 at 04:18 AM

Zeph
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p.1 #22 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

Randy, Concerning photo four, both the Photomatix and the cs3 blend have redeeming qualities. The "hdr" version has less shadows and is more life like, minus the blown-out highlights

. The blended version makes a better "photograph" but lacks drama of real life or DR that we so desire. My take would be to revisit the sliders in Photomatix and bring back the highlights and work on the FG and induce some shadows. Somewhere in between is a wall hanger!!!

Oct 13, 2008 at 04:44 AM

Randy Walton
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p.1 #23 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

phil hawkins wrote:
Holy Crap! The first one is really good! The last one doesn't look natural.. The HDR looks way off to me... Sky is too dark in relation to the foreground... And the mountains have a halo, and are light at the bottom and conspicuously dark at the top. But that first one is excellent!!

Phil, I'm glad you liked the first image. The 4th I knew would be subjectively reviewed. However the light other than the foreground rocks which were lighted in PS with curves, as you can see in the original raws is pretty much true. The sun was just rising over the mountains to my almost immeadiate left and the tops of the mountain in the bg were darker at the top, just the way it was.

As far as looking natural, as I mentioned that is not my upmost concern. I think too many people continue to stand in a hallway when it comes to creative processing. Plus if you think about it, is this any less natural than stars going in circles? There are no halos in any of the images, original, hdr, or blends. Even a 300%, you may be misconstruing light with halos.

Thanks for your comments!

night86mare wrote:
i think #1 is extremely beautiful.
#4 is overdone in my book - i appreciate what hdr can do, but here you have lost sight of the correct hierachy of light - how can your rocks be brighter (or as bright as) than the sky?!

Glad you liked the first image young man. Your opinion and critique on the 4th was expected by me from some. All I can say about the light is that other than some additional lightening on the foreground rocks the light is actually pretty much true to the scene. Again by design, my image was processed not to necessarily represent the scene as totally natural. Unlike most of you I merely mention the fact when HDR is used and don't try an conceal it.

kschweichhart wrote:
I like first and second one, Randy.
Karl

Thanks Karl, glad you like those two.

Oct 13, 2008 at 02:30 PM

gordon l
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p.1 #24 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

Hello Randy,

The first and last shots are very nice. I like your manual blend of the fourth one.

I know that this is not what everybody else thinks, but I like the shot of the boats with the 1 ripple in the water. I think it tells a good story. I think that particular shot needs a little more contrast for it to work, but the story that it tells is very nice. I might try to bring out more contrast in that one, or perhaps try to increase to contrast dramatically and change it to black-and-white? That might give a sense of the early-morning, start of the day, potential for fishing story. Just an idea.

Gordon

Oct 13, 2008 at 09:15 PM

jmcfadden
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p.1 #25 · Early morning at Rock Creek Lake (4)

sheesh Randy , man i hate you

just teriffic man !

As for the HDR , i am so digging the bottom , i might suggest to look at a crop , pano style and clip the top off the right most peak this puts the rear of the lake horizon at 1/3rd down from the top. give it a try , i like it as is but i like a crop too please

Oct 13, 2008 at 10:56 PM


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