A view of Torres del Paine in the Chilean Patagonia. This image was taken very late in the afternoon from Hotel Rio Serrano in the N.P. A striking and very temperamental mountain...
A cool looking shot, but it's a bit too dreamy for me. Looks like some HDR look in this, and then also some Orton Effect with the way the foreground glows.
A three exposure (+- one stop) HDR, with a gradient exposure mask to the mid range hills to bring out the clouds. No Orton Effect. The color shot was rather uninteresting, at least to me, so I tried gray scale and it seems to work better. I have quite a few more images to work up where color is nicer.
I like the atmospheric conditions a lot, and it's a good choice for b&w. I would like to see a bit deeper contrast in the bg mtns and sky. The fg trees do look a little HDR-ish, but not too badly, contrast is pretty good there.
I like your restraint on the contrast in the mountains. There is a lot going on in this one and the separation of the layers really helps the composition for me. Amazing mountains!
The scene and the drama in the stormy skies is amazing but I have to confess that the HDR processing hurts the overall impression I get in viewing this. The scene is stunning and the light is simply jaw dropping to go right along with the view itself. I would be willing to sacrifice body parts to get a chance at shooting a scene like this one.
This scene begs for dramatic clarity in the details and the softness that is so typical of multi shot HDR software blends in the foreground and beyond leaves me wanting to see what else could be done with your original captures. HDR offers a quick grab at dramatic lighting effects but almost anything that HDR processing has to offer can be done better manually with careful layers blends. This set of captures is worth almost whatever it takes to tease out the best of the details - you have an amazing scene in your capture stash.
Thanks to everyone for their C&C. I'm going to work a bit more on this image, taking into mind your comments. I don't want to over process the shot, and I agree there's a hint of HDR in the current version. I'm from the old school, we used to dodge and burn to try and get things right in the darkroom.
I think the picture might be more striking with increased contrast in the mountains, but I actually love the processing the way it is right now... they have a very ominous, far-off look to them.
Dave asked me if I would be interested in trying my luck with his image and allowed me to work on his RAW captures in CS5. In this case I actually selected the brightest of the exposures he used for his HDR and made two different versions with one being processed at -2.0 stops of exposure and the other as it came from the camera. I made a 2 layer blend from this with the initial masking made from Tony Kuyper's All Darks mask actions and then hand blended from there.
http://www.lichty.org/MiscImages/DavesImage.jpg
Thanks for letting me play with this Dave - those are some really amazing mountains and you have taken a great image of them.
Thanks for taking a stab at processing this shot in CS5. You really made this image sing. I use LR for most of my work, but it looks like I'm going to have to upgrade from CS3 and learn how to use it.
Let's see what the other FM'ers think of the two final versions.
...Dave
P.S. I have about 3,000 more shots to process from this trip, so stay tuned.
Thanks Curt. The B&W version is more dramatic and captures the way I felt about this mountain. The color blended exposure captures what I saw. Alan's skill with PS really worked magic with the colors. I like them both, but different reasons.
I find the B&W version somewhat bland; but love the color version. The B&W could be very nice as well but it is going to need some work on the mountains portion.
Jon
No question in my mind. The color grabs me with the textures and details in the mountains and sky. I like the way the foreground compliments without overpowering the background in the color also. Rick
There is a ton of potential lurking in that capture! and maybe also to different shots/compositions of this scene that you have taken.
Left to me, I would use the best base exposure and stick to processing a single exposure shot simply for preserving the edge detail [ridges on the mountains] as well as the foreground. (The HDR treatment really makes it look soft). Alternatively, you can choose to hand blend carefully.
Further, this is one of those images which make a classic case for reasonable amounts of local contrast. I would spend some time with this using the simple dodge and burn tool sets alone. I'd start with a channel [or choose a channel-mixer output] with the best balance of overall contrast and work from there onwards.
