A shot of the french side of the Pyrenees - as seen from the "Boulevard des Pyrenees" in the city of Pau.
C&C, especially on the PP is very welcome.

Great light on the mountain peaks. The contrast between the sun spots and shadows really brings out how jagged they are. I like your composition.

What did you do for post-processing? My guess is that it was a fairly hazy day and you had to do some work to bring out the contrast in the mountain peaks. It looks like it might be a little overdone in the foreground. The shadows have lost a lot of their detail and the orange/red of the trees is a little strong for my taste.

Bringing down the contrast in the foreground would improve the overall appeal of the image for me. (But hey, that's just me). Overall a very lovely scene.

Brian

Great shot here - worthy of a place on a wall somewhere
David

Hi Grani

this looks like quite a difficult shot to process. i like the soft textures in the sky and the colours of the mountains.

i am hoping to visit this area in the summer, have you any suggestions for where to go?

emian wrote:
Great light on the mountain peaks. The contrast between the sun spots and shadows really brings out how jagged they are. I like your composition.

What did you do for post-processing? My guess is that it was a fairly hazy day and you had to do some work to bring out the contrast in the mountain peaks. It looks like it might be a little overdone in the foreground. The shadows have lost a lot of their detail and the orange/red of the trees is a little strong for my taste.

Bringing down the contrast in the foreground would improve the overall appeal of the image for me. (But hey, that's just me). Overall a very lovely scene.

Brian

Brian,

you got it absolutely right- it was quite hazy and I was playing around with levels and contrast to bring some details back. The original image was quite flat. The thing that bothers me is the forest on the right which looks to blue-ish and are a bit strong in the overall composition.
I agree that the forest in the foreground is quite red - but that's the way it looks in reality as well.
I will try your advice and reduce contrast in the foreground, maybe work with layers to keep the background as it is....and see what that gives.

cheers
grani

Rob Aubrook wrote:
Hi Grani

this looks like quite a difficult shot to process. i like the soft textures in the sky and the colours of the mountains.

i am hoping to visit this area in the summer, have you any suggestions for where to go?

For a visit I think that Pau is a good base to stay, it's a nice little town with a bit of historic sites to visit (birthplace of Henry 4th King of France etc...)

In Summer you have the Tour de France in Pau (14th/15th July if I remember correctly), in May there is a historic Grand Prix car race on a downtown circuit (similar to Monaco).

The beauty of Pau is that you can go to the Pyrenees (the picture above is taken from downtown) and to the sea on the same day - it's about 1hr drive each.

Other sites to visit if you are here are Biarritz and Bayonne, basque towns close to the sea, Lourdes for rather religious sightseeing and if you are willing to drive further (200km) you can go to Toulouse or Bordeaux. Spain (San Sebastian) is not far either (150km on the highway).

hope that helps, don't hesitate to PM me. (although I have to admit that I am a resident of Pau for only 6 months now).

cheers
grani