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Archive 2013 · Updated (3): Bear Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

Michael H
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Updated (3): Bear Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

Well, time has gotten the best of me and I'm still trying to get through a bunch of images from my recent whirlwind trip. Lots of great advice from this and the wildlife forum and it was much appreciated. I'm going through trying to put together what I can from what turned out to be a very wet, rainy gray sky trip with a couple peeks at sunshine. There are some that I like but I am having to process them a bit more than I generally like to pull out some details.

Here is a quick single image HDR processed with Nik HDR eFex Pro II. I like the way it turned out in the conversion...the color version was destined for the bit bucket. Appreciate any C&C on this. Cheers!
Mike

UPDATE: Thanks for the comments guys! I really appreciate the time you take to share your thoughts. Here is a version with some increased contrast in the mountains. I like the improved contrast, but wondering if I pushed it a bit too far on the quick edit.

UPDATE 2: Removed the original image. The more I look at the increased contrast version, the more I think it's okay.

UPDATE 3 Removed 2nd version, though it can still be seen with the edit below. I've done what I can to reduce the halo effect as pointed out. Left side of image is much better than right. However there are two things that I see as contributors and I 'm not entirely sure how to address.
First of all, on the right side, there is actually a sheet of ice/snow in the valley behind the ridge line that's been highlighted as haloing. I've calmed down some of it but I can't figure out how to reduce more without the wrong impact.
Next, on both the left and right side of impacted areas, there is a lot of atmospheric haze and also brighness generated from the ice/snow in each valley. I cleaned up how I could but my skills seem to have hit a limit.

Of note also is that this looks really great without these areas of concern on my 24" display and also in a small print I did. Viewing media certainly does make a difference.

I hope this works better. Please let me know your thoughts. I'm considering posting the original SOC version to show how much (or little) I had to work with. I've found this a challenging but productive process.

-mike

Edited on Sep 09, 2013 at 05:27 PM · View previous versions

Sep 04, 2013 at 07:05 PM

JimFox
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Updated (3): Bear Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

Hey Mike,

What a cool scene. Nice work with the B&W, though I think perhaps a bit more contrast in the mountains would be nice. I am looking forward to seeing your shots from this trip as I really would like to get back up to Alaska again.

Jim

Sep 04, 2013 at 07:27 PM

kwilliam8
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Updated (3): Bear Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

Mike, this is a great image! I love the ground, and I especially love the clouds in the sky. If it were mine, I would increase the contrast in the ground portion of the image. Very, very nice!
Keith W.

Sep 04, 2013 at 09:26 PM

Michael H
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Updated (3): Bear Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

updated image added below original. Thanks!

Sep 04, 2013 at 11:02 PM

Michael H
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Updated (3): Bear Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

removed the original image.

Sep 05, 2013 at 10:19 AM

taran
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Updated (3): Bear Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

This is a stunning image that has a wonderful interplay of shadow and light. The dappled glacier is a sight to behold.


	http://www.artistwithlight.com/images/bearglacier.jpg

This kind of haloing won't be present in the version onscreen you edit on your computer, so it's a mute point to discuss it if a print is what you are after. I would merely point out that displaying for the web you might want to blur these a little, as uneven exposure around transitional dark/light areas, what many call "haloing", is noticeable to my eye.

Like I said, if a print or large format monitor display is your destination for the photo this level of sharpening is probably good, but photos destined for print are usually not ideal candidates for web browsing where jpg compression is brought to bear to make an image small enough to display in a normal browser window.

An analogy is this... when you make a picture bigger from a smaller one it will naturally look blurred, and the reverse seems to be true, whereby some images from high res sensors that are blurry on a large display or in print will look tack sharp if you display it in a browser at 1024px.

Thanks for sharing, I love Alaska and this brings back a flood of wonderful memories. Alaska is so vast and beautiful it boggles the mind.

Also, please forgive my editing of your photo with circles, I apologize in advance as some photographers really hate this, and am happy to take it down if you desire.

Sep 05, 2013 at 11:27 AM

Michael H
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Updated (3): Bear Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

Thank you Taran. No problem at all with the highlighted areas. I very much appreciate the feedback.

You have pointed out two areas that have been bugging me. As much as anything, I'd say my edit was very sloppy. I'm having some issues with my tablet, so this was a mouse edit with it's own challenges. I also don't tend to do a lot of heavy editing and this one required a bit more than usual. I like how I have more contrast now, but I don't like the noise it brought out in the process.

I am going to go back in and see what I can do. I think I can clean this up a bit more, and again, I appreciate your tips on this.

Cheers

Mike

Sep 05, 2013 at 12:19 PM

JimFox
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Updated (3): Bear Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

Hey Mike

I like the look in the edit, I think it's much improved. Taran brought up the one thing that jumped out at me though on those two ridge lines. Clean those lines up and this will be a super cool shot.

Jim

Sep 05, 2013 at 12:50 PM

Michael H
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Updated (3): Bear Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

Updated shot attached in first post of this thread. I've done what I can. I've added some verbiage to the update as well.

Sep 09, 2013 at 04:12 PM

JimFox
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Updated (3): Bear Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

Hey Mike,

The updated shot is better, for me it's not so much the haloing but the dark line along that ridge, is that trees along the ridges? I think posting a SOOC shot would be great just to see what you had to work with. It also might give some people a better chance to give you some workable ideas on how to eliminate it.

Jim

Sep 09, 2013 at 05:15 PM

Michael H
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Updated (3): Bear Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

Thanks Jim. Yes, there are some trees along the ridge, as well as some rocky looking areas and shadows from the clouds. That was one of the last things I had been looking at but did so on a monitor in need of calibration. I look looked on another system and it is much darker than I would prefer.

I'll probably do one last edit for now, and I will post the SOC shot.

Sep 09, 2013 at 05:27 PM

Michael H
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Updated (3): Bear Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

Okay, here is the original. I think there is probably an opportunity to go back and edit this again from the start. I would take a different approach than I have so far. As presented now, I've been doing edit on top of edit and it's gets a bit difficult to maintain it.

I also have to keep telling myself this is all a learning experience. I've spent far more time (by a longshot) on this than I usually would.

I do think that I'm getting far more out of this image than I ever thought possible. I think it's a pretty bad starting point. It's an image that would usually get a quick trip to the trashcan.

Sep 09, 2013 at 05:48 PM

CW100
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Updated (3): Bear Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

good job with the processing

Sep 10, 2013 at 04:56 AM


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