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Early morning, high in the mountains. I was outside my tent taking photos of the spectacular sunrise. It was getting warmer just by looking at the sky. But it was just the illusion, it was around -15 Celsius and frost was bitting. Using longer focal length I was able to isolate this mountain landscape illuminated by glow in the sky.
D800 with 24-70mm@70mm
1/250 sec
f 5/6
ISO 400
Lightroom adjustments mostly with very little photoshop.
That is a very cool looking sky, and I agree with Scott, what a great way to start your day. Nice work here with this.
One thought about your comment about very little Photoshop on this. What I have found and others have commented on in here also, is that with the power of the adjustments now in ACR a lot less work needs to be done in Photoshop anymore. Plus, Lightroom itself isn't that much different than Photoshop anymore either. In fact a lot of photographers have stopped using Photoshop all together and just use Lightroom, at least Adobe markets Lightroom as the Photographers tool and not Photoshop.
All of that to say in regards to your comment about most of the work being done in Lightroom and not much done in Photoshop, really doesn't mean much. Since so much can be done now in ACR and Lightroom. For me, it doesn't really matter, if someone spends 5 minutes editing a shot in whatever program they chose to use, or 5 hours to edit that shot, as long as it looks natural and has visual interest, that's all that's really important.
nice image.
but, my mind is asking why there is very little colour on the snow, given the amazing vibrancy of the sky, the snows ability to reflect light, it seems too cool for me. just a thought
Jim,
I agree about power of ACR. Adjustments in Lightroom are amazing this days. I also would add that RAW adjustment are the most important part in post processing. But, Lightroom has its limitations and I use Photoshop for every photo that I want to post online or print. What I meant in case of this photo was that yes I used Photoshop not necessarily for adjustment but other tools and techniques. If someone has any questions what tools, techniques were used in case of this photo (or other), you are welcome to contact me ([email protected]). I teach post processing and I would be happy to share and help others.
Parsons,
The colour in the sky was happening only as high as you can see in this photo. Above that was just blue sky. Most of the mountains were in the shade. Only a few parts that were exposed to the reflection ( you can see them in the centre of the photo) and have nice glow of colors.
Ben Horne wrote:
Absolutely beautiful. You've handled this scene very well, and it looks very natural. Well done!
What Ben said.
A great warm/cold scene!
parsons wrote:
nice image.
but, my mind is asking why there is very little colour on the snow, given the amazing vibrancy of the sky, the snows ability to reflect light, it seems too cool for me. just a thought
Hey Artur, I agree with what Simon says here, I did notice the same thing, but for me it just works with the contrast.
As for me, I don't use Lightroom at all, I see no reason for it. I switched to using ACR as my raw converter a year or so ago, so now all of my processing is done in ACR & Photoshop CS6.
parsons wrote:
nice image.
but, my mind is asking why there is very little colour on the snow, given the amazing vibrancy of the sky, the snows ability to reflect light, it seems too cool for me. just a thought
On my second look, I'd agree with that. The snow is a little cool for the sky.
I had a few more thoughts while viewing this photo. I absolutely love the colors, exposure, and how you have handled the processing. I think it might need a bit of rotation though. If you look at the really distant clouds, they really should be parallel with the horizon, yet there are three layers of clouds that all lean a bit CW all to the same amount. It's difficult composing shots like this sometimes because of all the strong foreground lines that throw off a sense of level, and also the clouds near the top of the frame feel very level, but it's those three layers of clouds in the distance that all slope the same degree, and I suspect they are an indication of true level. Did you use any assistance to level this shot (built in level, or bubble level)?
Ben, I have to say you have a very good eye. Thanks for your input. I did rotate image intentionally to level the mountains (the one on the right was closer and appeared bigger in the photo). I wasn't sure about rotation from the very beginning and I was wandering if anybody else would notice. Cheers to you . I will definitely fix that before printing.
As far as snow being to "cool", I like it the way it is but I try to warm it up just a little.
Thanks again
ArturS wrote:
Ben, I have to say you have a very good eye. Thanks for your input. I did rotate image intentionally to level the mountains (the one on the right was closer and appeared bigger in the photo). I wasn't sure about rotation from the very beginning and I was wandering if anybody else would notice. Cheers to you . I will definitely fix that before printing.
As far as snow being to "cool", I like it the way it is but I try to warm it up just a little.
Thanks again
I'd be curious to see it without the rotation. I think once you get those clouds level, it will give it a more calm feeling, and that will outweigh any issues with the mountain placement. On another note, I think your blues in the snow are spot on. I love the color contrast, and it looks very natural to my eye.
Ben,
I uploaded second image without rotation to compare. Now when I look at this again I think that rotation was not necessary. Thanks for your valuable and honest comment.
