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Archive 2014 · Four different views of Monument Valley in the morning, which is best???

billsamuels
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Four different views of Monument Valley in the morning, which is best???

I stayed in the Native American hotel in Monument Valley, their new hotel that overlooks the valley. The night before, thee was a great thunderstorm and the clouds broke up and lasted throughout the night, leaving enough a nice sunrise. I was up for the sunrise and this is what I got. Fortunately, each room has a deck that overlooks the valley with a great view of the monoliths and it's perfect for photography.

Please let me know what you think from a capture standpoint, which of these four pictures you like best. I used my Canon Rebel and a 17-40mm L lens.

Thanks.


	© Bill Samuels 2014

Sunrise in the middle of three monolith, with rays of light


	© Bill Samuels 2014

Sun behind middle monolith giving it a flattened look


	© Bill Samuels 2014

Only two monoliths, but the sun is behind the same one as before


	© Bill Samuels 2014

Again, two monoliths, but the sun is shining through the arm of the monolith with stars

May 26, 2014 at 10:57 AM

billsamuels
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Four different views of Monument Valley in the morning, which is best???

Realizing that perhaps I could have post-edited the surrounding area down a bit, but the sun's strong brightness is a turn-on I think? makes it interesting?


	© Bill Samuels 2014

I had to stick this one in after-the-fact because the sun is just so strong here.

May 26, 2014 at 11:09 AM

Justin Grimm
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Four different views of Monument Valley in the morning, which is best???

#2 works best for me. Sometime a sunstar can add interest, but since it isnt very defined, I prefer the backlit glow instead. The centered comp with the centered clouds look nice together. Honestly though, unless you blend in some shadow detail from a brighter exposure, or crop out the bottom of these shots entirely, they dont quite "do it" for me. I have nothing against silhoutetted shots, but the black needs to add to the composition instead of take away from it. Here, the blacks take up 50% of each shot and could have been excluded from the composition easily.

May 26, 2014 at 11:23 AM

billsamuels
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Four different views of Monument Valley in the morning, which is best???

Justin Grimm wrote:
the black needs to add to the composition instead of take away from it. Here, the blacks take up 50% of each shot and could have been excluded from the composition easily.

Do you think if I cropped the image a bit so that it reduced the black area, that would have improved the picture? Could that be possible in LR? Or could I have even changed the black area in LR to lighten it up to give the black area more color, or is it truly black with no color and LR could do nothing?

May 26, 2014 at 12:41 PM

Jeffrey
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Four different views of Monument Valley in the morning, which is best???

Too many images of the same scene. Pick your best (or favorite) and post that one. Then I can actually think about it and perhaps leave an appropriate comment.

May 26, 2014 at 01:19 PM

Kee Woo Rhee
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Four different views of Monument Valley in the morning, which is best???

Very peaceful and pleasant photos I see here, with just enough clouds and right moment of the sunrise.
If I would pick just one, then I would go with the third shot.
A little bit opening the dark foreground will be nice, IMO.
Is "the Native American hotel in Monument Valley" referring to "The View"?

Edited on May 26, 2014 at 01:42 PM · View previous versions

May 26, 2014 at 01:23 PM

Justin Grimm
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Four different views of Monument Valley in the morning, which is best???

billsamuels wrote:
Do you think if I cropped the image a bit so that it reduced the black area, that would have improved the picture? Could that be possible in LR? Or could I have even changed the black area in LR to lighten it up to give the black area more color, or is it truly black with no color and LR could do nothing?

If you only have experience with LR, I would say a crop is the best choice. Trying to pump up shadows this dark with any digital camera will not give you a nice looking result.

May 26, 2014 at 01:24 PM

JimFox
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Four different views of Monument Valley in the morning, which is best???

Justin Grimm wrote:
If you only have experience with LR, I would say a crop is the best choice. Trying to pump up shadows this dark with any digital camera will not give you a nice looking result.

Hey Bill, I will second Justin's comments. If your skill level is such that you are not able to bracket a shot and blend it in Photoshop, then eliminating more of the black areas by cropping is the way to go. Having areas go dark can sometimes be very powerful, but not if the black now takes up half of the shot. Visually there is nothing to see and rather than impact the image in a powerful way, the large black areas just suck the life out of the shot.

In shots like these as you move forward, your first shot should always be to expose for the highlights. Then bracket your exposures 1 stop at a time until the shadow area's are then exposed properly. A scene like this might take 5 or 7 exposures. If you don't have Photoshop, or don't want the expense of it, I would suggest picking up Photoshop Elements which allows layer masking and blending. For $80 at Costco, it's a great starting point. I know lot's of people in here now use Lightroom, but myself I have never liked the restrictions or limitations of Lightroom and so Photoshop has been my choice through the years.

So back to the images, I agree with Justin that since the sunstars are not very clearly defined, work with images without it.

Since 5 photos per thread is our max here, I will suggest like Jeffrey that you just pick one of these 5 shots you posted here that you like best, and start a new thread. That way if you do any editing from suggestions you can stay under the 5 photo limit.

Thanks,

Jim

May 26, 2014 at 01:41 PM

DonH
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Four different views of Monument Valley in the morning, which is best???

Bill, while you might not have the blending knowledge yet, you will one day. Until then, make sure that you take multiple bracketed shots of scenes like this then, when you have the blending knowledge, you will have something to work on.

May 26, 2014 at 06:30 PM

billsamuels
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Four different views of Monument Valley in the morning, which is best???

JimFox wrote:
In shots like these as you move forward, your first shot should always be to expose for the highlights. Then bracket your exposures 1 stop at a time until the shadow area's are then exposed properly. A scene like this might take 5 or 7 exposures. If you don't have Photoshop, or don't want the expense of it, I would suggest picking up Photoshop Elements which allows layer masking and blending. For $80 at Costco, it's a great starting point. I know lot's of people in here now use Lightroom, but myself I have never liked the restrictions or limitations...Show more →

Hey Jim,

Funny enough, I bought Adobe Photoshop Elements 11(?) shortly before I bought Lightroom and was frustrated by the limitations of Elements compared to LR, so although I thought it was a waste of money,, I bought LR too. So am I correct in assuming that I have some of the features of PHotoshop AND LIghtroom (5) brought together without spending $600+ on Photoshop?

Also, if I went back to Monument Valley tomorrow or came across another scene like it where either the lower section of the scene is dark, or perhaps where I want to make the lower section of the scene with a very wide lens (14mm) both exposed well AND sharp along with the rear portion of the scene far far away, it sounds like I can use Elements and Lightroom to help me do both? What specific would I have to do out with the camera, followed by using both Elements and LR? What function of ELM would I be using?

Thanks again for your knowledge!
Bill

Jun 01, 2014 at 07:09 PM


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