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Archive 2014 · Glacier Point, Yosemite

enivelm
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Glacier Point, Yosemite

Hi folks,

I made my first trip to Yosemite in almost 20 years a couple of weeks ago, and came back with the following shots from a trail off of Glacier Point. Before you ask, one had a polarizer, one did not. I'll let you guess which is which

Would enjoy some C&C.

Thanks!

Edit: Sorry, making the images smaller so they're a bit easier to view.

Jun 21, 2014 at 04:45 PM

dgdg
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Glacier Point, Yosemite

Sweet light. Both very nice but I do like the landscape view more.

David

Jun 21, 2014 at 05:16 PM

CH3NO2
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Glacier Point, Yosemite

Great images.

Jun 21, 2014 at 05:21 PM

Daniel19101910
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Glacier Point, Yosemite

wow! first one looks like the one on the publicity for places... haha!

Jun 21, 2014 at 06:01 PM

tjny
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Glacier Point, Yosemite

Sweet light and superb clarity, love first image.

Jun 21, 2014 at 11:52 PM

txcanon
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Glacier Point, Yosemite

Wonderful images and what a beautiful view!

Jun 22, 2014 at 12:14 AM

JimFox
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Glacier Point, Yosemite

I am not sure why everyone is saying this is a great image when you have totally lost all depth to the valley and given the walls an odd grey look to them. By totally recovering the shadows as it is, you have lost depth to this shot and caused the walls to be an off grey/cyan color.

Both shots, but #1 in particular has the ability to be a great shot, but only if you get some dark shadows in there and get the color of the rocks to return to their natural color.

I would like to see this processed again a little more naturally. I think the potential is there for a pretty special shot, but despite all the "great shots" by others, for me it's not there yet.

Jim

Jun 22, 2014 at 01:23 AM

Ben Horne
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Glacier Point, Yosemite

I have to agree with Jim on this one. You have a lot of potential with this shot. I love the clouds and the foreground trees in the first shot, but your shadows deep in the canyon are so bright that they are actually brighter than the portion of half dome that is illuminated by the sun. At this time of day, I would expect the sunlit portion of half dome to be at least a stop brighter than the shadow areas. Don't be afraid of shadow tone, it is what gives images a sense of depth. This isn't to say that the foreground should be black -- but just that the shadows in the photo are at least darker than the sunlit portions.

Jun 22, 2014 at 01:30 AM

dgdg
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Glacier Point, Yosemite

I thought the overly bright granite seemed a bit unnatural and considered asking about this. Howeve, I have a less trained eye than others and won't comment unless I am more sure. I would be eager for an edit.

David

Jun 22, 2014 at 08:20 AM

Fred Miranda
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Glacier Point, Yosemite

Wonderful light. I really like the first image. With some post-processing adjustments, this would be a very strong image.
Fred

Jun 22, 2014 at 10:14 AM

enivelm
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Glacier Point, Yosemite

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

My biggest concern with the first shot, as many people pointed out, is that it kind of lost some of the depth, and therefore grandeur of the location. If there are ways to help bring that out with shadows, I'm all ears. Which brings me too...

Ben/Jim -- I'm a little confused by the comments about the shadows in the canyon being brighter than the top of half-dome. Also, since the entire valley was in shadows at this time, how do you choose what to selectively burn?

Again, thanks for all the comments. I'll post a re-processed version in a day or so.

Jun 22, 2014 at 10:32 AM

JimFox
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Glacier Point, Yosemite

In an area that is in shadow, there will still be area's that are darker than others, you have lost that in the shadow recovery process.

How did you process these?

If it was me, here would be my steps.

1. Do a Raw conversion to Tiff in ACR for the sky (adjusting the exposure/WB/ Contrast, etc)
2. Do a Raw conversion to a Tiff in ACR for the ground (Adjusting the exposure/WB/Contrast, etc)
3. In Photoshop I would take the Ground Conversion and pull the Sky Conversion on top of it. I would then duplicate the Ground Conversion Layer 3 times.
- Top Layer 5 = Sky
- Next Layer 4 = Half Dome and Sunlit portions
- Next Layer 3 = Foreground Tree Area
- Next Layer 2 = Valley Area
- Next Layer 1 = Original Ground layer kept for reference

A set up like that gives you flexibility as you process. From your current edit, the focus should be on getting the WB correct for the Valley area, keep more contrast in that valley area, and as Ben pointed out, don't let the Valley area be brighter than the lit portion of Half Dome.

Maybe too much information, but I hope that helps.

Jim

Jun 22, 2014 at 01:04 PM

Chuck Eklund
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Glacier Point, Yosemite

I also think the first image has potential and I hope you repost after some post processing. Jim's suggestions look very good.

Don't give up on the image.

Chuck

Jun 22, 2014 at 03:36 PM

ponz924
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Glacier Point, Yosemite

Nice capture....

Same shot - one landscape, one vertical?

Is this the critique Forum? I'm confused. I tried something like this and it sparked all kinds of controversy.

Ponz

Jun 22, 2014 at 09:33 PM

enivelm
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Glacier Point, Yosemite

Jim -- Thanks, I'll give that approach a try. The previous attempt was almost entirely global LR adjustments. I did a little local touch-ups in PS afterwards, but bringing out the shadows was done with the "shadows" slider set to, you guessed it, +100.

Ponz -- They are very similar shots. I took them separately, but from the same location. The vertical composure was not just a crop of the landscape. Once I found the tree-line ridge as a psuedo-foreground I was waiting it out until sunset.

Jun 23, 2014 at 12:28 AM

beddins
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Glacier Point, Yosemite

Would love to be there in person. Very good already. Please post any improvements.

Jun 23, 2014 at 07:51 AM

dgdg
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Glacier Point, Yosemite

Re edit:
I think #2 is pretty close for the granite. The unlit granite is less bright than the top of half dome. For #1 the shadowed lower half of half dome looks good, but other near parts of the valley, esp the left, are in full shadow but many patches are still relatively brighter.
I still love the sky color and composition of this image. Wish I was there with you!

David

Jun 23, 2014 at 08:35 AM


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