6-Mile Bend (NOT Horseshoe Bend) drenched in glorious morning light. This is another gooseneck in the SW rarely visited, and especially from this position about 500 feet down, looking across to the other side 1200 feet tall. It may be my favorite place on earth to stand. I was extremely road weary spending 620 days on the road shooting and leading workshops (living out of my vehicle on purpose) over 2 years and one of my best friends and his wife drove all the way from Oregon to the southwest to visit and photograph with me. This was one of our first mornings!
Sony A7RII
Canon 11-24@11mm
f/11
100 ISO
0.3 shutter
Single shot (NOT a composite)
Technicals for the Techie minded (or inquisitive BELOW THE IMAGE AS THE FIRST POST)
Even living out here in the SW, this spot on this very special gooseneck (6 mile bend) took me some years (and a hand full of failed attempts) to get to. The first time I made it I rock climbed down stuff I would never advise. Actually, a radical FM member came and joined me (private tour) and he was a rock climber with a screw loose, so we did it together! It was not easy! The next time I did it myself but found a very easy way to get people in and out of here I had not previously seen. Now I go several times a year.
There is nothing like being down 500 feet looking across up at that monster mountain about 1200 feet tall in glowing pink or red or orange! You all know that light... When everything including your own body is glowing in red, orange or pink hues! So surreal!!! I also love it when water and desert meet in morning or evening color. These oases feel so sacred to me.
Raw Smart Objects: As some of you know I have been preaching RAW Smart Objects for some time now. This is the future now in post processing. This image was processed almost to completion in 32-bit Raw as a Raw Smart Object in Photoshop. Basically, I use Lightroom or Camera Raw to get the image as best as possible starting with my own custom default settings (Presets). No tool is untouched in the Raw converter. Once I know I can not improve the image it gets imported into Photoshop as a RAW Smart Object. There I create a few layers and then mask various areas (Sky, Water, Land…). Then I continue with the really finessed fine tuning corrections that ONLY PHOTOSHOP can allow (color masking, “blend if”, color blend modes, masking, luminosity masks and more…). With RAW Smart Objects (not all Smart Objects are Raw BTW) all this fine tuning is still lossless! The quality difference in enlargements is substantial. Improved tonality. Beter color variation. Much less artifacts...
I have a few FREEBIES about this stuff on Youtube if you go there and search my name (my page) or you join my mailing list on my website...
Not much else to say about this one except to be very careful and do not slip! I’ll be here with others in August and September (the peak of Monsoon season - and around two New Moons - with lightning and mega crazylight) this year and I can not wait! Like I said, shooting this spot is astonishing. This Canon 11-24@11mm (not cropped) does not do it justice at all. Several FM Landscape Forum members have been here with me and hopefully they can tell you themselves...
Lastly, I am leaving for the Pacific Northwest in about a day. I may not be able to reply much the next 3 or so weeks. I hope everyone is getting out and shooting!
All the best to you and yours and Great Light to you!
JohnBrew wrote:
Hi Mark, like the image very much. Feel that the shadows are a bit occluded. One more curve adj?
Or perhaps a bit more light on the water?
Just finished your sharpening tutorial and was able to incorporate some of your info into my workflow. Thanks.
Thank you John. And thank you for the feedback.
I have three main monitors I use, one is the Mac Thunderbolt 27 inch calibrated (iOne Display Pro) to 2.2 Gamma, 6500 White Point and 125 CD (brightness) which, in a mellow lit room, is pretty much an industry standard. Then I have my MacBook Pro running it, and that monitor I do not calibrate the colors (on purpose - because most viewers do not calibrate their monitors) but I do calibrate it for CD or Brightness only, and it is about the same, slightly brighter (130CD) and then I have a wide gamut PC monitor calibrated to the same web specs.
I am not sure about how to take the feedback here because although there are a few small areas in the water just starting to reach black, to my eye when I shot it, there was more. On all monitors, at least tonight as I look at them (maybe I'll feel quite differently tomorrow) it looks very much as I witnessed the scene but slightly better in tonal control (a little less clipping and more dynamic range). The scene had quite a lot of dark below due to the depth of the canyon.
So I just wonder if it is a monitor difference or a preferential difference.
But having said that, Thank You for the feedback and adjustment made!
Awesome about the my Video Tutorial helping you! Thank you for that feedback. I love it when I can help people.
Im curious what Video Tutorial are you referring to? The Web Sharpening Tutorial or the Fine Art Printing one?
shane2mc wrote:
What a great shot! Worth all the effort for sure. How long is the hike in?
Thank you very much!
Well, I have gone many different routes and they all vary. But the easiest one where I take clients in is a couple of miles both ways.
KCollett wrote:
Another excellent image. Thank you.
Very cool! Think the water issue is that either you used a cpl and it took out the reflection on the U part of the water or for whatever reason the sky reflecting in the U is just darker than the rest. Could still dodge it either way but overall badass shot. Way to get it, (as usual)
aFeinberg wrote:
Very cool! Think the water issue is that either you used a cpl and it took out the reflection on the U part of the water or for whatever reason the sky reflecting in the U is just darker than the rest. Could still dodge it either way but overall badass shot. Way to get it, (as usual)
aF
Thank you Aaron. No CPL. It was just dark down there. I'll try a slightly more HDRish version soon since I know photographers generally don't like darker images as much as bright and cheery.. Thank you for the feedback! All the best to you.
