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Archive 2018 · Wildflowers In Central Virginia

girvincn
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Wildflowers In Central Virginia

Last night as I was driving around, I could tell the sunset was going to be a real burner. It didn't develop quite how I expected, but the last light before the sun dipped below the mountains blasted through and lit up the clouds a vibrant red for just a few quick seconds. Fortunately I already had my camera in position, though I'm not 100% happy with the composition.

I'm open to criticism, especially on the processing. I keep going back and forth as to whether it's slightly overcooked or not. Are the blacks too dark? Are the flowers too warm?

Shot with a 1DX and 17-40 at 19mm, ISO 100, and f/11. Focus stacked and exposure blended with three separate frames taken for focus at each of three different shutter speeds (1/8, 1/4, and 1/2) for a total of nine frames blended together.

https://cassgirvin.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/saint-annes-belfield-school-charlottesville-virginia-sunset-wildflower-ivy.jpg

Jun 18, 2018 at 12:36 PM

douter
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Wildflowers In Central Virginia

Love the composition, but personally, I would pull back on the saturation here, particularly in the foreground.
Douglas

Jun 18, 2018 at 01:09 PM

girvincn
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Wildflowers In Central Virginia

douter wrote:
Love the composition, but personally, I would pull back on the saturation here, particularly in the foreground.
Douglas

Thank you - I think you're probably right. Of course, it depends on what screen I view it. On my phone it looks great, on my laptop it looks debatable, and on my full screen monitor it looks terrible. Ahh, the joys of the (in)compatibility of modern technology.

Jun 18, 2018 at 01:25 PM

twoflower
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Wildflowers In Central Virginia

Wow, girvincn.
Blending nine frames for focus AND exposure mustve been one hell of a task.
You've aced the composition, I won't change a thing about it. I agree with Douglas on the saturation bit, except that I think that you might want to pull back the saturation in the sky instead.

Jun 19, 2018 at 04:29 AM

girvincn
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Wildflowers In Central Virginia

twoflower wrote:
Wow, girvincn.
Blending nine frames for focus AND exposure mustve been one hell of a task.
You've aced the composition, I won't change a thing about it. I agree with Douglas on the saturation bit, except that I think that you might want to pull back the saturation in the sky instead.

Hah! So what I'm hearing is basically just to dial back the saturation a bit. Thanks! I think that's what I needed to hear! Somehow I've always had a really hard time critiquing my own images. I appreciate the advice!

Jun 22, 2018 at 10:30 AM

geekcop
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Wildflowers In Central Virginia

My eye goes right to the overly bright sky and skips the beautiful foreground. Otherwise I like the image.

Jun 27, 2018 at 05:47 PM

lostinjapan
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Wildflowers In Central Virginia

Very nicely done, but as geek cop said that one bright patch on sky distract/detracts from the rest of the image. Otherwise that much focus stacking had to be difficult, well done!

Ryan

Jun 27, 2018 at 10:09 PM

lostinjapan
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Wildflowers In Central Virginia

Sorry duplicate posting.

Ryan

Jun 27, 2018 at 10:09 PM

Mark Metternich
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Wildflowers In Central Virginia

Awesome shot!!! So good, like others have suggested, I think it totally worth the work of a few small tweaks to master its presentation.

I hope you do not mind, but just as a quick test (since I do this for a full time living) I ran a test by duplicating a screen shot of the the image in PS, putting the Layer Blend Mode to "Color" so that brightness values can not change, only color.

I then dropped the Basic Hue/Saturation Master (all the colors) by 10pts, and then also the specific blues in the sky another 30pts.

Colors looked great with the reduction.

Then I flattened it and went to the Camera Raw Filter (on another duplicated layer but in "Normal" Layer Blend Mode) and pulled down the "Highlights" slider to the left all the way and then went to the "Split Toning" there and concentrated a little colorization in the highlights of the washed out areas of the sky to a little more organic orange/pink one might expect there. After hitting ok, I simply erased it with a soft brush into the localized sky area (mask/painting). It took maybe 2 minutes maximum. All of which could easily be done to the Raw file as well.

Next I deleted the image and wanted to give some helpful more specific feedback here.

I hope it helps.

Jun 28, 2018 at 09:36 AM

girvincn
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Wildflowers In Central Virginia

geekcop wrote:
My eye goes right to the overly bright sky and skips the beautiful foreground. Otherwise I like the image.

Thanks for the constructive criticism! Now that I'm a few days removed from the emotional experience of shooting and editing a photo within a few hours, I look at the photo and can see you're absolutely right. The sky is certainly too bright!

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lostinjapan wrote:
Very nicely done, but as geek cop said that one bright patch on sky distract/detracts from the rest of the image. Otherwise that much focus stacking had to be difficult, well done!

Ryan

Thank you for your kind words. I'll certainly agree the sky is too bright.

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Mark Metternich wrote:
Awesome shot!!! So good, like others have suggested, I think it totally worth the work of a few small tweaks to master its presentation.

I hope you do not mind, but just as a quick test (since I do this for a full time living) I ran a test by duplicating a screen shot of the the image in PS, putting the Layer Blend Mode to "Color" so that brightness values can not change, only color.

I then dropped the Basic Hue/Saturation Master (all the colors) by 10pts, and then also the specific blues in the sky another 30pts....Show more →

Thank you, Mark! I really appreciate your input. It means a lot having an expert like yourself offer advice to weekend warriors like the rest of us. I'll continue playing with the image!

Jun 29, 2018 at 06:49 AM

Mark Metternich
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Wildflowers In Central Virginia

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Thank you, Mark! I really appreciate your input. It means a lot having an expert like yourself offer advice to weekend warriors like the rest of us. I'll continue playing with the image!

Let me know if any of that does not make sense.

I could make you a 5 minute free video of it. PM me if need be...

Mark

Jun 29, 2018 at 08:04 PM

girvincn
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Wildflowers In Central Virginia

Let me know if any of that does not make sense.

I could make you a 5 minute free video of it. PM me if need be...

Mark

Thank you for the offer! I don't want to encroach upon your generosity, but it's a really kind offer; the details you listed above already gave me a plethora of tips on how to approach this image. Maybe I'll reach out in the future if I'm totally stuck on an image!

Thanks!
Cass

Jul 02, 2018 at 06:49 AM


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