This road goes from one end of Cumberland Island, on the Georgia coast, to the other. By comparison to similar distances in the Pacific Northwest, I'd make it about, oh, say 600 yards... or so.
Nice one, Cal!!
Really neat arching tree tunnel! It does have the feel of the deep South. Love the dappled light, especially on the palmettos. Beautiful scene. Nice to see ya!
That's quite nice of a 600 yard road... I like the shot with the arching tree's like Barry said. I would tone down the road a little bit more, it seems a bit too bright.
I was actually considering "Tunnel to Nowhere" as a title, but the I realized that the distance was, to my astonishment, precisely 600 yards. I liked that dappled light, too, but it was harsh at this midday shot. Ferry schedules to the island made overnighting a requirement for getting in any shooting during the golden hours. I had to do some burning to tame a few really bright spots.
Thanks for looking and commenting.
I'm eyeballing some barns around here, by the way.
Cal
Hi, Jim. I thought the road was too bright and ad you must have already determined I did tone it down some. I used a layer mask and brightness contrast adjustment. I am just beginning to learn PS and the tchnique I used seemed to make things look unnatural before I could get it darkened to the level I wanted, so I left it part way there. Maybe I would have been better to burn, as I did on a few eyecatching bright spots in the foliage cover.
Thanks for commenting and any suggestions are much appreciated.
Cal
Actually, recent discoveries in the area of relativistic physics have highlighted this little known phenomenon. First discovered in the Pacific northwest rainforest areas, Hoh and Quinault, this rather strange distortion of distances traveled and distances remaining is, as yet, unexplained. Empirical observations made near the right coast of North America would seem to indicate occurences are likely ina areas at or near seacoasts. Investigations at mid-continent locations are planned in the near future.
I hope to make it back to Cumberland Island and to overnight so as to catch a gentler light.
Indeed, BubbaMac, earliest measurements did indicate the distance to be a third of a mile, however, more recent laser interferometer measurements have determined it to be 600.00000000 yards. Odd.
Thanks for looking, bud. Cal
calk wrote:
Actually, recent discoveries in the area of relativistic physics have highlighted this little known phenomenon. First discovered in the Pacific northwest rainforest areas, Hoh and Quinault, this rather strange distortion of distances traveled and distances remaining is, as yet, unexplained. Empirical observations made near the right coast of North America would seem to indicate occurences are likely ina areas at or near seacoasts. Investigations at mid-continent locations are planned in the near future.
Hi, Hugh. Yes, I found it to be more inviting than I expected, even thought it was very hot and bright during the time we were there. Cumberland is a spot I would like to revisit with a plan, rather than none... and perhaps, my lucky hat for good measure! Cal
Here is a list of some pretty simple adjustments. They may not all be perfect, because I was just working with your jpg file, but here they are in increasing complexity....
#1 The Highlight and Shadow control in CS3 is very improved, so one thing I didn't like in addition to the brightness of the path, was the solid darkness, especially on the tree trunk on the left. So simple 20% reduction in shadows and 30% reduction in highlights. I also did a saturation increase of 15% in the blue and cyan color only for the sky. I don't totally like how the smaller leaves in the middle look now, but that could be masked layer. http://i.pbase.com/o4/62/745262/1/91923298.klZFZE7h.Calk_600yards_HS.jpg
#2 I used smaller Highlight and Shadow recovery in this one, I think 10 and 20%, and then used the midtone adjustment on 2 different layers. One for the shadows and one for the highlights. Then masked it so the pathway area, including the sides up to the bottom of the trees. With using the midtone adjustment, there is some color fall off, so I increased saturation 10%. http://i.pbase.com/o4/62/745262/1/91923336.5SSWsE6W.Calk_600yards_HS_Midtone.jpg
#4 Then I went for the B&W look, when I had first seen your shot, the idea of a B&W popped into my head too. Using the CS3 B&W control, I lightened the green's too and darkened the blues. The idea with the blues especially was to help them not be so bright as to have the eye drift up to them.There is a little bit of haloing around some leaves in the sky, but not much I could do with this jpg. http://i.pbase.com/o4/62/745262/1/91923362.dxmSmvgc.Calk_600yards_HS_Midtone_BW.jpg
#5 Then finally, I applied the crop I used before to the B&W now. I also wanted to brighten then triangle area of the tree's that is at the end of the pathway, to help draw the eye there. But instead of using the dodging and burning tools, which I don't like, because to me, they don't darken or brighten realistically, I simply duplicated this layer, using the level control, brighten the who layer, and then used a layer mask to let only that triangle area come through slightly. You want the effect to be noticable but subtle. This is actually my favorite I think. http://i.pbase.com/o4/62/745262/1/91923360.0I1Gh1C2.Calk_600yards_HS_Midtone_BW1.jpg
Some idea's for you... ofcourse it's your shot, and your vision, but hopefully this gave you some idea's for some simple ways to adjust the shot.
Thank you very much, Jim. What you've given me is exactly what I wanted when I emailed you. I will gnaw on these awhile later today or this evening and make some of these adjustments to the dng and maybe even start with the cr2. I am using CS2, but will upgrade once I get through with the basic training materials I have. I'm afraid mixing versions at this point in my learning will confuse me (... already more than a little befuddled by photoshop!).
I sincerely appreciate the effort you have made to help me improve.
There is something missing in y'all's old Southern-style 600 yards - it's flat, and doesn't ascend in lung-bursting and knee-knackering gardient, as do those of the PNDouble Yuh!
Looks a very nice walk through those lovely trees. The shadows on the road are very nice and you managed to keep the brightness of the sky nicely in check.
