p.1 #1 · Larch Valley - Larch are Out - HDR or Not at End
Yesterday I walked up to Larch Valley - 2.6km up from Moraine Lake.
It was 24c and unbelievably busy. Even at 7:30 in the morning there must have been 50 or so people on the trail. At at the end of the day there must have been 1000.
Here are my pictures.
Comments and suggestions would be appreciated.
Sigma 10-20 with Cokin Ngrad, cp, f16, mostly on the 12mm end, tripod, mirror lockup, remote shutter, hdr'd with plus minus 1 stop
p.1 #2 · Larch Valley - Larch are Out - HDR or Not at End
I think you have captured some great views and nice light. Watch out for the sharpening. It may just be my monitor, but I feel there is a bit of oversharpening throughout the series.
p.1 #3 · Larch Valley - Larch are Out - HDR or Not at End
Thanks myweh - I was trying out the suggestion I saw for sharpening posted in fm landscape last week - http://pacificnw.naturephotographers.net/tips/photoshop.htm. I resized to 1300 sharpend 2x and then resized to 800. But iphoto applied some sharpening first before I started. Maybe that was my mistake.
p.1 #4 · Larch Valley - Larch are Out - HDR or Not at End
Lovely, I really love the larch tree. I'm planning on shooting the larches in the north cascades in a couple weeks.
WRT the sharpening technique, I use the same, but I would do size to 1600, sharpen twice, fade the second sharpen about 50%, then size to 800. It's really slick once you set up an action to do it.
p.1 #5 · Larch Valley - Larch are Out - HDR or Not at End
Hello Scott,
Beautiful images. I really like the wider look of the second one, but find it slightly dark. Glad to see some previews of the Fall colors. I'll be on the Blue Ridge in a couple of weeks. Thanks for sharing these.
p.1 #6 · Larch Valley - Larch are Out - HDR or Not at End
Awesome shots ! I think the 1st is my favorite of the bunch - too bad the stream is dry in #3 - that would be really awesome to have that combo.
You definitely do NOT want any sharpening other than the sharpen steps - otherwise, sharpen is sharpening an image that already has some sharping applied and you end up with jaggy sharp instead of smooth sharp. That is still by far the best resizing for web procedure and costs no money with the most detail.....
Hope you can go back for a sunrise or sunset and maybe focus on some shots that don't include the trails...
p.1 #7 · Larch Valley - Larch are Out - HDR or Not at End
Hi Scott,
Scenes like these do not require a lot of sharpening. I use the same technique as you know. Take John's advise and resize to 1600 and then apply the "sharpen" tool just a single time. Be sure to create a duplicate layer just prior to sharpening so that you can adjust the opacity later on. Next resize again to 800 and apply the USM feature....I use a 20.....(amount)50...(threshold)....0(radius). When you've completed this you adjust the opacity control on each layer to your taste. I usually on average end up using 84% opacity for web images.
p.1 #8 · Larch Valley - Larch are Out - HDR or Not at End
Al B wrote:
Hi Scott,
Scenes like these do not require a lot of sharpening. I use the same technique as you know. Take John's advise and resize to 1600 and then apply the "sharpen" tool just a single time. Be sure to create a duplicate layer just prior to sharpening so that you can adjust the opacity later on. Next resize again to 800 and apply the USM feature....I use a 20.....(amount)50...(threshold)....0(radius). When you've completed this you adjust the opacity control on each layer to your taste. I usually on average end up using 84% opacity for web images.
p.1 #10 · Larch Valley - Larch are Out - HDR or Not at End
Beautiful scenes, Scott 1 and 3 are my favs. I find the plank in 2 just a bit too much; pulls my eye along it when I really want to be drawn more directly to the distant mountains. But this is a minor and maybe idiosyncratic response.
They are too sharp.
First may be just a tad too HDR'ish in the foreground. Seems a bit light.
Re-work of the second is too washed out. I prefer the original.
Scott G
p.1 #11 · Larch Valley - Larch are Out - HDR or Not at End
I think these scenes are very nice, but the processing didn't do them justice. Firstly, the sharpening seems overly aggressive. Second, they all lack shadows - they look like you had gone wild either with HDR processing or with the "Shadows/Highlights" feature of PS.
Again, I think they are great, and if you process them a little bit more conservatively they would really shine.
p.1 #12 · Larch Valley - Larch are Out - HDR or Not at End
Thanks Sharon, Scott and Stanj - I appreciate the feedback - Scott
Stanj - they are all HDR'd - they do have shadows but I guess not deep enough. Thanks for the feedback. I will turn down the HDR. The sharpening was an experiment - I was working on a method proposed here. But I took it too far. I appreciate the input.
Scott - I am seeking the right balance on HDR but have not found it yet. And I have yet to find it. Thanks for the input.
p.1 #13 · Larch Valley - Larch are Out - HDR or Not at End
Lovely scenes, Scott, but I agree the HDR, with the exception of the 4th, has taken the contrasts too flat.
Lost shadows is a common malady with HDR. When using the plug-in, I dupe the bg layer first, then I can fade the opacity, and if needed, add a curves layer/mask to adjust the shadows.
Regardless, these are quite nice.
p.1 #15 · Larch Valley - Larch are Out - HDR or Not at End
The sky in #1 is a bit gray on the right and blue on the left. That's a distraction. The comps. in #2-4 are very nice. I like #4 the best. Great dramatic comp., shows off the scenery well.
p.1 #18 · Larch Valley - Larch are Out - HDR or Not at End
Thanks Vern - you will likely have a bit of frost on the ground which will improve the shots. I think I am going to try highwood pass and/or wedge for this weekend.
p.1 #19 · Larch Valley - Larch are Out - HDR or Not at End
i can't for the life of me understand why so many use hdr when it's absolutely positively not necessary!! none of these images have the kind of extreme dynamic range that would require the radical surgery of hdr properly applied. when you use it with dynamic ranges achievable with a single exposure, you get the aforementioned overexposed shadow areas and the glaring "hdr used here" characteristics that are so unnatural.
as for sharpening, many techniques mentioned here but if you're using lightroom, they have a really wonderful one-step output sharpening for web images that's pretty bulletproof. watch for oversharpening, especially with foreground images with such a high amount of detail. masking a sharpening layer, to create selective sharpening, is almost manditory with such radically different subject elements within a single image.
using different sharpening amounts, radiuses, etc, creatively and selectively localized, is the foundation of bruce frazier's three pass sharpening methodology--capture, creative, output--that is a pretty consensus-accepted industry standard these days pioneered by pixel genius and photokit sharpener software (best $99 cs plug-in you'll ever buy!). in fact, the capture and output sharpening adopted by lightroom is a direct result of input from the pixel genius gurus who also consult for adobe.
finally, i see that you're shooting a reduced sensor 20D and using ultra-wide focal lengths like 10mm and 16mm. great comps but be aware that even the slightest downward tipping of the lens/sensor plane will create divergence in the top of the frame. this is particularly evident in #2 & 3 where the middle ground trees just scream for perspective control. it can be achieved in ps, better still with a tilt/shift lens in the field, but knowing the problem and its source will allow you to keep a more parallel plane to prevent the trees from tilting with standard lenses.
these are some great captures and you have a fine sense of the landscape. i offer these fairly direct but hopefully positive suggestions to help you to bring them to their fullest fruition.
p.1 #20 · Larch Valley - Larch are Out - HDR or Not at End
D. von Briesen - I appreciate the input - all very useful to me.
I really like the affect of the hdr but know what its doing to the shadows. I shall take another run at the pictures. I am going to rework the best one tomorrow - single vs triple image and combined hdr/single and see if I see what you see.
Thanks for the sharpening advice - at this point I would rather save my money for a 5d then buy lightroom or some other software that will go obsolete. I am trying to learn within my budget but I appreciate your advice on sharpening.
The tips on keeping the lens perpendicular to the horizon is a good one that I don't need money to try and I appreciate it.I shall try it going forward.
Thanks for the constructive feedback - it is greatly appreciated - Scott
