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| Group |
Round |
C/R |
Comment |
Date |
Image |
| 73 |
Apr 26 |
Reply |
Dave, that was an area where I puzzled over and went with darker for better isolation of the hoodoo. I can try both ways. Thanks, Ray |
Apr 19th |
| 73 |
Apr 26 |
Reply |
Dave, that was an area where I puzzled over and went with darker for better isolation of the hoodoo. I can try both ways. Thanks, Ray |
Apr 19th |
| 73 |
Apr 26 |
Reply |
Thanks Larry I appreciate your comments. Ray |
Apr 18th |
| 73 |
Apr 26 |
Reply |
Sherry - I think its because I have been doing a little IR photography - just started - and have been interested in working in momochrome to see what I can get and for this image, I liked the various textures and was interested in receiving comments from the group. I did not think of including the original at the time but here it is - not quite as red as those in Bryce - and the ones in New Mexico were slightly yellowish at best so it all depends on what the soft ground under the hard capstones is composed of. Thanks, Ray |
Apr 18th |
 |
| 73 |
Apr 26 |
Comment |
Dave, I like that you took the photo low as looking up gives the Joshua tree a strong presence against the blue sky. The texture on the bark and the spiky yucca clusters is great, with the warm backlight separating the details nicely and giving the branches a golden glow. While I like the sun with a partial sunburst where it is placed, I wonder if using a higher F-stop like F/11 to f/16 would have resulted in a noticeable stronger, crisper rays while keeping the bark and foliage texture sharp (I appreciate its too late for this). The slight lens flare streak (that purple/blue artifact on the lower trunk just below the last main branch going to the left) likely should be eliminated. The base of the tree is dark- a touch of shadow recovery in post could open that up. The hills along the bottom edge are just barely visible, and I am really not sure whether I would like more or less but I think you can't do either - cropping higher would leave that branch on the lower right unattached and it helps balance the tree. There is a right directed branch with a split into 2 smaller branches that pulls my eye away from the tree as I wonder where they end - the ones on the left, doesn't bother me as much. Just some thoughts on an other worldly tree and place. Also, locally in North Carolina, this Spring was one of the worst for wildflowers in many years as we have received very little rain and are in drought situation already. Ray |
Apr 12th |
| 73 |
Apr 26 |
Comment |
Larry - I could not resist asking Claude and here is what I received - just in case it might be of use and I learned something as well. Ray
The most efficient fix depends on where in the workflow you are:
If editing in Lightroom / Camera Raw
This is the fastest fix - Masking slider in the Sharpening panel:
Hold Alt/Option while dragging the Masking slider
The screen turns black-and-white - white areas get sharpened, black areas don't
Drag until the sky goes black (unsharpened), keeping only true edges white
This prevents the halo from forming in the first place
Also check Detail ? Sharpening ? Radius - lower it to 0.5-0.8 to tighten the effect.
If the halo already exists in the image
The most targeted fix is in Photoshop:
Duplicate the layer
Go to Filter ? Other ? High Pass (set low, ~1-2px)
Or more directly: select the sky with Select ? Sky (modern PS does this automatically)
Slightly expand the selection to include the halo
Use Edit ? Content Aware Fill or a gentle Curves/Levels adjustment to bring that bright line down
Fastest single-step method (Photoshop/PS)
Filter ? Camera Raw Filter ? Detail tab - reduce sharpening and use the Masking slider there, non-destructively
In Capture One
Use the Halo Suppression slider (it literally exists for this purpose) under the Sharpening tab - unique to C1 and very effective
Prevention (best long-term fix)
Shoot RAW so you control sharpening yourself - never rely on in-camera JPEG sharpening
Keep Lightroom's default sharpening Amount below 40 for landscapes
Use luminosity masks to apply sharpening only to the foreground, never the sky
The single most efficient method overall is the Lightroom Masking slider - it takes about 5 seconds and stops the halo from ever being baked in. |
Apr 8th |
| 73 |
Apr 26 |
Comment |
Gary, Butch is spot on - my eyes keep switching back between the lighthouse and the pier, both of which I find interesting. So, I have bene sitting at my desktop looking at this image and wondering where could I move to (left or right) that would remove the "contradiction" while keeping both objects in the image but not knowing the shape of the shore line makes it impossible for me to figure that out. Yet, if you move to the left, is there a place where you can have the lighthouse and pier appear as a triangle. Just speculating with no knowledge whatsoever and we all know whatthat leads to - nothing. I do like the colors a lot. Ray
|
Apr 8th |
| 73 |
Apr 26 |
Comment |
Larry - super photo of Haystack and while the sky might not have been as colorful as you might want I think it adds to the mood of the image. I agree with Butch about cropping a little off the left to move Haystack to slightly off center. To me, the HDR version works well. One thing to pay attention to is the thin white line between Haystack and the sky, most noticeable on the right side - think it is called an edge halo, caused maybe by over sharpening. The one in your photo is not very obvious. The only way I know to get rid of it is to use clone stamp in Photoshop, a tedious effort but maybe someone else has a better idea. As an aside, I was on vacation along the Oregon Coast 2 years ago, including at Cannon Beach and except for one morning, never saw a cloud and I was sad. Ray |
Apr 8th |
| 73 |
Apr 26 |
Comment |
Ian - I enjoy looking at your image and for me the dead trees are a plus, you did good in going from the original to this version - just enough water and tree shadows to make it interesting. Might be useful to knock down the intensity of two white objects some more or clone them out as distracting since I want to know what they are. Ray |
Apr 8th |
| 73 |
Apr 26 |
Comment |
Butch, a masterful image with those superb clouds, a lightning bolt, and heavy area of rain. I do wish we could see more ground as part of the rain is really close to the edge as are the mts in that area. I also wonder of cropping some of the right or the left (maybe the left preferentially to keep the colors on the right) in order to move the storm cell off the center might make the image more dramatic - just a thought. Ray |
Apr 8th |
| 73 |
Apr 26 |
Comment |
Sherry - a gorgeous sky added to by the shapes of the trees. I also think having some sand but not as much as you have in the foreground also helps to help the viewer to understand where the photo was taken. I have been told that Florida has spectacular sunsets and here is a great example. Ray |
Apr 8th |
| 73 |
Apr 26 |
Reply |
Ian, thanks for your comments - it helps me think about this image taking into account Butch's comments as well. By the way, a hoodoo is a tall, thin spire of rock (although some are short and stout), often called a tent rock, fairy chimney, or earth pyramid, formed by erosion in arid environments. They consist of soft sedimentary rock capped by a harder, erosion-resistant stone. They are common in certain area in the western part of the US with the most numerous being in Bryce Canyon Natl Park. |
Apr 8th |
| 73 |
Apr 26 |
Reply |
Thanks Butch, I always appreciate your thoughtful comments and will of course take them into consideration when work on this image again. Ray |
Apr 8th |
7 comments - 6 replies for Group 73
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7 comments - 6 replies Total
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