Chandratal Refection + 2 Repost

Hi, Krunal. I think this is one of those situations where you could get away with shooting in harsh light conditions. To me, it is a beautiful image. The only nit I would have is that the clouds in the sky are a little bit too bright and dont show enough detail. The clouds in the reflection are fine though. A 2-stop ND grad (soft) or a blend of 2 exposures might have helped the cloud situation. But since that's probably not an option at this point, another thing that can help is to make a separate copy of the RAW image (that is if you shoot RAW), lower the exposure and increase the highlight recovery until it looks natural then use this version as the as another layer and make a gradual blend using the darkened version as the sky and this version from the middle of the image and below.
I hope that makes sense... Im usually not very good at explaining these things, but I have saved a few of my images using this technique.

It is a great image!

Krunal: I went to this place a looong time back - may be in 1993-94 and it's still fresh in my memory as it was such a magical place. I am not bothered abt harsh light here, but the exposure could have been improved as the bright parts of the clouds are completely blown out. Also it does look soft - may be you can sharpen it better

Beautiful reflection shot, Krunal! I dont have anything to add to the previous critiques, my only real nit here is the blown out cloud highlites, this definitely could use some exposure control. Thanks for sharing!

Hi Krunal,

A beautiful image. So glad you mentioned the winds because as I looked at the image, the ripples on the surface of the water were driving the mind bonkers.

Rick's suggestions are spot on.

Good luck making some minor mods; I think you'll end up with a real winner.

Carol

It's really a very appealing scene even though it was taken in strong midday light, and would probably make a nice B&W as well. That said, I also have to agree with the others about the lack of detail in the clouds and their suggestions for attempting to address that. Looks like a fabulous location.

I agree with the above thoughts. Super location, and the 50:50 works perfect here.

Krunal,

This is a terrific "reflectionscape." The split comp works nicely because of the symmetry involved and you've got such great clouds to work with. I like the little bit of ripples in the lake so you shouldn't be too disappointed that the wind started to kick up again.

My only nit is echoing the other comments about the brightness and lack of detail in the upper clouds. Hopefully this can be recovered. If anything, even if you simply selectively burned down the upper half a little, that would really help.

Lon

thx for comments & suggestions
i've tried to totally rework this image from raw & made a manual blend & also tried to burn the highlights in clouds
it looks a bit less on the contrast & dont know how u guys think bout it

P.S. @ arnab
well this was taken from a kit lens & lacked the tack sharpness of the L series lenses i use now

Krunal,

Thanks for taking the time to re-work and post the image.

Looks to me like you've been able to address the highlights in the clouds very nicely. Big improvement. But I would say also that the image looks brighter overall. I think toning down the brightness to match what you had in the reflection of the original post and you should be able to nail it. But again, the clouds are much improved here.

Lon

Here i think this is better
thx Lon

Yep, I'd say third time is the charm. Much improved!

A happy kind of shot. The only improvement would be to correct the clouds and you will have an excellent landscape photo.