REPOST - Reflections

Gallery: LandscapePosted February 15, 2011184 views12 comments

Hi Everyone! I took all of your suggestions about this image and my dad and I did a bunch of work re-processing it.

This was taken on my birthday, my first day with my new (first) DSLR. To be honest, on my first post of this we had only taken the jpg and brightened it a bit because the shadows were too dark...and did it on our laptop which is apparently way off! We almost always work from the RAW files but I just quickly posted that jpg without realizing how much more potential the image had.

Nikon D70s
AF-S Nikkor 18-70 f/3.5-4.5G LD DX @ 27mm
ISO 400
1/400 @ f/5.6

NEW Post Processing:
3 varitations in ACR altering mainly exposure, recovery & curves and opened as Smart Objects in PS CS5
Used layer masks to blend these three together
Selective burning and dodging

I hope you like this version a lot better! Thank you so much for helping me improve it and realize the potential! You can see the original version here: http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/ic.cgi?a=vp&pr=166723&CGISESSID=1bcbea847d09045ffd0ecc34fd8f7c58&u=23946

Comments

12 comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on February 15, 2011 at 12:40 PM

Excellent PP work, Jenaya, and a stellar image! There are a number of ways you can approach this, but this was a good path to follow.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Jorne de Bruin on February 15, 2011 at 12:59 PM

Lovely reflection and some very nice details on the mountain, seems like the PP paid off!

Registered on June 26, 2008, 178 Posts, 2136 Comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on February 15, 2011 at 1:32 PM

100% better!

Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments

Comment posted by Benjamin Olson on February 15, 2011 at 1:54 PM

Excellent! Much Better!

Registered on April 7, 2007, 169 Posts, 725 Comments

Comment posted by Andreas Resch on February 15, 2011 at 2:18 PM

For me definitely better than the previous version. If it were for me you could even darken down the shot a little more below the sun line. There still is that little area of blown out highlight in the sky which you you clone over from somewhere else at low opacity - just to put a hint of texture in there.

Registered on November 14, 2007, 322 Posts, 6101 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on February 15, 2011 at 2:22 PM

Been away some and don't remember seeing the first post, but this looks good. The could textures are really nice as is the mountains reflection in the water.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 364 Posts, 22328 Comments

Comment posted by Raymond D Smith on February 15, 2011 at 5:18 PM

The repost is much improved Jenaya. I would agree with Andreas about the one hot spot in the cloud though. Lovely. Cheers

Registered on January 22, 2009, 12 Posts, 479 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Overacker on February 15, 2011 at 5:24 PM

Jenaya,

Fantastic job on the re-working of this image. A tremendous improvement for sure. Congrats on a great job!

Now this is getting a little bit picky-er but I don't recall this being mentioned. This appears to me to have a slight rotation ccw, a tilted shoreline. I understand that the land on the left is closer than the far shoreline on the right and perhaps technically level because how we view receeding shorelines, etc. But if you look at the shoreline starting dead center, the furthest away and view the shoreline going towards the right (ignoring the left shoreline,) it still is slightly tilted. About .5 deg actually. A very minor point, but something to consider if you do plan on entering contests or submit other places besides here.

Lon

Registered on November 24, 2006, 521 Posts, 19147 Comments

Comment posted by Phil Pogledich on February 16, 2011 at 12:37 PM

I went back and compared this to your earlier post . . . very nice improvement! It feels very natural and beautiful, and the clouds gracing the mountain are wonderful.

Registered on August 24, 2009, 123 Posts, 3099 Comments

Comment posted by Jenaya Launstein on February 16, 2011 at 1:42 PM

Thanks to everyone for the comments...I'm glad you think this is a big improvement! We did think about Andreas' suggestion on cloning some cloud texture in the brightest cloud, but I want to enter this into a competition that doesn't allow for that. Also, although it is very bright, ACR only showed minimal clipping in the brightest snow on the mountain and none in the clouds. Still, I might clone some in just to try for a non-contest version!

Thank you again!

Registered on February 8, 2011, 254 Posts, 1302 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on February 16, 2011 at 6:20 PM

There you go!

Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments

Comment posted by Zack Clothier on February 18, 2011 at 2:12 AM

Vast improvement over your last post. I agree with Lon, the horizon is definitely tilted, easy enough to correct though.

Registered on January 28, 2010, 343 Posts, 2257 Comments