Coming together

Gallery: LandscapePosted November 17, 2011270 views9 comments

I shot this scene this past summer right before a really heavy storm hit the valley. I found this perfect grouping of barrel cacti that I now frequent to try new techniques with the wide angle lens. The first time I photographed this cacti was facing the opposite direction only to have my shadow cast over it. So instead I decided to shoot into the sun for this image. I actually like shooting into the sun because it is such a challenge and I'm a sucker for sunstars. Now I'm not a perfectionist shooting this way, I still have plenty to learn regarding how to expose for such scenes. This exposure was extremely difficult. I used stacked GND filters for the sky and still had overexposed areas. Needless to say the processing was a pain and I still don't think I got it to where I want it to be. The sky was really vibrant and I actually toned down the saturation. This looks different on a few monitors as well, but it does look best on a mac which I use to process my images. I also use a separate monitor side by side to see the differences between monitors (Both calibrated). I wanted this to be dark, so if it is dark it should be that way. Anyways, as always comments and critiques welcome.

Canon 7d
Canon 17-40mm @17mm
f/22
ISO100
1/4 sec
Stacked 3 and 2 stop GND filters
Tripod mounted

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Tonia Graves on November 17, 2011 at 9:18 PM

Peter, nice job with this! All of the cacti & spines are sharp and you captured a good sunset to top it off! Interesting combination of elements.

Registered on October 29, 2011, 92 Posts, 1035 Comments

Comment posted by Joseph Campisi on November 17, 2011 at 9:30 PM

Love that warm light Peter! The detail is wonderful as well, and I like the dark presentation here. Really enjoyed this series of images.

Registered on November 24, 2008, 304 Posts, 3211 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Coskun on November 17, 2011 at 9:48 PM

Thank you Tonia and Joe. I appreciate the feedback!

Registered on October 31, 2011, 170 Posts, 1240 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on November 17, 2011 at 9:57 PM

Dark works well here because you've got plenty of other light stuff. I don't want to get too technical, but the histogram on this is so left-shifted that you really did a good of not losing detail in the important areas. I'm really impressed with this.

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

Comment posted by Peter Coskun on November 17, 2011 at 10:04 PM

Thanks Tony, I spent an hour adjusting the RAW file and had to bring out a lot of detail and color in the cacti. Needless to say I used quite a few layer masks and blends.

Registered on October 31, 2011, 170 Posts, 1240 Comments

Comment posted by R.Bill Moser on November 18, 2011 at 9:08 AM

The dark presentation works well here. I love the color in the sky and the sunstar. Great details in the foreground. Great work

Registered on January 29, 2010, 285 Posts, 4281 Comments

Comment posted by Andy Richards on November 18, 2011 at 9:23 AM

Hi Peter: This is a "critique" area and I am relatively "new" to it, so I am trying to find images that I can add something constructive to. Sorry, I cannot find any here :-). REALLY nice image. Love the sunburst.

Registered on November 7, 2010, 37 Posts, 114 Comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on November 18, 2011 at 11:50 AM

The dark mood definitely works, and the sunstar is a winner! My only nit is that the cacti are pretty 'in-your-face'. I realize that's the point here with the near-far comp, but personally i might have backed off a bit to attempt to show more connection between the fg and bg--here you are getting dangerously close to a composite look because of the dark space between the cacti and the sky. But overall i really like this!

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

Comment posted by Peter Coskun on November 18, 2011 at 4:14 PM

Thanks Andy and thank you Stan.

Stan I can see what you mean about backing off, however if I did so the ground would show on the bottom left of the frame and I wanted to avoid that. One thing you will catch on with my images and cacti is that I like to get as close as possible. There's so much texture and detail in cacti that I find the best way to show them is up close. I see where the composite look is coming off, and that's something I took into consideration when processing the image. There was nothing interesting going on between the sky and cactus so I wanted to get that area really dark. Thank you for the feedback!

Registered on October 31, 2011, 170 Posts, 1240 Comments