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The Great One
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The Great One

by Debbie Yarra

Gallery: Weekly ChallengePosted January 6, 2012259 views11 comments
This is one of my Best of 2011 shots. This was taken on the south side of Denali, in Trapper Creek, AK, early one morning as the clouds were beginning to engulf the mountain. It was a nice shot in color, but I thought the monochromatic nature of the photo made for a more dramatic BW. RAW capture on a manfrotto tripod with Nikon D300, Nikkor 80-400mm F4-5.6 @ 400mm, Circ Polarizer. Processed with Photoshop CS4 minor adjustments with levels and curves. Used channel mixer to convert to BW.

Comments welcome. Thanks for looking! :smile:

Comments

11 comments
Comment posted by John Tobias on January 6, 2012 at 7:41 AM
Debbie, this is certainly a dramatic shot of Denali. Your conversion looks great! However, I would still like to see the color version. Thanks for sharing.
Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments
Comment posted by Varina Patel on January 6, 2012 at 9:01 AM
I love the black and white choice for this shot, Debbie. What a beautiful image! The texture and range of light in the clouds is wonderful, and the details on the mountain are gorgeous. Well done!
Registered on August 22, 2008, 45 Posts, 1578 Comments
Comment posted by Debbie Yarra on January 6, 2012 at 10:40 AM
@John... I can certainly post the color one....can I do it in this thread?....New to RMNP. Thanks for the kind comments!
@Varina...thanks for the kudos! Can I post another one tomorrow on the 7th, after 24 hrs? Blessings to you both, Deb
Registered on January 1, 2012, 5 Posts, 91 Comments
Comment posted by Gary Reed on January 6, 2012 at 12:00 PM
This shot has a nice texture to it. B/W adds more drama with the dark billowing cloud cover. :cool:
Registered on September 19, 2009, 198 Posts, 1074 Comments
Comment posted by Larry Fischer on January 6, 2012 at 1:28 PM
This is a good mono.
Nice contrast. The variety of contrast int he clouds gives good depth to this photo.
I was in Alaska last year, also, but up north in the Brooks range.
I've only seen The Great One from an airliner. Still impressive.
the fisch
Registered on July 28, 2008, 155 Posts, 874 Comments
Comment posted by Debbie Yarra on January 6, 2012 at 8:40 PM
Thanks Gary and Fisch! Appreciate the comments! When I was in the Denali National Park for 4 days, the clouds were so thick most of the time you wouldn't even know there was a mountain to see. I was grateful to have seen it and photographed it in Trapper Creek before we moved on to the park! Blessings, Deb
Registered on January 1, 2012, 5 Posts, 91 Comments
Comment posted by Wayne Jones on January 6, 2012 at 10:24 PM
An eye-popper! Hard to find more impact than a sunlit subject against a dark sky, and when the subject is an icon, it take it out of the "usual" realm for images of even familiar subjects. The clouds add even more drama. Excellent conversion and processing, too. Easy to see why it's one of your favorites. No nits.
Registered on April 18, 2007, 953 Posts, 6435 Comments
Comment posted by Barry Vangrov on January 7, 2012 at 1:36 PM
Excellent composition and (even without seeing the color version) definitely more drama in B&W. I have a couple of processing suggestions: I think you can pull more contrast out of the sky so the wispy clouds show more instead of fading into the black sky. And I'd do some noise reduction on the foreground clouds - they seem a bit grainy. Other than that, well done. Very striking image :smile:
Registered on September 1, 2009, 148 Posts, 749 Comments
Comment posted by Debbie Yarra on January 8, 2012 at 12:36 AM
Thanks Wayne and Barry for your comments!
@Barry...the clouds are a bit grainy, but I wasn't sure how to fix that. I'll try the noise reduction. The only way I know how to increase contrast is with curves. If I go too far with the curves to help the wispy clouds, it blows out some of the snow on the mountain. I guess I could use a layer mask and just increase the contrast in the sky. Would you use that to try and boost the clouds or another way? Please advise.... I'm teaching myself Photoshop and the learning curve is steep. Thanks :smile:
Registered on January 1, 2012, 5 Posts, 91 Comments
Comment posted by Barry Vangrov on January 8, 2012 at 2:26 PM
Debbie: You want to select just the sky (should be pretty easy using he magnetic lasso) to add contrast. Also select only the clouds when reducing noise or you'll lose sharpness on the mountain.
Registered on September 1, 2009, 148 Posts, 749 Comments
Comment posted by Debbie Yarra on January 14, 2012 at 12:05 PM
Thanks Barry I'll try that. :smile:
Registered on January 1, 2012, 5 Posts, 91 Comments