by Tony Kuyper
Physics means we often miss rainbows in the middle of the day. The high, colorful arches only appear when the sun is low in the sky around sunrise and sunset. When the sun is high in the sky the rest of the day, the rainbow is low to the horizon, often obscured by trees and other visual obstacles.
I was on a hill when this rainbow occurred shortly after noon, and even though it would have hugged the horizon, the mountain still was higher. The colors were washed out, so I darkend things down to try and increase saturation. I'm a bit disappinted in the detail resolution, but not surprised given this is a telephoto shot of items a mile or two away. You can still see the saguaros on the ridges, so that's not too bad.
Overall, I'm just happy to have the image. It's an unusual circumstance and one I don't expect to be able to witness again. Your thoughts and recommendations are always appreciated.
Canon 5D2, 28-300 @ 154mm, f/16, 1/320 sec, ISO 400 (hmm, wish I had had it set at ISO 100)
Comments
10 commentsWhoa. The most colorful
Tony, to me this is a very interesting image. I know several things. It was an unusual situation. You took it with a telephoto, and you are an expert in manipulating color images. There is a very unusual transition between the darks at the top of the image through a saturated rainbow to the lower hills seen through a thick atmosphere that distorts the sharpness to some degree. I think is is effective in its larger view. But how you achieved the effect may have me wondering a bit. It seems a bit unworldly.
A pretty intense rainbow here, Tony. It has a neat presents arched across this open canyon area. Although the rainbow color(s) seem a bit intense to me, it also seems to work okay in this scene......
This is really cool. Yes, the colors look pretty saturated but I think it works great because I very much enjoy looking at the larger version. Quite an impressive view.
Nick Bristol Lone Rock, WI
The colors are certainly intense. I ike the image because of the layers and contrast. Was the rainbow that saturated or was that the work of PS.
I like the concept, Tony. It certainly was a unique occurence. I do think the rainbow is a little too intense, however. The sky and the mountains have nice drama to them.
--P
OK. Appreciate that feedback. The rainbow is too saturated. Check! My last step was to add more color to it because it looked flat in the print. I guess I should turn that layer off. The RAW was horribly flat given the time of day and distance, so getting the balance right is subjective. Nice to have input of other eyes to help me get it adjusted. Thanks!
Tony, mid-day rainbows are neat to catch. This one looks good (saturation aside and thoroughly discussed already) with the mountains behind it. I am surprised at how "grainy" the larger version looks even given the shooting conditions, is it possibly a bit oversharpened? I had the pleasure of catching one of these last spring in Montana although mid-day was 4:30pm. In checking those images out it does seem that the bow and the dark band (called Alexander's dark band, but I expect that you already know that) above the bow do show moderate grain and mine was taken at 70mm, so I'm not sure that lens resolution is the culprit here.
I reckon if the colors weren't a little intense, it wouldn't be yours, Tony. I was going to mention the grain in the large, but Mark just brought it up. I suspect it has more to do with the ISO. Neat phenomena.
The oversat grabs me a bit too much in this one Tony. The crunchiness of the larger one gives it tooharsh a feel for me. THe processing on your other sandstone images apears much smoother and not as forced as this image. I give you credit for pushng the limits in the processing of your images in the pursuit of art.