The Tongue + RP

Gallery: LandscapePosted February 25, 20161,178 views13 comments

Hello all:

I have been away from this forum and photography in general over the last year owing to work and personal reasons. I have recently started taking images again and here's one of my latest attempts. This is from the Secret Canyon near Page, AZ which requires special permission to enter (Navajo country). My wife had arranged for us to get in there for photography. We were lucky in that we and a wedding photographer were the only ones in the canyon that day and it was a very spiritual experience for both of us.

This particular image was challenging as it almost directly above me and required me to contort quite a bit to get the composition I had in mind. I liked the combination of leading lines and curves in the side rock which complemented the main feature. I created a HDR from a single RAW file (5 different exposures blended in PS) to try and capture the dynamic range. I am interested to know how this turned out.

Techs: 1D3/17-40@19mm, ISO200, 1/15s@F/13, tripod & cable release.

Comments

13 comments

Comment posted by Eva McDermott on February 25, 2016 at 6:43 AM

Wonderfully rich color and texture Govind. I wonder if a slight crop from the left might accentuate the tongue and texture of the canyon wall. Very natural looking HDR BTW.

Registered on January 4, 2009, 1015 Posts, 13229 Comments

Comment posted by Pete Bengeyfield on February 25, 2016 at 10:08 AM

I don't know anything about HDR, but this looks way too red.

Registered on December 2, 2003, 1247 Posts, 3439 Comments

Comment posted by Roel Wijtmans on February 25, 2016 at 11:43 AM

Very nice comp, and the HDR looks pretty natural. In some large contrast transitions there seems to be some slight haloing, but other than that I wouldn't change a thing!

Registered on September 30, 2012, 116 Posts, 2257 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Overacker on February 25, 2016 at 1:13 PM

Govind,

This is a fabulous slot canyon image. What is impressive here is the contrasts and the shadows being dark, but retaining detail and the highlights being bright, but not being washed out. The detail, sharpness and depth in the large view is excellent as well.

I like the colors here, although especially with these type images it's subjective and personal choice, so hard to be critical here. If it's too red or saturated, not by much.

Lon

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

Comment posted by S Govindarajan on February 25, 2016 at 4:59 PM

Thank you for your feedback.

Pete: This is a red sandstone canyon and this is a particularly vivid red/orange section in afternoon light as I remember it. I will try bumping the saturation a bit and see if that makes a difference (I normally use a 10 point post-processing saturation on my raw images).

Roel: The halo may be from my sharpening it for the web. I will post process it with one less round and post the results later today.

Registered on April 19, 2008, 115 Posts, 1921 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on February 25, 2016 at 7:01 PM

Hey Govind, Nice seeing a new post from you and I think you did an excellent job with this image. Wonderful composition with beautiful light, shadow, textures and color. Nice work with the hdr blends as it feels quite natural to me.

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments

Comment posted by Patricia Brundage on February 25, 2016 at 7:10 PM

Striking rock formation, color and textures. Would make a great print!

Registered on March 23, 2006, 1111 Posts, 6531 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Metternich on February 25, 2016 at 8:53 PM

Nice shot! :)

Registered on June 19, 2009, 276 Posts, 6240 Comments

Comment posted by S Govindarajan on February 25, 2016 at 11:27 PM

Here's an image with lower saturation and lesser sharpening.

Interested to know if this made any improvements.

Registered on April 19, 2008, 115 Posts, 1921 Comments

Comment posted by Igor Doncov on February 26, 2016 at 2:10 AM

I like the repost better for the simple reason of having a white frame rather than a black one. Imo that black frame hurts this presentation quite a bit.

The images of these slot canyons are always amazing and this is just that. The color saturation in this type of composition is very subjective so any choice is fine. Most photographers interpret the colors as they see fit. Nice job. There is a bit of haloing if you want to get nitpicky about it.

Registered on November 22, 2014, 189 Posts, 2733 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Strong on February 27, 2016 at 7:45 AM

I prefer the original. It's more artistic and has more impact. It's borderline oversaturated, but just about right IMO. The point of the image is texture and color. A point of ridiculous can be crossed, but this doesn't IMO. There is a pretty sharp halo that others have mentioned. Since it's so sharp and stands away from the tongue, it should be dealt with.

The tongue - I just see Gene Simmons sticking his tongue out. IMO it blocks more interesting elements behind it. Perhaps more detail in the tongue would help?

I think you've done a good job with this. I hope you post more of these.

Registered on October 1, 2012, 43 Posts, 302 Comments

Comment posted by scott lanz on February 28, 2016 at 10:09 AM

I prefer the very slightly less saturated repost, Govind. The color looks more realistic. Both are very nice, however.

Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments

Comment posted by S Govindarajan on February 29, 2016 at 5:14 PM

Thanks all for your feedback. I too prefer the original version since it is closer to what I saw. I did not look for the haloing which is a mistake. The ULC is a region of high contrasts (dark backlit rock against a whitish background) and the main reason I went the HDR route. I should have looked at it more carefully - even a single round of sharpening starts to produce a halo.

Appreciate all the critiques. If you are interested there are some more images of that canyon in my website here.

Registered on April 19, 2008, 115 Posts, 1921 Comments