I was in Smoky mountains this new year and was shooting in a very challenging fog condition. There was no sight of sun for some time and I was trying to get a darker mood with fog in the scene. I am wondering what is the best way to shoot in such a condition. I am posting an image here, for critique. I am not very happy with the output especially with the light and general tone of the image. I had used photoshop to process this with two different exposures. (-2 and 0)
I would love to know how different I can approach this scene.
EXIF Details: ISO 100, 40mm, f/9.0, 1.6sec
Thank you so much in advance.
Cheers!
Posted by Wick Smith on January 6, 2012 at 12:08 PM
I'm not sure what you are after with the scene, but I've shot stuff like this with the fog drifting in and out. You can get some really great shots with a neutral density filter on the lens to slow down the shutter to 2 seconds to 10 seconds or so. Sometimes even longer. If the fog is moving at all in a breeze, and all subjects are at a distance such that movement is not an issue, then you get a really silky look to the clouds. You can also try a conversion to black & white with this - with the lack of other colors, you can get a bit more drama in the skies.
Thank you so much Wick for your response. Yes converting to black and white makes sense. Shooting with lower shutter speed is something I should have tried.
Posted by David Graham on January 6, 2012 at 3:05 PM
Two suggestions :
Crop left side just to left of where mountainside meets top of frame...gives almost square format and accentuates distance back through the five receding layers of hills.
Those layers may be able to be accentuated a bit by opening in ACR, slightly increase Exposre, and move Blacks slider a bit to right. This will also increase saturation a bit. Whether that's laudable or "collateral damage"... you'll have to decide.
It's definitely salvageable!
Dave Graham in East River, SD
Rather than try to explain my thinking regarding this image, I took the liberty to play around with it in PS.
Here's what I did...
I cropped it to nearly square as David suggested.
I then used the Color Range tool to select the sky and then saved the selection (sky).
Next, I inverted the selction and saved it (not sky).
I created curves adjustment layers for the sky and the mountains, respectively and then tweaked them to work on the contrast in the mid tones and lower mid tones.
Next, I used a Selective Color adjustment layer to add a little black to the whites.
A Hue/Sat layer was used to punch up the yellows, reds, and blues just a bit.
Lastly, I added a 'dodge layer' with 50% grey fill with the blending mode set to 'Soft Light' and use a broad, soft brush to brighten the fog on the mountain just a tad.
My procedure is not the be-all, end-all since there a re several ways this could be approached. My tweaks took about 5 minutes. Photoshop is extremely powerful. Experimenting with the tools will pay big dividends!
These kinds of scenes, especially in very soft light can be a challenge. The bright area of the sky tends to be an eye grabber, so in a case like this one, I would likely try to keep those areas out of the frame. If I couldn't, I'd opt for a GND filter to tame those areas with eye toward retaining detail there. Additionally, I would look for details in the scene that I might use a longer lens to isolate; the trees on the right side about mid slope, or the river and cloud would make a nice shots.
I hope this gives you some ideas for further exploration.
Thank you so much Dave for your suggestion. I will work on your suggestions and share it here.
Preston, really appreciate your efforts and sharing your process with me. I do feel your version is definitely a much improved version. I shall work on my original raw along the similar lines. Thank you for your suggestions on how to improve this shot. Yes longer lens and isolating the interesting details from the sky, does makes sense! :).
Posted by Larry Fischer on January 13, 2012 at 4:22 PM
I'm not an expert...
First remove blue tint as much as possible, esp. in distant horizon.
After sharpening and general contrast I would selectively pick spots for improvement
with masks and increase or decrease saturation to effect; also contrast.
Focus is always important.
the fisch
Discussion
6 repliesI was in Smoky mountains this new year and was shooting in a very challenging fog condition. There was no sight of sun for some time and I was trying to get a darker mood with fog in the scene. I am wondering what is the best way to shoot in such a condition. I am posting an image here, for critique. I am not very happy with the output especially with the light and general tone of the image. I had used photoshop to process this with two different exposures. (-2 and 0)
I would love to know how different I can approach this scene.
EXIF Details: ISO 100, 40mm, f/9.0, 1.6sec
Thank you so much in advance.
Cheers!
Crop left side just to left of where mountainside meets top of frame...gives almost square format and accentuates distance back through the five receding layers of hills.
Those layers may be able to be accentuated a bit by opening in ACR, slightly increase Exposre, and move Blacks slider a bit to right. This will also increase saturation a bit. Whether that's laudable or "collateral damage"... you'll have to decide.
It's definitely salvageable!
Dave Graham in East River, SD
Rather than try to explain my thinking regarding this image, I took the liberty to play around with it in PS.
Here's what I did...
I cropped it to nearly square as David suggested.
I then used the Color Range tool to select the sky and then saved the selection (sky).
Next, I inverted the selction and saved it (not sky).
I created curves adjustment layers for the sky and the mountains, respectively and then tweaked them to work on the contrast in the mid tones and lower mid tones.
Next, I used a Selective Color adjustment layer to add a little black to the whites.
A Hue/Sat layer was used to punch up the yellows, reds, and blues just a bit.
Lastly, I added a 'dodge layer' with 50% grey fill with the blending mode set to 'Soft Light' and use a broad, soft brush to brighten the fog on the mountain just a tad.
My procedure is not the be-all, end-all since there a re several ways this could be approached. My tweaks took about 5 minutes. Photoshop is extremely powerful. Experimenting with the tools will pay big dividends!
These kinds of scenes, especially in very soft light can be a challenge. The bright area of the sky tends to be an eye grabber, so in a case like this one, I would likely try to keep those areas out of the frame. If I couldn't, I'd opt for a GND filter to tame those areas with eye toward retaining detail there. Additionally, I would look for details in the scene that I might use a longer lens to isolate; the trees on the right side about mid slope, or the river and cloud would make a nice shots.
I hope this gives you some ideas for further exploration.
--P
Preston, really appreciate your efforts and sharing your process with me. I do feel your version is definitely a much improved version. I shall work on my original raw along the similar lines. Thank you for your suggestions on how to improve this shot. Yes longer lens and isolating the interesting details from the sky, does makes sense! :).
First remove blue tint as much as possible, esp. in distant horizon.
After sharpening and general contrast I would selectively pick spots for improvement
with masks and increase or decrease saturation to effect; also contrast.
Focus is always important.
the fisch