Posted by Howard Cihak on March 7, 2015 at 5:50 AM
This series all began with an image I call "View Through Mesa Arch." This is the same Mesa Arch in the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park. The original Image was made in mid-morning after the sun had risen high enough in the sky that there wasn't a sun flare in the image.
As you can see, the back lighting of the scene is hazy, in no small part due to the dust in the air.
Posted by Howard Cihak on March 7, 2015 at 5:51 AM
This is a crop from that original image. Please note how there is almost no detail in the background landforms.
Posted by Howard Cihak on March 7, 2015 at 5:52 AM
This is the same image after a few hours of carefully teasing out faint shapes in the distant landforms.
Posted by Howard Cihak on March 7, 2015 at 5:55 AM
Finally, this version was created using SilverEfex high structure conversion. I think it's fascinating to see how much detail this conversion is able to reveal in the distant landforms that can't even be scene in the color images.
Posted by Monika Chace on March 7, 2015 at 9:33 AM
Oooh, but the haloing! I know, that wasn't the point in this series. Do you have the whole Nik Collection, Howard? It's fun to play with the Bleach Bypass in Color Efex as well as the Dark Contrasts & Detail Extractor.
Howard, I commend your time & efforts. Regarding the cropped B&W, please allow my interpretive imagination to play and say that this scene could be described as taken looking at the ocean floor and the distant landforms are just that .... landforms above the ocean. Your comment about the detail revealed in the distance could also be applied to the foreground of the arch. Fun to see the series. Thanks
Posted by Howard Cihak on March 7, 2015 at 10:44 PM
Yes, Monika, I do have the whole Nik set, but I've never really played around with ColorEfex. What do you suggest and for what results?
Posted by Monika Chace on March 8, 2015 at 5:21 PM
Howard, I think that the Darken/Lighten Center can help to add depth. If you start with it at max, then you can play with placement & size of center, then tone down the sliders. The Detail Extractor is also very useful (it will lighten up what you may have darkened with the Darken/Lighten Center). The GND is nice as you can selectively darken, instead of including, say, the upper parts of trees or mountains as would using a GND in the field would do. Removing color cast can be really helpful with night/low light shots when trying to get a realistic night sky color. There are lots of tutorials on the different effects that are very useful. I watched the 55 filters in 52 weeks (under Learn -> Inspirational& Educational Videos) a few years ago in between shifts at my mothers deathbed. I'm not sure when else I would have made the time, but it's really worth watching them. Have fun playing around with them!
Discussion
7 repliesAs you can see, the back lighting of the scene is hazy, in no small part due to the dust in the air.