Mt Rainer

[benttop]

This is what came out of the camera:

http://www.pbase.com/benttop/image/54292836.jpg

This is after a load of reworking:

http://www.pbase.com/benttop/image/54292851.jpg

Comments, suggestions, opinions etc. all happily accepted.

[Sergio]

Wow, I love how the trees come out.

[jiminyClickit]

benttop,

. . . and you said, 'let there be light.' Dramatic change, and only because I wasn't there to see, is the yellow-orange in trees on left the way they were or a result of the edit program? The sky through the tree appears lighter, less pink. And are you creating the framing?

[benttop]

I actually worked on this one a TON, and I'm still not 100% happy with it. But it sure is better than it started out.

The frame was done with a script - Mike's Framer is the one I've been using here.

I actually documented the steps I took to get from point A to point B in my gallery over at pbase. See http://www.pbase.com/benttop/layersandmasks - it shows step by step how I did it. The basic technique is to adjust exposure to three different levels and combine the three expsures for the final image. Sort of a poor man's HDR technique. :)

[Sita 900]

wow, this is totally awesome! its amazing how much more vivid you got the mountain and the trees. I love how the clouds have a pink tint to them, but I'm not so sure I like the oranish light in the framing trees (like jiminy said). Other than that, very very very good!

[Saralonde]

I think you went from nice to wow. Is the second more like the way you saw the scene before you shot it?

[benttop]

I think you went from nice to wow. Is the second more like the way you saw the scene before you shot it?

Yes! That was one reason I worked on this image - the mountain had been beautifully illuminated by the evening sun, the sky had been florescent, and the foreground was certainly not as dull as the as shot image suggests. I thought there must be a way to save it, and came up with the three exposure idea. I could never have done that if I had shot jpg because I couldn't have pushed the exposures so much without a lot of digital artifacts.

The trees were the biggest problem. To really do it right, I would have to go mask between every leaf and branch. It's doable, but I just got too lazy at the end of the project. :)

[jiminyClickit]

benttop,

Saw the steps you took to get there, and as always appreciate the patience and skill. I use an old PhotoDeluxe program, so I couldn't follow along as such, but the masking in the trees may be what I saw in the edit.

In the last two weeks I've gotten everything I know about layering (wulf and some other tutorials helpful) from this Forum. I've done some edits on others' photos as practice and as an alternative vision to theirs. You may have seen some signatures include wording such as 'OK to re-edit and repost" to encourage the learning of techniques. Do you have a preference?

[benttop]

I'm happy to see any attempts at improvement, as long as I get the recipe if it turns out great. :)

[jiminyClickit]

benttop,

As best I can translate PD to PS, it'll be mostly in concept vs actual step name. What I call SELECT you may call LASSO, or my CLONE may be your HISTORY. I'm finding, though, I can 'get' a PhotoShop tutorial even with the "barrier" and will always explain how I got what I put on Forum. Hope to do Mt. proud. (Have roots in Olympia)

[dogtor68]

WOW! Is all I can say, great job! I love the color of the sky!:)

[timkoo]

nice shot!, great PP
couple comments :
IMO the tree on the left is pretty distracting and the roof of a house? on the bottom of the frame - maybe try cloning them out, but then you have boring symmetry :P

I'd also like if the mountain popped a little more, seems a bit flat still

[richardpsic]

Exelent job! I can see this beautiful picture in a post card. The color of the sky is perfect and the trees are the perfect natural frame for this photo.

[BlueSage]

You had a nice shot to begin with: great subject, good framing. Your post processing work is magnificent. Excellent work!

[Pshorten]

Come on tell us how you did it - an amazing before and after effect!

[Alex168]

Come on tell us how you did it - an amazing before and after effect!

there is steps on how he did it, if you read the thread...

thats pretty neat i must say! good PP skills, i gotta work on mine a bit more to be able to do that! Pretty neat, i knw what you mean that somtimes the camera doesnt capture what you see yourself. And thats what the PP is for, i often findmyself taking a shot and i already knw what i want to do in PP before shoting the image!

[photofun]

I actually worked on this one a TON, and I'm still not 100% happy with it. But it sure is better than it started out.



It's funny how when we work on something we're never quite sure we're done with it. I think this is one you can stop working on - very nice PP. Thanks for showing your work flow. Another reason for me to start using RAW.

[apoplexyus]

That is gorgeous! That mountain also happens to be one of my favorite things to stare at whenever I'm up in the northwest. :)

[frad-ster]

Is there a reason why some of the trees look neon green? I like what you have done to brighten up the image. This is a classic example of some really good post processing! Nice job, have fun tweaking it to the final state!