Alpine Vista

[TNBDM]

Canon Digital Rebel XTi. Canon 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM. Shot in RAW at ISO 200, 1/500, f/5.6.

One of the first shots from our vacation to Colorado this past summer that I've had a chance to edit. This was taken in the late afternoon in Rocky Mountain National Park, truly one of the most striking locations I've had the good fortune to visit.

I did some minimal editing in Lightroom--crop, conversion to gray scale, and some curve tweaking is all.

Some self-critique. First off, not sure why I didn't stop the aperture down more than I did. My excuse is that I was in a hurry and wasn't using my tripod as a result, but more likely I just had the thing in manual and wasn't paying close enough attention to what I was doing. There's also a bit of clipping in the clouds and some of the darker shadows that I just couldn't seem to avoid.

Overall, I'm fairly happy with this one. All comments and criticism (both here and on Flickr) are more than welcome!

[FrankenPengie]

The contrast and detail in the foreground is very nice. The distant mound seems a bit bright and the clouds are mostly blown-out.

I really have no clue as to how to take a picture that would balance these elements well. I would tend to cheat and take one to get the sky right, and another set to get the ground right, then merge the two.

[Manila_Joe]

Originally Posted by FrankenPengie

The contrast and detail in the foreground is very nice. The distant mound seems a bit bright and the clouds are mostly blown-out.

I really have no clue as to how to take a picture that would balance these elements well. I would tend to cheat and take one to get the sky right, and another set to get the ground right, then merge the two.

Is there a specific technique that you run through to get this kind of effect? Care to share some of your results? I'd be very interested in seeing.

[FrankenPengie]

Originally Posted by Manila_Joe

Is there a specific technique that you run through to get this kind of effect? Care to share some of your results? I'd be very interested in seeing.

Basically just aim the camera up to get the sky. The sensors will react more to the light. Then take another with the camera pointed more to the ground. As long as you've set the exposer well for both you should have one each of a good sky and good ground. You don't want to get too much sky, or too much ground. Just tell the sensors what to adjust to for each shot. Use the magic wand to select and delete the bad sky, use it again on the other pic to select the good sky. Invert the selection and delete the bad ground. You should be able to directly put the two layers on top of each other and adjust them up or down to match them up. You can also adjust the canvas if you want.

I've not actually done this yet, but seeing as there are tutorials for replacing blown out skies, you should be able to use the same technique to take make a good picture out of two of the same scene.

[Nathan deGargoyle]

@Joe:

Just for clarification, these are just holiday snaps taken in RAW then converted to different exposures but the idea still holds.

Take a photo exposed for the foreground



Then one exposed for the sky



in Gimp I put the sky layer above the ground layer then used the "select by colour" tool in "add to selection" mode and clicked around the sky until it was all selected. Inverted the selection and cleared it. Giving




As I said, not a great shot, but I hope it makes the technique clearer

[Manila_Joe]

I think it's a great technique. But i just think it's pretty difficult to mask. I was hoping there was a way that you could use photoshop like you would for an hdr. I'm aware of the technique that you had suggested but, as I mentioned before, I find that it is difficult to mask stuff like trees or other non linear object.

[FrankenPengie]

Originally Posted by Manila_Joe

I think it's a great technique. But i just think it's pretty difficult to mask. I was hoping there was a way that you could use photoshop like you would for an hdr. I'm aware of the technique that you had suggested but, as I mentioned before, I find that it is difficult to mask stuff like trees or other non linear object.

That's why I brought up the subject for the original posting. Clean lines, and no trees. Easy mask. Just select the right brush style and size. Even if the lines aren't perfectly straight they can be pretty easy to mask off.

I really don't like trying to paint around branches and leaves either.