The Chasm

[doubleconvex]

You go on vacaction with the feeling of coming back with some kick-arse photos of places that no-one else among your friends has been to... when you come home and check out the photos... DISASTER!

That was how I felt with the following image:



This is the Chasm... one of many cascades in the Fjordlands National Park in New Zealand, on the way to Milford Sound. I had twisted my ankle the previous day and was not in the best of moods. I was cheering myself up by making my laboured treks to each of the must-visit locations. To my horror, what I got was this... and image that was grossly out of balance. The water had been over-exposed. The midtones were underdone.

The image sat on my hard drive for 6 months before I raised the courage to address it. Granted... I was armed with a new array of tools. I was already deeply into Photomatix Pro and high dynamic range photography, but last week, I got myself a copy of the Topaz Pro bundle. What I got was this:



The first step was the generation of an HDR composite... a fairly pain staking effort in which I used 13 f-stops spaced out a 1/3rd of an EV, starting from -4.00 to finally got me a decent composite HDR.

A little photoshop magic with the blur and smudge tools using a soft brush evened out the water in a few places, and finally, a touch of Topaz Adjust to finish!

Enjoy!

[zona5101]

Excellent save!!

[LMAshton]

Beautifully done!

[Indigo November]

Wow, I don't think I could have saved this one, you're good! It has a kind of magical look to it now. I like it.

[LeeR]

While I applaud your attempt to make lemonade from lemons I would not consider this a "save." It looks horribly artificial. There's no way I would swim in this toxic soup. This scene had all the potential to be a "kick-arse" photo, but the exposure was too far off and you lost it. Better to count your losses and take your medicine like a man then turn it into a monstrosity.
And for the record, HDR is a great way to solve these problems at the scene, not a way to rescue poorly exposed images after the fact.Three or four bracketed exposures and you would have had your masterpiece.

[aliceinlove]

I think it was a wonderful save and looks very magical.Great picture

[eldannyboy]

Everyone has different tastes, and you did a good job with what you had. For that, you get my thumbs up. I think people are reluctant to accept the artificial touch to photography these days... and I think that is foolish. There are moments for both, this was one for that. I would totally hang that picture up with a lightbox behind it, it would look awesome.

[mrpolitics]

LeeR, he did an excellent job with the image, and besides some of the off coloring which can be fixed I would swim in that water. This is just my own opinion, but your post was more of an angry attack then that of constructive criticism.

[douglas]

It obviously did not please Lee, but that is his opinion. I would probably done something different...BUT that is the point, it's up to you, Others might try something else but your feeling is what matters It's all a matter of personal feeling.