Yosemite: The usual view

[greenroomsessions]

Went to Yosemite today but there was fire and a little smokey out. I tried to frame the picture with the tree on the right and the bushes. I did not crop the picture at all but I did adjust a few other settings. Can you see Half Dome in the back? I would like to know if the smoke messes up or adds to the picture? How is the composure? Could a filter have helped make this better? Should I have cropped this at all? Any other critiques are welcome.



Nikon D40X
1/250
f/11.0
18 mm
ISO 100

[Doug Sundseth]

I like the contrast falloff with distance here. It gives an interesting look to the valley that is a bit different from the usual photo. (That is, I think the smoke helped.)

Composition is good: The framing you used works well and the subject leads my eye through the image well.

I can see Half Dome, but only because I know what to look for. If you want more than its presence, you might be able to step back from the place you took the photo and compose back to this framing with your zoom. That will increase the relative size of elements far from the camera.

The photo looks generally underexposed, with the problem most serious in the foreground. I'd add fill light to push up the bottom of the tonal range.

Upshot: Nice, painterly effect and a strong composition, but better with better exposure.

[greenroomsessions]

Thanks Doug. I will see if I can add some fill light tonight and will re-post. I like your idea of stepping back and using the zoom to make Half Dome a little more visible. I will try this next time I am there (which will hopefully be this coming weekend).

[greenroomsessions]

My PP skills are not very good but here is the updated version. Is the exposure better?

[Doug Sundseth]

I definitely like it better. It give a more defined look to the foreground and helps to establish the context of the background for me.

[kcoppock]

First of all, excellent composition, I love the shot! I agree with Doug though, in that it's definitely very underexposed. If you would have exposed higher, you would have probably blown out the sky, though, so underexposing is preferable. A situation like this is a great one where you could experiment with HDR if you get a chance to go back.

That said, you should still be able to improve the lighting on this, especially if you shot in RAW. I've attached an example I was able to produce from just your small original, and the settings I used to achieve this: (please let me know if you'd like me to remove it)

Image > Adjustments > Shadow / Highlight:
Shadows: Amount (50%), Tonal Width (35%), Radius (20px)
Highlights: Amount (25%), Tonal Width (25%), Radius (20px)
Midtone Contrast: +10

Vibrance Adjustment Layer: +100

Curves Adjustment Layer with a slight S-Curve, and pulling in the black point of the blue channel slightly.

[greenroomsessions]

Kevin, I think what you did with the photo looks great! Thank you for letting me know what you did with the photo. I am going to try doing the exact same changes with the RAW file. I only live about 45 minutes away from Yosemite so I will definitely go back and try some HDR (have not tried HDR yet but been wanting to and I think this would be a good first try). Thanks again.

[fugo]

Cool shot - like everyone else I think the smoke is postive.. gives a nice 'fade' as the peaks get further away.

Filter wise, if you used a gradient filter, say a one/two stop you could even up the exposure and brighten the foreground without blowing the sky out. However, you may end up with slightly darker mountain peaks as obviously the filter wouldn't 'fit' the landscape. A polarizer would help to avoid blowing out the sky as well as improving the look and satuartion of the foliage in the foreground.. in the same spot i probably would have tried a combination of a one stop grad and a circular polarizer.

Composition is great as is.. if you want to emphasize the half dome i'd suggest using the camera in portrait orientation with a bit of zoom on it. If you take more post them on here!

[greenroomsessions]

Thanks fugo.

Here is an updated version. My PP skills are not very good but this is the most I have done on a photo and I think it looks much better. Let me know what you think.