Dawn from Cojzova koca mountain hut

[milosh]

Hello everyone!

This was taken on my recent mountaineering trip to Kamnik-Savinja Alps in Slovenia.
It's an image hand-blended out of two different exposures. I know that there's not much going on in the shot except for the silhouettes and the sunrise, but that was the first thing I found.

Please tell me, does anything look (too) unnatural to you? Too blue, too much of a difference in lighting? Any cropping or other suggestions?


Exif:

Nikon D60
Nikon 18-105 lens @ 21mm
f16
2 sec. (sky)
4 sec. (rocks)
ISO100

P.S. No sharpening was applied to the file shown here.

Thank you.

[millephil]

Love this shot, blended nicely.Great composition. my girlfriend was looking over my shoulder and liked it too.
Only thing is, it's not too clear what the sillohette is.
Phil

[Krusty79]

The colors look good. I do find myself wanting to see a wider view of them. I think it was Michael 2010 who commented that man-made objects do not fit in as well in landscape shots like natural objects. I do think there is some truth to that. Was it possible to use some trees as the silhouettes instead of the gondola supports?

[danbaileyphoto]

What a great shot! Really great eye and composition here. I don't thing it's too blue, in fact I think the blue and the mix of colors works quite well. And to my eye, there is enough going on here, with the tram and the mountains.

Only thing I'd like to see is that rock wall on the left just a shade lighter. Not too much, just a bit to help draw the eye over there.

[milosh]

Originally Posted by millephil

Love this shot, blended nicely.Great composition. my girlfriend was looking over my shoulder and liked it too.
Only thing is, it's not too clear what the sillohette is.
Phil

Thank you very much! The silhouette shows the steel pillars of a cargo lift that is used to transport the goods up to the mountain hut.

Originally Posted by Krusty79

The colors look good. I do find myself wanting to see a wider view of them. I think it was Michael 2010 who commented that man-made objects do not fit in as well in landscape shots like natural objects. I do think there is some truth to that. Was it possible to use some trees as the silhouettes instead of the gondola supports?

Thanks Krusty! I also agree with the comment about man-made objects in natural scenes. I think that when it comes to photos, it is the same as when we see a man-made object in a natural environment, no matter how nice it is, there's always something natural that fits the scene better. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything else to include in the scene besides that cliff on the left. And I do have a photo of that cliff and a dog watching the sunrise. I can't wait to process it!

The hut was built on a saddle between mountain peaks, and it's very hard to reach it. The saddle is narrow and if you move away from the hut, terrain drops very steeply. Click here to see what's the saddle like (the view towards the east is down the other side, not the one shown here). And here is the slope below the hut, towards the east/sunrise. Just some rocks and grass, and a lot of dangerous scree.

Originally Posted by danbaileyphoto

What a great shot! Really great eye and composition here. I don't thing it's too blue, in fact I think the blue and the mix of colors works quite well. And to my eye, there is enough going on here, with the tram and the mountains.

Only thing I'd like to see is that rock wall on the left just a shade lighter. Not too much, just a bit to help draw the eye over there.

Thanks for the comments, Daniel! I was wondering myself whether to lighten it or not... It's funny how my eyes adapt to a certain level of light when post-processing a shot, only to find that it's off when I get back to it. I'll have another look at it today.

[milosh]

OK, here's the final edited and sharpened version:



I increased brightness of the rocks on both sides like Daniel suggested and on the pillars a little bit.
What do you think, is it better now?
Is it too dark, can you see any detail in the rocks? I'm having difficulties judging the lightness when it's so dark, I'm affraid others will see it as pitch black.

Thanks

[nikosdp]

Sky colors are great. What i would like to see is detail on the rocks. The double exposure should make it easy for you to create an hdr version. The rocks seem too dark to me.

[milosh]

Originally Posted by nikosdp

Sky colors are great. What i would like to see is detail on the rocks. The double exposure should make it easy for you to create an hdr version. The rocks seem too dark to me.

Thank you Nikos! My goal is not to create that kind of hdr that most people do, where majority of the scene is almost equally exposed, but instead, my goal is to create the most believable photo. These rocks should be dark as they are in the shade and there's no direct light on them, but deciding on those subtle light levels proves to be difficult. Maybe I'm overthinking it.