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Five from Yosemite Valley

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BrentG

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Hello all,

Though a poster in the D200 and Fuji SLR forums, this is my first post in this forum. After purchasing a D700 in December and working with it for a while, I finally feel ready. I'm sure y'all will disabuse me of that notion. :-)

These are from a shoot on Tuesday (10 Feb) in Yosemite Valley.

All images are taken with the D700 plus either the 14-24 or 24-70. PP is done in LR and PSCS4. My favorite is the last one.

Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View HDR



Cathedral Rocks and Bridalveil Falls



Pair o' Ravens



Valley View Panorama



Valley View at Sunset



Comments, criticism, and chocolate are welcome.
-Brent
 
Can't help you with the chocolate (it is mine, all mine) but those are some nice shots. That's still one of the iconic vistas in the US and amazingly beautiful.
--
David
 
I've been there and taken the same photos. Mine were ho hum and so are yours. Landscape photography is not easy. Very difficult to convey the EMOTION we feel when being at wonders like Yosemite. Do some reading and studying good landscape photos and keep trying. BTW, what did the D700 contribute to these photos that you could have not done with a D40?
cary
 
A good post processing would help the same photos very much. (and the presentation also does make differene).

I spent 10 minutes on of the photos.



To OP: if you need this processed version do drop me email, because i would delete the photos from my drive soon.

--
one among others
 
Hi Brent. I am going to make a suggestion that Thom Hogan spent 4 days drilling into my head at one of his workshops I attended. Landscape photos need depth. Depth is achieved by having a near subject, an middle and a far. The only one of these that has that is the last one, but its lost in too much foreground and sky. I would crop off the bottom snow pack making the snow covered rocks my near. This also gives you a nice anchor subject in the lower left corner. The tree line becomes your middle, but its too dark on the left side so you need to lighten that area up. The rest is the far. I would also crop out some of the extra sky setting he top crop line at the the top of the peak on the right side. It also needs to have the snow whitened up (it looks bluish grey), a bit more contrast and saturation to make that orange band and sky pop, but be careful not to over do it or it will wind up looking like a Kincaid painting.

Have fun.

--

'The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else
when we're uncool.' Almost Famous



Ron
----------------------------------------------------
http://www.pbase.com/recalcitrantron
FCAS Member No. 68
pbase supporter
 
The reason you like the last one best (as do I) is the low angle of the sun. If you could shoot all the others in early morning or late afternoon light you would get better colors & overall contrast. But these aren't bad. Very nice detail, throughout. The crows are straight out of a natural history textbook ...JJ Audubon wouild have been proud of you. I presume you shot those with the 24-70? If so they must have been within... pecking distance :-) Keep it up.
--
John
http://www.JChristopherGalleries.com
 
Is the Valley Floor pano, with the tree trunks breaking the bottom of the frame, jut looks a bit odd.

I love the first and last ones, Ansel would approve of the HDR I expect...

--
http://www.AshMills.com
 
This is good stuff Ron, I'll have to remember this myself.
RecalcitrantRon said:
Hi Brent. I am going to make a suggestion that Thom Hogan spent 4
days drilling into my head at one of his workshops I attended.
Landscape photos need depth. Depth is achieved by having a near
subject, an middle and a far. The only one of these that has that is
the last one, but its lost in too much foreground and sky. I would
crop off the bottom snow pack making the snow covered rocks my near.
This also gives you a nice anchor subject in the lower left corner.
The tree line becomes your middle, but its too dark on the left side
so you need to lighten that area up. The rest is the far. I would
also crop out some of the extra sky setting he top crop line at the
the top of the peak on the right side. It also needs to have the
snow whitened up (it looks bluish grey), a bit more contrast and
saturation to make that orange band and sky pop, but be careful not
to over do it or it will wind up looking like a Kincaid painting.

Have fun.

--
'The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with
someone else
when we're uncool.' Almost Famous



Ron
----------------------------------------------------
http://www.pbase.com/recalcitrantron
FCAS Member No. 68
pbase supporter
Click to expand...
--
Allen
http://www.pbase.com/capturestudios/people_in_passing
http://www.pbase.com/capturestudios/whatever_catches_my_eye
 
Thank you all for your comments.

Thanks especially to Ron for his constructive criticism.

Oh - and John - sorry, I lied. I forgot that I had used the 70-200 on the raven shot.

-Brent
 
zxaar said:
A good post processing would help the same photos very much. (and the
presentation also does make differene).

I spent 10 minutes on of the photos.



To OP: if you need this processed version do drop me email, because i
would delete the photos from my drive soon.

--
one among others
Click to expand...
Sorry, dude, but IMO that's grossly over processed.
--
Troy

http://www.pbase.com/Troye413
 
RecalcitrantRon said:
Hi Brent. I am going to make a suggestion that Thom Hogan spent 4
days drilling into my head at one of his workshops I attended.
Landscape photos need depth. Depth is achieved by having a near
subject, an middle and a far. The only one of these that has that is
the last one, but its lost in too much foreground and sky. I would
crop off the bottom snow pack making the snow covered rocks my near.
This also gives you a nice anchor subject in the lower left corner.
The tree line becomes your middle, but its too dark on the left side
so you need to lighten that area up. The rest is the far. I would
also crop out some of the extra sky setting he top crop line at the
the top of the peak on the right side. It also needs to have the
snow whitened up (it looks bluish grey), a bit more contrast and
saturation to make that orange band and sky pop, but be careful not
to over do it or it will wind up looking like a Kincaid painting.

Have fun.

--
'The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with
someone else
when we're uncool.' Almost Famous



Ron
----------------------------------------------------
http://www.pbase.com/recalcitrantron
FCAS Member No. 68
pbase supporter
Click to expand...
As far as the right light, in all but the last one he missed the best light, in my opinion. Your suggestions make perfect sense. I would strive to get out earlier next time. Midday light is not the most flattering for landscapes.
--
Troy

http://www.pbase.com/Troye413
 
given the reaction i had to look at this from another computer and it looks very different than what it looked to me.

I usually do not post process in this computer (where we use internet) so the whole issue is moniter callib.

Anyway the point is original photo colour needs to be adjusted and cropping could be improved.
(i do like saturated looks though).

--
one among others
 
I have to say, your processed version is TOO much. If you can't get a great color in a shot with subtle tweakings and some some specific selective color manipulation, it's best to let it be. Or, go black and white. I think the original shot is generally pleasing. Not knocking my socks off, but for an image that's been made MANY times before, that's to be expected I feel.

What really gets me from your shot is the reds on the rock face, and the clouds. Without that you have a much better shot. It also helps to aim to compress the dynamic range and produce a "believable" image, as opposed to going wild. Again, just my opinion. Mine is even a bit heavy, I'll admit, but yours it just way too much.

That being said, here's what I would have done with the color:



And for black and white:

 
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