Stark

The skeleton of a dead tree one of only two on desolate Rannoch moor,

Scotland. A telephoto lens compresses the perspective.

nice colours.6/5

wow what a shot what colours!! 7/7

6/6 Very nice. Reminds me of Close Encounters of the Third Kind: makes me want to donate to charity all of my earthly possessions, hop in a pick-up, and prostrate myself at the foot of this sacred mound... all naked and alone like. :-) Thanks for the gumball.

Is this a composite? There seems to be a very distinct line between the foreground land and the mountain. Or is that a line created by PS enhancements only applied to one half of the frame? Either way, feathering when you make selections in PS can reduce this sort of effect. I like the effect of this nice, whimsical landscape though.

Hi Andrew

 

I can assure you it is neither. I have never once created a composite image not even in camera. I wouldn't have a clue how to do it in Photoshop neither have I any desire to find out. I promise you this is a completely straight shot with nothing added or taken away and it is a nigh on perfect match for my transparency. The only thing I have done to it is apply my normal sharpening. Even the levels have been left more or less alone.

Fair enough. There is something about this though... perhaps I am merely seeing edge/noise effects from too much sharpening? In which case, had you considered reducing the amount of sharpening? Or, assuming you're using USM in Photoshop, increasing Threshold or reducing Radius?

 

Regards, Andrew.

Lovely Ian...Seems like a painting..

 

Hi Andrew, sharpening parameters used are as folows amount 150, radius 0.3, threshold 3, I usually find that works about right. Maybe it's too much this time. If someone would tell me how to attach an image to this text I would post the unsharpened version.

I figured it out.

Thanks for posting this Ian. Truly beautiful and as you stated in your title, stark. John.

Interesting, your values don't look too uncommon (although threshold is on the high side). Can you see what I am talking about though - along the top of the mountain (particularly on the right diagonal slope) there is pixelation (although this may purely be JPEG-related noise) and there appears to be an extreme edge with a slight halo along the divide b/n the foreground grass and bottom of the mountain. These also seem to show up to a degree in your un-sharpened version, so I have no explanation. Perhaps it's just an optical effect of the scene.

 

Did you bump up the saturation and/or contrast at all?

 

Anyway, thanks for tolerating my scrutiny of your image - I'm learning by thinking about this as well :-)

Not a problem I'm happy to discuss it. The original transparency is Velvia so you could say that has boosted the colours to some degree but I suspect the real assistant in the saturation stakes is the polariser I attached. However I stick the slide next to me on a light box and refer to the colours I see on that. This is a very accurate match of the original slide both for colour and density.

Hi Ian. This is yet another example of your usually exemplary work. The USM values that you used are close to what I have found to work for me, perhaps yours are even on the conservative side regarding the radius. After sharpening, do you fade to the the luminosity channel?

I believe what Andrew is seeing are jpeg artifacts from the PhotoNet compression monster. These seem to occur on interfaces such as those present in this photograph. I, too, have been accused of compositing images because of them. Once again, beautiful photograph. Regards.

I sharpen in LAB mode in the luminosity channel but I'm afraid I don't really understand what fading in the luminosity channel is.

Ian, the fading that I referred to is equivalent to what you are doing (I think) by going into Lab mode, selecting only the luminosity channel, and sharpening just that channel. The same thing can be done in RGB mode immediately after sharpening by selecting EDIT, and then FADE. One is presented with a menu box that one then would select LUMINOSITY. The idea is the same, to prevent sharpening artifacts from appearing in the chrominance channels. Regards.

Ian i could never tell you anything about photography lol...but felt it was a tad off then read the sharp thing...glad u posted the unsharp. So worked that. But i don't use ps use paint shop pro so bit dif on the unsharp mask...radius .68 (and big dif from .88) strengh 133 clipping 1... Bright +15 con -6.. see what u think, i tend to prefer this it makes the mount come foreward and be more ominous and grass shading more presence. Mine could be a hair too bright. This seems a tricky one to get translated, but once seeing the potential its clear this is a 7/7

 

The good part is getting to work on this i can fantasize its actually MY pic. Was a thrill for that one minute haha.

Paul I love it on reflection I think I even prefer your version. Possibly my original is closer to the slide, but that doesn't actually mean it is superior. I can only thank you for taking the time to have a go with it. Now I wonder what the conversion is from Paintshop Pro sharpening to the figures for Photoshop.

 

Walter thank you for the explanation it does sound like one and the same thing.

Great light, and composition

7/7

I don't know what it is about the mountain and the foreground but they seem to have a strong illustrative quality, like you might find in books about the Precambrian or other such geological eras. A worthy capture by all means, and one I could continue to view. I'm curious, what do you use to scan your transparencies?

I use an Epson Perfection 3200 flat bed scanner. It is remarkably god but lacks a bit of dynamic range.

Great! I take it this is Buachaille Etive More.

Yes its the Buchaille