"Gold on Them Thar Hills"

I have recently come down with a viral/bacterial infection. My doctor is not sure which, but thinks it's viral. I have pink eye in both eyes, my ear is infected, my head feels like it could explode, my chest is congested, my ears are ringing like I just returned from a Led Zeppelin concert and on St. Paddy's day, there were enough green chunks surfacing out of me to justify not being pinched. This too shall pass, but not before I have been out to take some spring photos. Most would use this as an excuse to catch some zzzzzs, but I am just foolish enough to go out and walk upon the likely source; high pollen counts. Even if it has nothing to do with the pollen, that could only exacerbate the symptoms. Meanwhile, the elevation gain only increases the pressure in my head. I just ain't right, and I'm not referring to my physical health. I'm tetched in the head! I have a digital camera that came without a straight jacket. I'm on the loose looking for wildflowers and I won't stop for nothing. Scenes like this are what make me go crazy. Can you blame me? Come on, you know what I'm talkin bout!

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....no pain, no gain! Thanks for going beyond the pain barrier to bring us this stunning shot. Cheers, RickDB

Van Gogh and Tchaikovsky are 2 of many creative artists who were 'tetched in the head', so you're in good company. :-) And yes, I certainly understand the 'illness'. :-) Seriously, I hope you're feeling better soon. Lucky for us you braved it and went out for these amazing shots. First of all, I've never even seen a fiddlehead, which I'd love to do.......but to see an entire sea of them is absolutely amazing. Coupled with the undulating hills and the pinkish/peachish/purplish sky, it's just one amazingly glorious scene. How can I even think about coming to that area in the summer.....you said everything would be brown by then, but I'd be having visions of what 'could have been'.........I'd better plan to visit that area earlier in the season. Any ideas about a good place to go in June? Other than Yosemite? We've been there before, and we'd certainly love to go back. But California is such a big place that it must have so many other wonderful places to visit as well. Take care of yourself, and I hope your illness is short-lived!

Beautiful image, very nice diagonal composition. Regards.

Excellent work!

very beautiful picture with vibrant shades

Excellent pastel colours work, compliments!

Thanks Rick, Christal, Gunnar, Maurizio, Umesh and Fabrizio! Of course, my dialogue is tongue-in-cheek, but I am definitely goofy about wildflowers. I am actually feeling better, but even on my worst day, if the clouds were right, I would have been out. The only thing stopping me from taking pictures is when my wife puts her foot down. Still, she knows about this time of year and works with me to afford some time out shooting. Christal, June is a good month weather wise, but the best of the wildflowers will be gone. There are some locations that will be springing, probably above 5,000 feet. If you haven't been to the Eastern Sierra, that's where I would be in June. Alabama Hills, Onion Valley, Buttermilk Hills, Mono Lake, Sabrina Lake Basin, etc. The wildflowers at the highest elevations are due in mid to late July. Sequoia could also be a good bet. I have a few other lesser known locations you might like. Let me know!

Amazing shot , fantastic colors , wonderful light and composition ............................. Best regards.

It's so beautiful ..................... Very good composition , light and colors

Beautiful landscape and composition - well done.

 

Paul

Awesome image. I really like the composition and the saturated colors.

A gorgeous image. Comp & colors are so nice. A beautiful rendering of spring.

Thanks so much Falak, Alon, Paul, MY, Amitai and Drew for your kind thoughts!

Stunning, a real breathtaker. Can you tell us a little more about the "how did you get this amazing light" question? Take care!

Hello Wouter, thanks for the comment and the question. The simple answer is that the "light" is representative of timing, simply that I make sure I render my images at a time when the light is romantic if you will. In this case, the sun is setting, yet there is enough cloud cover and haze to soften and reduce the intensity. The more complicated answer is that I blend multiple exposures so the light will appear even across the frame, similar to how our eyes perceive a higher dynamic range of light. One single exposure and the camera will record more contrast and the foreground will become much darker if I expose for the sky. The information in the foreground is therefore reduced to a compressed tonal range and separation is lost. Because I have bracketed for a longer second exposure for the foreground, I can now control the amount of detail throughout the scene. The best example is evident in the tree to the left. Even in this low light scenario, it is easily distinguishable from the rest of the foreground elements, meaning it has good separation. If the tonal range was compressed into the darkest portion of the histogram, say the lowest sixth, then all of the elements begin to merge. There is not enough information to pull them apart by lightening with curves. Even if a curves adjustment is applied to broaden the tonal range, problems become evident through pixelation (noise). In the blended version, the darkest sixth becomes the middle half, much more information is available. I will apply curves among other adjustments, which will squeeze down the range to about a third. There will be no noise and all of the elements occupy there own range of tones, which entails optimum separation. The result is a single image file that provides us with a rendition of the scene much like how we see it. Rather than being muddy with merged foreground elements, It just glows with a variety of colors and tones. There are a few more moves I will make that bring forward all of the colors, similar to how the Velvia film I once used produced vivid colors. One move in particular is to use the channel mixer to intensify the RGB spectrum. Meanwhile I work in 16 bit ProPhoto color space, which also offers file integrity throughout the workflow process. Obviously, none of this would be effective if I did not record in the RAW format. Wow, I'm out of breath!

Breathtaking image! Bravo!

Thanks Mark for your clear answer. Thing is, I have been making HDR's for some time now, and I cannot get it right. Usually I make 5 pictures, -2-1-0+1+2 stops exposure, and try to blend it in with CS4. But I get unnatural looks. How did you post processed this image? That is the whole issue I think? Brgds, Wouter

Mark ,, Great capture.. Such wide range of color tones!! Great composition and exposure. Very well done.

It does not get any better 7/7 - congrats!

Most people are saying that a software called Photomatix is better than Photoshop re HDR. Here is a link where you can do some reading link. I have used it and I am quite satisfied with the results and it does not have the "HDR Look" even though you could get the HDR look if you want.

 

Mark - I hope you are feeling better!

Thanx Tatjana, Steven and Tony. Tony, kind of you to wish me well. It must be bacterial as I have been taking antibiotics and I am feeling pretty normal. Thanks also for addressing Wouter's query. Wouter, Tony is right. Photomatix is better than CS4's merge to HDR. It allows you more control over the results. As for me, I generally work with two exposures unless I need a third in the middle to help the blending. Often my first exposure will be +2 to +4 and the second exposure will be -3 to -5. The important thing is that the exposure for the sky (-3 EV to -5 EV) does not hit the right side of the histogram and the exposure for the foreground (+2 EV to +4 EV) does not hit the left side. Then I place the brighter exposure as a layer over the darker exposure. Then I make a selection of the sky, feather the selection ( I have many methods for feathering), invert the selection and punch out the sky with a layer mask. Most often I will have to go and touch up the layer mask with a low opacity brush to eliminate haloes and make the blend seamless. For this reason, I work with a digital graphics tablet so I can paint with a stylus, which allows me much greater control. It would be difficult to completely address the question regarding my entire workflow, although doing so could help me get a book going! It is a long drawn out process I have developed through hours of trial and error. Over time, it has become almost painless. Photomatix is more intuitive, so that would be a good way to go.

Simply a beautiful image. Master of processing. Sounds like a lot of work, but the proof is in the pudding.

Stunning image. I particularly like the few purple flowers scattered in the left foreground. I also enjoyed reading 'the making of'. Wish there was more of this on PN as you can learn a lot about how to achieve particular effects .regards, erik