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© Copyright © 2011 Stephen Penland

Lone Tree in Freezing Fog


stp

Photographer: Stephen Penland;
Exposure Date: 2011:12:11 13:16:48;
Make: Hasselblad;
Model: Hasselblad H4D-40;
Exposure Time: 1/50.0 seconds s;
FNumber: f/11.0;
ISOSpeedRatings: ISO 100;
ExposureProgram: Other;
MeteringMode: Other;
Flash: Flash did not fire;
FocalLength: 360.0 mm mm;
FocalLengthIn35mmFilm: 284 mm;
Software: Phocus 2.6.5;

Copyright

© Copyright © 2011 Stephen Penland

From the category:

Landscape

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Recommended Comments

This came back with a blue cast that adjustment of the white balance

could not alter in a realistic way. So reality was blue. It was a lone tree in

an empty wheat field, and I liked the gently rolling hills that are barely

visible behind it. Your comments and suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks.

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I would turn it to b&w. Watch out for the posterization at the left and right corner of the sky. (on my monitor). More contrast would help the image, specially on the foreground IMHO.

Cheers.

Bela

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I like the quiet subtlety of the image, I think the temptation would be to increase the contrast to give it more punch, but I think in doing so would detract from the minimilistic atmosphere. I'd say the tones are realistic too, the only thing I might be tempted to change is to allow a bit more room above the tree to accentuate it's remote isolation.

Best Regards

Alf

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Thanks very much for the comments and suggestions.  When I look at a histogram of a foggy scene, it's usually quite narrow -- the contrast isn't very great, blacks aren't very black, and whites aren't very white.  In doing the processing, I can increase the contrast quite easily, and the histogram can become much wider with blacker blacks and whiter whites.  However, it's easily to increase the contrast to the extent that it no longer looks like it did in the fog.  So I tend to leave the histogram as captured, but I do adjust the exposure up or down so that it looks 1) like I remembered, and 2) "good."

I will convert this to a B&W, largely to see how it looks without the blue cast.

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Alf, attached is the original, uncropped version.  I thought it might be better with less sky, since that's a relatively large, uniform area.  When I crop, I like to do so to a standard aspect ratio; this was done 2:1.  If I were to add more to the sky, it would probably be done by sacrificing some of the ground, and that might be a good move.  Note: I did crop some from the bottom of the original, primarily to omit some less sharp areas.

22479895.jpg
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So once again I think I'm benefitting from feedback.  I made a B&W version that I personally like better than the blue cast, and I've sacrificed some of the ground to put more space over the tree (keeping the same 2:1 ratio).  When doing the B&W conversion, I could have greatly increased the contrast, but I decided to keep with the more mute, fog-influenced version.

I'll leave this up for a bit, but eventually replace the original posting with this revised posting, and I'll do it in a way that folks who may be interested can see how it changed based on comments.  Thanks again.

22480016.jpg
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Hi Stephen.  I looked at all your versions and I have to admit I like the B&W version the best.  I am glad that you stuck to less contrast instead of more as it maintains the ethereal feeling this way.  Nice shot.

Paul

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The B&W version has been posted, but it will take a number of hours to work its way through the system.

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Hi Stephen,  

You have an interesting discussion going here.  It's the minimalism that makes the image mean to me.  I vacillate between the blue and the b&W.  I think I favor the formatting in the b&W, but would consider going back to the color version.  They are both excellent and we are splitting hairs between a winner and a revised winner.  I think I favor the color version because the b&w lacks a range of b&w values.  How would this look if the blue sky were a little lighter to create more separation with the land.  I wouldn't separate the two too much as you don't want to lose the mood of the image.  These are just ideas; it's easy to speculate about an excellent image.   Excellent work.   Keep posting your work.  Larry

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