View from South Rim at Sunrise, #2

Looking east after sunrise, still much haze in the area, but I was still

attracted to the contours of the landscape. How much blue to retain was a

question, and here I've actually removed most of it but still wanted to retain

a feeling of early morning. I would have liked more foreground, but was

limited to a 100mm (78mm equivalent in 35mm terms) as my widest lens,

and I wanted to retain the contours of the ridges at the top. Your

comments and suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

An awesome shot, Stephen.  I like the early morning haze and the great contours you have captured.  Bravo!

I think the problem faced by the photographer when shootings scenes such as this, is trying to convey the sheer magnitude and scale by means of a photograph.   I think you have gone part the way by including that vital bit of foreground, but I'm not convinced that I am seeing the magnificence of the scene any where near what you would have witnessed whilst standing there.

I have raised a question for which I have no suggestions or answers myself, and indeed have experienced the same problems when trying to photograph scenes from elevated viewpoints.

I think the amount of blue haze was guaged correctly, it does look natural.

Well done Stephen!

Best Regards

Alf

Alf, thanks for your comment.  It raises some interesting questions for me.  I did post one stitched panorama of the Grand Canyon that clearly showed (IMO) the scale of the area, but after 30 views, no one has left a comment; that usually means the photo is not well-accepted.  It could be that the angle of the sun made one side too dimensionless, but since no one commented, I can only guess.  It may have also been the 4:1 aspect ratio, or the fact that the photo had to be viewed large and that requires an extra click.  I've deleted the photo from my folder.

The other issue is that often I wasn't trying to show the grandeur of the place, but instead was using a telephoto and trying to find small segments that, in themselves, seemed to have compositional and aesthetic interest.  This photo is sort of in-between; I really would have liked to have gone a bit wider.

With the sky conditions I had, it just wasn't the time to try to depict the grandeur of the canyon; I generally chose smaller segments, although I did do a series of stitches, most of which haven't yet been processed.  It's basically the same approach when I'm photographing in a forest -- I often look for small compositions that have aesthetic appeal and/or that seem to represent the spirit of the place.

Thank you for your response and explanations. It is a great shame that you deleted the stitched panorama, I really would have liked to have made a comparison.  I did notice the thumbnail when I made the original comment, but simply didn't have time to investigate further.

I understand your strategy regarding the composition, and wonder if a wider view would have made a difference. Perhaps it is the presence of the haze that "flattens" the appearance somewhat.

I also agree that generally a zoomed in view of a particular feature or composition can be more effective and aesthetically pleasing.

I hope another stitched version will be forthcoming soon.

Cheers!

Alf

Alf, thanks for the follow-up comment.  I think haze is a very personal thing -- some like it, while others see it as a defect in the composition.  I'm in the former camp, as I think haze puts the emphasis on forms rather than color and detail.

I love this shot - the haze, shadows - makes me imagine I'm on another planet!

It must be beautiful and majestic in a large print. 

Cheers.

Just to give my 2¢ worth, it's not so much that there is too much blue (although I think I would reduce the haze a bit more) but a lack of red. Now I have no idea if these rocks have a redish tone in reality, but for some reason it seems to me that reducing the blue haze a bit and increasing the reds a little might make this image have more of a feeling of depth as there would be transition from a more redish foreground to a blueish background. Also, I think instead of going wider a portrait orientation might have been better allowing for a bit more foreground. Great portfolio by the way.

Siegfried, I took a closer look at my photo with your suggestions in mind and spent some more time on the photo.  I did reduce the blue, as I think there was too much.  But I also increased the red, and I think both of those steps improved the photo (i.e., it was closer to what I originally saw).  I went a bit further with Nik Color Efex and brightened the bottom rock wall just a bit and reduced the brightness of the remainder of the photo (thereby having the light more evenly distributed throughout the frame).  On my screen, all of these steps improved the photo.  There is still an element of blue, but it's more confined to the top of the photo, in the haze, which I think is appropriate.  I'll attach a small version of the latest iteration.  Thanks for your suggestions.