mt. adams A Distant View of Mt. Adams

Your comments are most welcomed...

I think this composition is beautiful, and with a slight push of post-work i think can become more effective. This is <2 minutes of post work, standard fare such as careful saturation/hue work, etc.... but this at least hits me a little more, evens the sky with the ground, etc.. sorry for the imposition of an edit, hope it does not offend. Best- jeff

Beautiful composition. Agree with Jeff that adding contrast and hue adds more punch.

Subtle scene that looks almost surreal thanks to the mist from which Mt Adams emerges. Beautiful colouring of the sky adds even more to that feeling. The foreground is well composed nevertheless it seems to dominate the image. I think it would be even more successful without the rock which blocks the entrance to the beautiful valley that leads to the mountain. I would like to see an alternative photo made with the tripod placed on this rock. But on the other hand the rock makes the composition better balanced as many important elements are placed on the left side of this photograph. Anyway an alluring photograph that appeals to me more and more but the composition could be better considered.

 

Jeff's version is more contrasty and saturated but is it more intriguing? Personally I do not think so. I would prefer something in between with better defined light around the mountain and a little bit more saturated grass. And I think that the frame draws too much attention here.

Thank Jeff, Einer, and Michal. After a visit to Jeff's portfolio, I have no doubt that with the original file and time Jeff could breath much more life into this image. I am always interested to see where others would take me. Thanks Jeff for sharing some of your vision.

 

Michal, I always learn from your well articulated responses to other's work. Here I think I prefer the foreground stone (I actually have other shots from here with out it to compare) because it gives this image greater balance, adds significantly to the sense of 3 dimensional space and also contributes to pattern repetition x2: the half circle on the inner side and the irregular pattern on the outer side. My thanks to you all for taking the time to comment...

David, again a very moody primal scene captured by your eye and camera. What connects for me the sky to earth is the middle semi accentuated gray/blue line of mountain. I read it from LR a bit diagonaly to that semi line behind the dark mountain , and from there to the Mt. Adams in the fog, and sky darker UR.

 

The suggestion for more contrast is another possibility , but makes all parts of the image more or less on the same level of strenght , while the original has the nice feeling of receding to the geographical distance done by the good dof. So for me it works as is.

 

Another good addition to that series of yours.

a fine composition with beautiful subdued colours.

If I analyzed the mountain enough I could determine from where you took the photo, but I'll just ask instead. Where?

I find it to be very nice. I love hiking around Mt. Adams.

Hello Shawn. This was taken last weekend at Goat Rocks. The exact location was between Snowgrass and Goat Lake. I am very pleased you like this one...

 

Also my thanks to Klaus and Pnina for your comments. I know you both would really enjoy being in this this alpine space...

David you have offered a B/W version

here

what do you think?

Belleza de imagen, perfecta luz y color, gran encuadre y magnifica composicion, saludos cordiales David, Gracias por tu comentario.

Nice fg, a dream in the bg, and in the middle the grey, stony reality. So the comment is: A nice, dreamy real one. Congenial!

 

(The current rating system: Dont read a 6 every time you see a 6 :-))

I too was really struck by the stepping-stone structure of the composition, combined with the zig-zag path through the valley. The way the mountain is poking through the mist is profoundly beautiful. David, you've posted a few recently that capture a very primal aspect of the landscape, making these scenes feel ancient, timeless, untouched by humanity.

David, this is an outstanding composition, you captured this breathtaking view masterfully. The two circular stone formations in the foreground are kind of steps, that lead into the scene from LR to the Mt Adams. I would not crop anything, or think about other camera points, this is just right perfect.

I know your preference for softer contrast, and you have surely influenced my own attitude. I tried an S curve but it spoiled the delicate tones, and the atmosphere. But saturation could be upped a wee bit IMO. In LAB mode you can enhance colors without touching contrast, I tried a 10% enhanced a and b channel. What do you think ? I am not sure myself, but to some degree it is a matter of personal taste... Anyway, excellent landscape, I would be proud to have it hanging on my wall

You've really crammed a lot into this composition David, and it all comes together tremendously. There is a great sense of motion throughout. I understand the motivation behind Carsten's suggestion, but my own entirely personal preference is for your original rendering. Great work.

Thanks Daily, Chris, Carsten and Leigh. Your comments are especially appreciated. Daily I like dreamy, thanks. Chris I am glad folks are responding to these more pristine environments I am shooting -- I sure do. Leigh thanks for noticing the movement and its attendant tension. Carsten, I actually like your rendering in LAB color. I wonder though about the printing implications? Do you print from within LAB or convert again? Thanks again all of you for taking your time to comment.

David, I'm for leaving this just as it is. Others have alreday commented on the stepping stones leading to the distant mountain. I would probably have left the FG stone out and produced a lesser result. This image is lovely, delicate and needs no further magic, IMHO.

Mmm... difficult. First reaction was, wow, what a foreground, but too much sky? I keep wanting to crop this square, and mirror image it, to improve the balance. Although this pushes a lot of weight to the right, it improves the influence of the distant, mist covered mountains. In the original, where they're on the middle right, they seem a bit lost amongst the activity of the stone and expanse of sky. With a crop, and reversed, they provide an intriquing background and balance out the left to right line of the stone and mountain. My eye can travel to the UFO landing pad in the middle and then decide whether it wants to step up to Adams, or down into the hazy valley...

 

...but, a square feels too cramped, and it took me a while to actually pick up on the subtle diagonal balance the clouds bring to the foreground. So maybe the orginal is the best way to go.

David, a lot has been said already. Personally, I like the shot as it is. Your style is well visible here. Congratulations on this dreamy shot... Best regards. Peter

David, I dont print from LAB. A 16bit/channel RGB converted to LAB can be converted back again, one time, without any noticeable degradation. Working in LAB lets you change color without touching contrast or luminance, and without artifacts. You could find some information here or here

Carsten, I would not suggest using Lab here. The colouring of this image is very subtle and although HSL adjustement may change luminosity a little I think it is much more appropriate in this case. It lets us adjust the colour precisely and Lab is better at stronger adjustements when the problems with HSL may become significant. Of course I know the advantages of Lab, I worked with it for some time when I had to prepare CMYK prepress separations. It can be really powerful, as Dan Margulis wrote, but sometimes we just do not need this power (though in prepress we really use all the tools to obtain acceptable colour in the narrow and frustrating CMYK colourspace and acceptable contrast on paper). I do not mean that the results of your correction are bad in any respect but they can be easily obtained with HSL without any visible changes in luminosity or tint and with a better control over the final effect. Personally I rarely use Lab when I work with RGB images as I post process my own photographs that have a good dynamic range and colour at the beginning, even Dan Margulis claims that Lab is not so useful with this kind of material. I use luminosity sometimes but I rarely adjust *a and *b channels - IMHO the effects of these adjustements look somewhat unnatural.

MIchal, from RAW you should get a decent TIF with good colors and contrast, if you adjust saturation and contrast in Capture One ore ACR. D`accord. But 50% of my recent photos were jpegs from my S80 digicam, and I wrote a PS action including LAB color and contrast change (with curves dialog on in the LAB correction part). I find the LAB workflow quite intuitive.

I made a very slight color boost in LAB here, because I work also on jpegs/ bitmaps. Such slight modifications will not look noticeably different with HSL, this is correct.

Beautiful landscape! I also enjoy to read the other photographer comments and learn something! I like here the lighting and the calm of all enviroment because of very well balanced colours! Thank you for sharing

I prefer the original upload to the suggested alternatives. To crop the foreground stone would make a more conventionally balanced but to me less interesting and engaging image. You can't lose that sky! And I would not change the gentle colours for anything more contrasty.