single photo Final Awakening

Well...this image series has sparked good debates and I appreciate

everyones opinions and help. There are two versions worked which I

have posted here on PN, taken approx 5 minutes apart. The previous

version (Awaken II) was blended by cutting and pasting the sky out

instead of simply blending them using a gradient mask in CS2 as I

did in this version.

 

I think both versions have such a contrast between the sky and the

mountain because of the light that the clouds look as if they were

placed from a different day's shoot. This is a difficult image to

judge those characteristics by because these conditions I

experienced were so rare. Not often, do we have such ideal

conditions for a sunset shot. The clouds were low and directly

behind the mountain, making the ridge line stand off from the sky

even more.

 

I'd like to hear 2 things from you if I may...

1) Which version's clouds do you find more appealing?

2) Does the processing look more natural in "Final Awakenings"

over "Awaken II"?

 

Thanks in advance...

Perfect composition, colors, mood!

I like Awakening 2 better ... great shot Rick !

Yes this is a much better and far more natural looking result. The mountain tones and seem to fit better with the sky so the 'cut out' feel has gone. I agree with Vicky C that somtimes no matter what you seem to do the results can seem to make be photo art of manipulated. Take a look at my Final Days of Earth image in my portfolio, I cant seem to get it to sit well and it looks photoshoped, which created really mixed feelings. In answer to your questions, this version is the answer to both. I would maybe consider increasing brightness a little but I wasnt their and I dont know what it looked like.

its really fantastic work with great composition...

Difficult to say which is more appealing because they are both wonderful images, however, the "Awaken II" seems to be more natural to me.

Impressive! Regards.

This appears more natural because the color in the clouds is reflected here in both the foreground water and the mountainside snow, which in real life it would be. That was missing before and so the result just looked like a composite image, while this version seems less so. But by way of backhanded compliment, I would opine that this stunning cloudscape, awesome though it is, still doesn't rank among your best stuff. I am very glad to watch its progression, though, and would echo the earlier suggestion to possibly brighten it uniformly.

Rick--Is this mountain tired of waking up yet?!?! I'm teasing...while I would never say that the previous post (Awakening II) was "bad," I do think this version is much improved. To be honest, I was expecting you to lose some of the color and drama of that cloud but I think this image actually has MORE of each! Furthermore, I think the mountain and foreground are better in this version. Before they seemed "separate" from the sky but in this version they blend together in a very pleasant and realistic manner. In the end though, I would suspect that most people would not notice a difference without them side by side. Only those of us that stop and take a good close look will see the improvements but after doing so myself, I wholeheartedly give the "Final Awakening" my vote.

 

Furthermore, I gather from the discussions that your goal is to make this image realistic and appear how it did to your eyes the day you took it (I admire this goal and feel that makes the best photograph, by the way). I am very new to photography and don't believe I have any revolutionary images, but in my brief experience I have noticed that as a landscape photographer we search for the "unreal" sunrise or sunset. The problem is, that when we find it, often people don't believe it existed! Several times people have commented that my sky was "unrealistic" or looked fake when the reality is that I didn't have a single filter and didn't even know how to use Photoshop! The way I got the image is this: I go to the beach every day (assuming I'm out of the hospital by sunset) and go for a run near sunset--if it looks like a winner, I pull the camera out and shoot. So, the reason I can find those skies is that I selected it from 100 different sunsets! I guess you could say God made all sunsets beautiful, but not the same so I try to cherry-pick what I like. The point of all this is to encourage you to keep this in mind--you were the only one there for this dramatic sight so only you know the "truth" of what it looked like. If a scene looked a certain way don't be afraid to portray it exactly how it looked, even if some people find it to be unrealistic. I believe our goal as landscapers is to find sights that make your jaw drop open and preserve them for everyone else.

 

With that said, this image does just that. This is one of those images where you say "Wow, I wish I could have seen that!" I'm glad you had your camera with you and captured it for me and others to see. Furthermore, I didn't see the scene, but I'm willing to bet that through post-processing you are now showing me a pretty good visual of what it looked like. Once again, this one gets my vote and you get my respect for one of the best, most dramatic photos I've seen on here in a while! Great job...I look forward to following your work in the future!