"Eroded Sentinels of the Eons"

WOW! An exceptional image! The B&W treatment is perfect, the textures are wonderful, and the dramatic sky is a fabulous background.

This may well be your best black and white posted to date! Superb composition; but the light and the tones are what does it for me. You've got every one of the Zones in here! Fabulous sky too. Distinctly otherworldly. Great job, Mark. Cheers! Chris

Thanks Lou Ann and Chris. I am kinda digging this as well, but I feel I will need to go back and redo sometime soon. I wanted a darker sky and brighter tones in the rock, just the opposite of my slide. In my attempt, I had to work hard on the blending and don't feel great about the transitions. As well, there is a fair amount of grain. Some prefer grainy b&w shots, but I despise grain and noise in just about anything. Still, I like my attempt here.

Here is a different version! As I said, the original slide had a brighter sky with much darker rock detail. I scanned it twice with the opposite values in mind and then married the two scans.

Thanks for any observations!

Stunning shot with a tremendous amount of drama... Chris said it best, it's like another world. Mike

 

Mark, I'm new to photo.net, so I don't yet know the etiquette. But since I'm a blunt bloke, I'll be blunt.

 

You say you don't like the transitions. Nor do I. Those haloes spoil the shot, and it looks to me that you've overdone the sharpening on the rock too. The sky seems too contrasty, which pulls it forward into the same plane as the rocks.

 

The photo certainly doesn't lack drama, and the light is wonderful (if a little harsh) but I think you should trust your original shot a bit more and go lightly on the post-processing.

What a beautiful and shocking scenery. Your composition is excellent, highlighting the grandiose rock formation. The sharpness is lacking a little bit. The shadow is indicating, the sky was added to it, ( or, maybe not.?) but no problem of that. The sky is a good choice. The b/w treatment is proper for this subject. Bravo.

 

Cheers; Bela

Hi:

Mark, overall a great shot. The cloud background is very nice. I think a slight rotation of the photograph to the left, say about 1 deg, would make it ideal for me.

Thanks Mike, Martin and Bela. This is an example of an old slide that was not of much use, yet had some potential if re-worked. It is my effort in post conception. I do appreciate the honest feedback. I would reply by saying that the blend on the full res file is convincing, but the compression has accentuated the transitions and contrast, as often is the case. If nothing else, it is thought provoking. While I am not the ultimate purist, I may resign this effort as approaching over the top. I still hold on to the fact that it is from one image and the sky is indeed the original, just dramatized. As far as sharpening, I am getting conflicting observations on this. I think the sharpening is pushing the envelope, but does not appear garish. For what it is worth, I enjoyed the process and especially the interaction. Thanks!

Thanks Piras. I see what you mean, a slight tilt to the right in appearance.

Mark, Very nice and a wonderful capture...RAY

I like the sense of monumental scale here. Almost mythical.

This revision looks as good as I am going to get it. I chose not to rotate to the left because it would require cropping an image that is already tight. I feel it is justified because the horizontal bands on the lower Mesa are already leaning left. While it may appear to lean right, it is simply the illusion of a tilt.