"High Cathedral"

Cathedral Peak and Unicorn Peak above the Tuolumne River Cascades. Thanks for

any thoughts or questions! Please click image for a Larger view.

Wonderfull photo Mark!

 

I like the cool tones of the water,and the way they are accented by the peaks in the background.I think that you came up with the berfect balance of water and background.Really nice job!

Nice vantage point for the shot...The water however seems almost too blue..could be my craptastic monitor at work. Otherwise very nice image. Congrats Ken

Thanks Jacob and Ken. Your monitor is probably close, the processing of the water was intentionally cool. The overall scene was extremely blue-cyan because of a cloudless sunrise and shaded foreground. I also believe for some reason that these images, when travelling through the maze of wires and servers, begin to shift to the blue-cyan side it seems. Frankly, however, I have seen too many images where the waters of rivers and cascades have been wiped clean of any color, desaturated in their artsy aspect. I like working towards what I saw from behind the camera, much like this. Saying this is the way I remember it is my best defense until I think of something better.

Again, this is one of those situations where you, Leo, and I all shot this scene; but each of us has a materially different take on it. This is very nicely seen, captured, and processed, Mark. I think the shutter speed is just perfect; with that much whitish blurred water it gives the overall image some really great balance against the dominant blues. Great shot, Big Guy! This is going into the Faves Folder! Cheers! Chris

This is awesome! Excellent exposure and the composition is not only unique, but quite beautiful and dramatic. Love it!

Thanks Greg for stopping by. I had processed this once before and tried to bring everything back to "nuetral". The post was well recieved, but it looked flat and truly did not look the way I had percieved it. The water up here is crystal clear and appears very blue in the shade. Basically I mitigated the strong blue-cyan cast in the granite and toned it down considerably in the water, yet preserved the refreshing appearance I encountered.

The water is very blue but I love it, it contrasts beautifully with the soft beige of the rocks. The improbably shaped spires in the distance add to the other worldy feel.

Beautifully composed and exposed.

 

Simon

Well, doesn't this look familiar ;-)

 

I've browsed through your portfolio for quite some time and to be brutally honest I think it's great. You sure know what you're doing so it won't come as a surprise I like this one although I haven't made up my mind yet about your treatment of it. It looks somewhat artificial but also attractive because of it.

 

Thanks also for that nice discussion we had the other day. Great to find nice people with great stuff that way. Will be back.

Simon: Thanks for your "Yay" vote on the blue water. I draw inspiration from you. Your recent "Western Blues" post looks like a possible blend of color temps, but the effect is obvious. The cooler tones against the warmer tones provide a pleasing balance, also providing contrast without modifying luminosity. I have always felt that an image predominately cool or warm, a monochromatic if you will, appears out of balance to me. Some images are going to be that way, such as a snowy landscape in shade. When that same snowy scene is coupled with a fiery sunset, BAM! Thanks for your vision.

 

Ton: I understand your observation regarding the unnaturalness. I think this goes beyond whether or not the water is blue, but also should address the luminosity as well. Obviously, this image is a product of a judicious application of neutral grad filters and as well, some post blending to render the scene balanced in density of luminosity, meaning equally bright from bottom to top. Our brains are programmed to see this as nuetral or graytone for the water and much darker in the shaded foreground. That is actually much more like a camera sees it (well, actually the camera said this scene was completely blue-cyan). If you were standing at this location in person, your eyes would scan the scene and most likely percieve it as it is shown here. It would look natural in 3D, but in 2D, our brains are ingrained to see it differently because that is the way most 2D images appear. I will admit that the water may be favoring the blue spectrum. I remember the warmer granite and the cool, clear refreshing cascades vividly. I believe the digital revolution has brought on another revolution for our eyes and their expectations. Well done HDR or EDR (extended dynamic range) has provided us with images that more closely appear as if we were there. These images look somewhat unsettling in 2D because it is not what we expect. If you were shooting a sunset and a friend was standing in front of the camera facing you, a straight exposure from the camera would render your friend as a silhouette. But if you had no camera and were looking at your friend, you could make out every feature on his or her face, despite the setting sun behind. This is my story and I'm sticking to it. Thanks again Ton for the give and take, I probably neglect too many important things getting caught up in these stimulating threads. See ya round Campus!

I for one can validate the 'high altitude blues.' I think you'll find that each of us, on this trip, have been bedeviled by the blue/cyan cast to the early morning shots; I think it is the altitude and the camera's sensors being somewhat flim-flammed by the 'cold' light in making its white balance choice. This results in different artistic choices being made by each of us; Ray Banfield, Chris Harris, Leo Burkey, and Mark Geistweite. Fortunately, this artistic license has resulted in a series of photographs that may depict somewhat the same scenes, but each is remarkably different. I personally view this trip as a learning experience as much about technical equipment and capabilities, as artistic vision. I now know what my Olympus will and can do; and I know that I am looking for an upgrade to something that fits me better. Cheers! Chris

"This is my story and I'm sticking to it"

 

you should, for two reasons. First of all there is truth in a lot of what you say and secondly because it's your vision. I see to many people swayed by remarks of others. Producing consistent and even top results takes a certain amount of selfcenterdness about one's own work. You have to know what you're about and act accordingly. Something however should maybe be aded to your explanation and that's the difference between a digital sensor and colourfilm (slides or negative). That's not saying that one is better than the other but it has to be said that there is absolutely a difference in how a scene like this would be reproduced on various media especcially in such high contrast conditions.

 

As I'm working on my ongoing racetrackseries I do that with another (female) photographer. Time and again we've shot the same scenes, sometimes standing no more than a meter apart, but ending up with totally different photo's and for me that's great fun. While I concentrate on the people there she goes for detail (how tires are stacked, tools etc). and you're right, it's a learning experience. It gives you insight in how someone else's mind works.

 

Apart from that by now it's clear you all had a great time there

Of course I wasn't there, but I've seen similar scenes before.....I think this is not only beautifully composed and processed, but it's believable as well. I don't think you've overdone the blues....just my 2 cents. But I have to chime in on the artistic idea you guys are talking about. It's so similar to my music really. If you hear 5 different artists play the Brahms violin concerto, you're going to get 5 distinctly different renditions. How true this is of photography, and that's one of the things that I'm finding so rewarding about this new hobby of mine. It's another artistic outlet, and I really do think viewing a person's photo gives you a glimpse into what kind of person they are. I find the whole psychology of photography fascinating!

So I didn't make it as far as you, Chris and Leo did down the cascades but I saw and captured the same blue. Interesting discussion going for this shot. Kinda what I like about PN. This capture is super. From the color to the DOF which makes your foreground rocks as clear as Unicorn Peak some 4 or so miles in the background. Ditto to what Chris said, this one heading for my favorite folio.Oh, glad to hear you picked up CS3. I can't wait to get it back...RAY