"The Painted Desert"

No, this is not THE Painted Desert of Arizona. It just seemed an appropriate name for this scene. Whenever I record a scene with "touches" of color, the first description that comes to mind is "painterly". While in the Bishop Creek area, my primary objective was for capturing autumn colors. I expected the most vivid colors to come from the quaking aspens. Unfortunately, the aspens were either past peak or had not fully changed yet. I was stuck in the middle. I found some of the most vivid color along the creek banks in the form of cottonwoods and willows, with a prodigious amount of blooming chamisa. With the rising sun behind, the willows seemed to take on a glow. I came away with some vivid sunrise images full of color, but my favorite captures had a more subtle display. This would probably be my favorite of the bunch. Thanks for stopping by and please utilize the Larger preview for higher detail!

Thanks for your observations and opinions. Please view the Larger preview!

Mark,

You picked the perfect title. Painted it is, breathtaking, you made a photograph a painting. 7/7 Regards, Patsy

Hi Mark, very nice composition and lovely soft tones.

The sharpness works for me as is, but in some of my photos, some people would tell me that it is not sharp enough.

 

Well it always depends on the eye of the beholder.

 

Love it!

Cheers!

Thanks Patsy and Yannik! I could add sharpening at the web res level (I actually do with all of my web images), but this one would would start to look crunchy because of all the fine detail, so I was more prudent. The full res image is sharp enough, but I doubt I would sharpen as hard with this for printing because I want to retain some fluidity, in keeping with the painterly concept. BTW, I have updated this version and reduced the blue in the distant mountain. The first upload was too blue and appeared distracting from the more important elements of the photo!

This is incredibly righteous! I really love the balance of the composition; and again, your management of the light and colors is nothing short of stunning. There's such a lovely glow to the vegetation in the FG and middle-ground. A very natural and appealing image! Cheers! Chris

I am very interested to know if there is any HDR applied here. If there is it is very well done.

HI Mark, I totally agree with you regarding the fine details in the vegetation, that more sharpening would ruin it.

Have a great day!

Thanks Chris, Steve and Yannik. Steve, yes and no is how I would answer that. Yes, it is a high dynamic range image, or in other words, the range of light tones exceeded the capacity of the camera sensor. No, it is not an image processed with HDR software like Photomatix. I usually expose for the brightest highlight to be within the right side of the histogram and then make another exposure that ensures the darkest shadows are within the left side of the histogram. In both case, I like to provide a little room from the wall of the histogram, especially when exposing for the shadows. If the range of light is very wide, I will expose one more frame somewhere in the middle to enable a seamless blend. Then I combine them in Photoshop. My method is to simply create a layer mask which will punch out the sky from the shadows exposure and allow the sky to come through. Then I will modify the mask with a low opacity brush to make the two images blend. I use a Wacom graphics tablet instead of a mouse to ensure greater control over my brush. I have been doing it this way for over a year and the mere repetition of blending has introduced many new techniques for getting an invisible transition. That's the short answer. I have read where some photographers use as many as 7 exposures, then combine them with Photomatix. I believe that is unnecessary and often results in contrived looking images. My goal is to simply record all the detail in the scene, much like how I see it with my own eyes. Thanks for asking!

Mark, you've captured a beautiful and tranquil moment. I'm glad that I have arrived late as I have been able to read the other posts. I can believe this image, and it certainly doesn't look HDR to me. The amount of light looks fine given the amount of cloud to provide reflected light.

 

I just don't understand the obsession with sharpness. Given that I have some of the sharpest lenses on the planet, and a back which doesn't soften the image, most of my images wouldn't cut it if sharpness were the criteria.

 

Thanks again for showing us a beautiful piece of nature.

Very easy on the eye Mark! A delightful landscape.

 

Best wishes, David

Mark... This one just jumped out at me. Not only for your trademark fine detail, but you've captured what we like to call a real "Auburn" sky; all blue and orange. Exceptional shot... Mike

 

 

Hello again Mark, I read your answer on how you merge your images with Photoshop and about Photomatix. Photomatix is a software that I don't use.

I use Photoshop for doing my HDR as it keeps the image right without turning it into cartoon-like image as Photomatix does.

But maybe you know already that you can do HDR with Photoshop?

 

All the best!

Beautiful and well composed.  Thanks for telling us how you did it.  Best Regards,