Sundog

[purplehaze]

Another shot from my long weekend at the lake, before the ice disappeared. My challenge here was to preserve the warmth of the sunset without drowning the red and yellow of the sundog. The solution I came up with was to warm up the rocks and cool down and darken the sky. I ended up with a rather "creative" WB and a sundog that does not do credit to the real thing, I fear. Suggestions for improvement welcome.

[FootLoose]

Nice shot, Janis. I like your use of leading lines and the detail in the foreground. The colours look good to me. I have just come in from a few hours shooting: it is late afternoon, a little chilly and overcast and the sky looks pretty much like that in your photo.

PS what is a sundog?

[purplehaze]

Thanks, Greg. I'm glad you don't think the colour looks too strange. A sundog is a kind of ice halo, usually? often? seen in pairs on either side of the sun. You can read about them, see some more pics, here. On this night, I only saw the one, the other one was likely obscured by cloud. In this image, the sun is actually out of frame to the left.

[wlou]

Hi Janis, how far north are you? Cold Lake is know to keep its ice till end of May and I fought it was way up there.Would a landscape picture show more of the scene? I would try to intensify the reds and yellows as they are the colours in the Sun Dogs, or halos of the sun. Just my opinion.

[NorthernFocus]

Nicely composed image and great detail in the FG. Regarding the colors in the sky, they are pleasant and realistic looking. The clouds are well handled to give a good bit of contrast. I is interesting that the "sun dog" shows up better in the reflection than it does in the sky itself. The horizon set right in middle of frame doesn't work in this image IMO. The upper portion of sky is dead space. You might try a 4x5 ration with all of the crop taken from the top.

[bnnrcn]

I like the image as it is Janis Thanks for the info about sundogs, I didn't know about them because there are no lakes with ice where I live.

[Geoff F]

I wonder if losing a few of the foreground rocks would give more importance to the sky?

[purplehaze]

Thanks for your comments, Louise, Dan and Geoff. Here's something for each of you. I started over from scratch, took an altogether different approach, and along the way, I found I could intensify the sundog in the sky with a gradient filter.



Not Cold Lake, Louise, but the south end of good old Lake Winnipeg. The ice is usually gone by Victoria Day weekend, but not this year.

Glad to know you like the original, Binnur. I'm not sure you don't have sundogs in your part of the world, as the ice that causes them is in the atmosphere. Millennia ago, the Greeks knew that they were often a harbinger of rain.

[bnnrcn]

I didn't know sundogs were caused by the ice in the atmosphere either Janis . I have just noticed that there is a part in the link you gave above which explains how they form, I will read it thoroughly I must have missed that part because it is not explained in the main page but you have to choose one of the small titles on the page to reach the info

BTW I still like your original edit. Clouds darkened with a gradient filter seem too dark to me, if you want to use this version it might be better to crop most of the very dark cloud. I actually like the soft colours and the calming mood very much in your original edit

[Paniaa]

Love sundogs & other ice halos. Yours is plainly visible in the 2nd shot - not easy to capture. Good one.

[purplehaze]

Thanks Pania. I'm wishing I had taken better advantage of my opportunity.

Binnur, I find the clouds too dark too, but it was the best I could do without staying up all night figuring out how to have my cake and eat it, too. Another one to put aside for when I learn to use Photoshop, I guess.

[Mike Buckley]

I like everything about the second edit including the dark cloud because it so nicely frames the sundog. However, if the image was mine I would use a square crop to emphasize the interesting foreground rocks.

[bnnrcn]

Hi again Janis. With Mike's suggestion (square crop) you can leave a small part of the dark cloud in the composition to frame the sundog.The dark cloud becomes less dominating then. I think it is worth giving it a go. Although I like your first image for the soft colours, I think this option is stronger in terms of composition. I wouldn't put this image aside , just give it one more try

[purplehaze]

Thanks, Mike and Binnur. I think you are right about the square crop. Am dissatisfied enough with the overall processing that I gave it yet another go using Viveza and Color Efex, but didn't like it as well as #2 above. I have put it aside for when my PP skills are better than they are now. So much to learn.