Even on the foggiest of days, beauty still finds a way to shine through - CC Please

[Kathy O]

I just got back from what I like to call paradise, hiking in the Colorado (USA) mountains. I shot these two photos on a foggy beautiful hike, I love how the mountains shine through the fog.

There are also some things in the photos that I am not sure I am completely happy with, not sure if I am just being to picky, so I would like to some feedback on these photos, what you like . . . what you don't like . . . what might be distracting, etc. and see if you have some of the same thoughts or if you see things I had not seen that could make the photos better. Thank you so much. I have found that this site is the best for me to learn from.

[Geoff F]

For me, Kathy, the first image isn't really working at the moment. The balance seems wrong and the left side doesn't really add anything important. I would try cropping a little closer to the main elements. Perhaps lose around a quarter of the width from the left side and maybe just a fraction from the top?

The second one works OK but cropping a little from the top appears to add to the apparent overall height of the rocks and tree. That does lose the little patch of blue sky but in this case I find it to be a bit distracting while having just those sombre grey clouds seems more dramatic. If necessary, to fit into a standard size, you could also lose a bit from the bottom, but this area it looks fine as it is now.

[Kathy O]

For me, Kathy, the first image isn't really working at the moment. The balance seems wrong and the left side doesn't really add anything important. I would try cropping a little closer to the main elements. Perhaps lose around a quarter of the width from the left side and maybe just a fraction from the top?

The second one works OK but cropping a little from the top appears to add to the apparent overall height of the rocks and tree. That does lose the little patch of blue sky but in this case I find it to be a bit distracting while having just those sombre grey clouds seems more dramatic. If necessary, to fit into a standard size, you could also lose a bit from the bottom, but this area it looks fine as it is now.

Thank you Geoff, I appreciate your input

[Manfred M]

Kathy - photographing a subject obstructed by clouds is not an easy task. Too much (as is the case here), the clouds overwhelm the subject and if there is too little, the effect can be more distracting than anything else. Get the balance just right and the results are stunning.

Unfortunately, both the clouds and lighting have to work in concert and that happens all to rarely, in my experience.

[Kathy O]

Kathy - photographing a subject obstructed by clouds is not an easy task. Too much (as is the case here), the clouds overwhelm the subject and if there is too little, the effect can be more distracting than anything else. Get the balance just right and the results are stunning.

Unfortunately, both the clouds and lighting have to work in concert and that happens all to rarely, in my experience.

Bummer Thanks.

[Manfred M]

Bummer Thanks.

Of my many, many shots, this is the only one where I got the clouds and light to cooperate and that lasted less than five minutes.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

I feel like I'm looking at crops from much larger images. It may be the downsizing etc, or my computer, but your mountains don't seem to be very sharp, focus wise.
I admit to being a bad critic, but what am I supposed to be looking at in the first shot, and are the trees or the mountain the main focus of the second one?

[Kathy O]

Of my many, many shots, this is the only one where I got the clouds and light to cooperate and that lasted less than five minutes.

Very nice 🙂

[Kathy O]

I feel like I'm looking at crops from much larger images. It may be the downsizing etc, or my computer, but your mountains don't seem to be very sharp, focus wise.
I admit to being a bad critic, but what am I supposed to be looking at in the first shot, and are the trees or the mountain the main focus of the second one?

Thank You for your input🙂 For me the subject was the top of the mountain with the fog over it

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Here is my take on your first picture.



If you want it removed just ask.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

I see you shot this at f5.6. I think I'd try f8 or f11 to see if your lens works better at either of those f-stops.

[rpcrowe]

I like Manfreds Monastery shot and I also like this one I shot along the Li River in Southern China. Of course, this is a shot of the mountain that just happens to have some fog/mist surrounding it...

[Kathy O]

Here is my take on your first picture.



If you want it removed just ask.

No you don't have to remove it, It is good to see what other people's take is on the photo. THank you.

[Kathy O]

I like Manfreds Monastery shot and I also like this one I shot along the Li River in Southern China. Of course, this is a shot of the mountain that just happens to have some fog/mist surrounding it...

Beautiful!

[JBW]

Hi Kathy, I was a lighthouse keeper and in my never very humble opinion your clouds/fog need more depth? drama? shades of white and gray? texture? They seem a little flat.

So much for the negative critique.

The up side is that there is a humongous amount of beauty in your shots.

I was kind of curious how it would look monochrome.

[Kathy O]

Hi Kathy, I was a lighthouse keeper and in my never very humble opinion your clouds/fog need more depth? drama? shades of white and gray? texture? They seem a little flat.

So much for the negative critique.

The up side is that there is a humongous amount of beauty in your shots.

I was kind of curious how it would look monochrome.

Thank you Brian for your input and for your kind words I also like the monochrome, that was something I hadn't thought about doing.

[Shadowman]

1st image, don't like the partial tree; just a quirk of mine either all or nothing. 2nd image fine, could also work with a crop of some of the bottom. Nice efforts.

[rpcrowe]

Brian stated that the clouds need some more impact and looking at the image, I agree...

I used NIK Viveza, globally, decreased brightness, increased contrast, increased structure, increased saturation and decreased the shadows slider for this result:



Then I used a Viveza control point to select the bright area at the center bottom of image and slightly decreased brightness and saturation to take away emphasis on that area. Finally I placed control point to select the tree at image right and used the shadows slider to open the shadows for a final result...



I am not sure if I like this better with a border or with out...

[Manfred M]

Richard - pink and purple clouds do make more of an impact, but not necessarily the one people would want.

[Kathy O]

1st image, don't like the partial tree; just a quirk of mine either all or nothing. 2nd image fine, could also work with a crop of some of the bottom. Nice efforts.

Thank you for your thoughts, the two things that you mentioned were exactly what was bothering me about both images.