Canyon

[harmon1]

[FrankMi]

Hi Harmon,

It looks like you have the makings of a great shot here. A little post processing to level the image and pick up on the details in the foreground shadows and perhaps clone out the branches in the front left corner. You may also want to increase the color and contrast in the background and sharpen the image a bit. If you would like, I could run it through PS to give you an example of what I am seeing in my mind.

[Geoff F]

Considering the amount of blackness at the image bottom I wonder if a very slight bit of cropping would remove a lot of the problems in the bottom left corner, to which Frank was referring.

Yes, certainly a potentially excellent photo here.

[dje]

Harmon I agree with everything that Frank and Geoff have said. With pp, I would also add a duplicate layer set to about 30-40% Colour Burn. This will bring out the rich red colours in the canyon walls.

Is this the Grand Canyon ?

Cheers Dave

[harmon1]

Hey Dave, thanks for your interest in itself, I'm new to dslr shooting, and need all the advice I can get. I took this shot at the grand canyon on Oct. 12, 2011. I had not been there in a while, the weather was perfect. I will post some more to seek more advice. Thanks.

[harmon1]

Please do, I would love to see the results. Thanks.

[epmi314]

Here is my quick attempt...



Crop, leveling, linear burn, a tick of level adjustment and a hair of unsharp mask...

Gorgeous scene, I hope I did it some justice...

[dje]

Harmon

You can see from Scott's edit how a burn layer brings out the rich colours. He's used Linear burn, I suggested Colour burn but they both do the same sort of thing. The other thing this technique does is reduce the hazy look to images of this type.

(Nicely done Scott)

Another point to note. I see from the Exif info for your image you have used an ISO setting of 800. You could have used an ISO setting of 100 and still got an acceptable shutter speed (about 1/60 instead of 1/500) with the aperture value you used (f/10). This just gives the best possible noise performance.

Cheers Dave

[harmon1]

Great job Scott, that's what I'm talking about. You set the canyon on fire. The colors came to life. Thanks again.

[harmon1]

Thanks Dave, I will practice on similar shots using your reconmended setting, and share the results.

[dje]

Thanks Dave, I will practice on similar shots using your reconmended setting, and share the results.

Harmon it depends on the amount of light of course. It's basically a balancing act between the lowest possible ISO and an acceptable shutter speed for the circumstances (eg hand held with IS vs tripod). As a general guide, an aperture value between f/10 and f/13 gives good depth of field for landscape shots.

Dave

[harmon1]

Thanks Dave, I put your notes in my smart phone to keep handy.

[FrankMi]

Please do, I would love to see the results. Thanks.

Hi Harmon, I took a crack at this with the following steps:

1. Opened in ACR and made mild increases the Black Point, Exposure, Fill Light, and Recovery to improve the Histogram.

2. Rotated CCW to level horizon as seen in the distant layer bands.

3. Masked foreground to set brightness and contrast separately for foreground and background.

4. Cloned out dead branches in left foreground.

5. Save as JPG, reopened in ACR to rebalance the Histogram, mostly setting the Exposure and Black levels.

6. Resaved as JPG.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you need more detail on the steps taken.

[Colin Southern]

One more for the mix, done in LAB mode (a favourite for this kind of adjustment).

[harmon1]

This looks great Frank, thanks. You really know and love your work/ hobby.

[MrB]

Harmon, the edits above seem to have strayed too far from the colours in your original - although I am basing this on other Grand Canyon images I have seen and so, having never been there, I could be completely wrong! I do agree with all the comments in the first two posts - i.e. those by Frank and Geoff. Cropping also gives the image a more panoramic effect - appropriate for this subject:



Philip

[Geoff F]

Harmon, the edits above seem to have strayed too far from the colours in your original.

Yes I was wondering if some of the edits are getting a little too extreme. But I think we need to know what the original scene looked like. And what is the desired effect?

Just because something is possible doesn't automatically mean it is the best answer.

So what sort of effect do you really want, Harmon?

ps. When it comes to this sort of colour boost, I often find that a layer with Soft Light Blend Mode gives good results without being too harsh.