Forest Clearing

[Stagecoach]

Came across this landscape view and wondered if I could make anything of it. It was once again overcast but with bright light and the rain just starting.

Perhaps not very dynamic but it was the lighting and the cleared area that caught my attention.

Taken with 50mm, 1/125s, f11, ISO200



Any suggestions and advice will be appreciated as always as this is a totally new area to me. My intention is to take images of the interior of Fiji to show it's beauty, something rarely done as beaches, palms, blue skies and sunsets are the norm.

Additional Info......................

To me this appears over processed which is not the look I am aiming for. I have since completed work on two other landscapes and have found that undertaking the majority of work in ACR and then some minor tweaks in Elements, levels, lighting and sharpening I'm happier.

Grahame

[John 2]

Grahame, I think that given the flat lighting conditions and a limited colour range, you were always going to struggle with this. I think that you might improve it with a crop to make the large canopied tree in the FG more dominant and that then takes the eye to the clearing more readily. After that, I would be tempted to burn in the darker greens, dodge the clouds in the sky and increase the contrast in the middle ground. Finally I would vignette the corners. Something like this but you will have your own take on it.

[ShaneS]

What a lovely scene Grahame and I would have never suspected this was Fiji (although I have never been). I like John's cropped version but it is quite a different image. As far as processing I will be interested to see where you take this image as I can understand your concern about overdoing the PP. My thinking along those lines is that you will want to think about the PP in context of the whole project you are working on and see if you can get something that will work in the series PP wise and not stand too far apart.

[Stagecoach]

John,

I like the crop and the boost and will revisit the original along these lines. The flat lighting during the daytime is something I am going to have to try and deal with as I want to steer well clear of bright sun, blue skies and fluffy white clouds.

This was also a handheld shot and unfortunately no tripod or filters with me but it's a location I can easily visit again.

Grahame

[Stagecoach]

Shane,

You have made a very valid point in that I will need to consider the PP work and come up with a style that is going to have some consistency throughout the series.

Perhaps it's time to look more closely at the four I have done so far and see if I can find a common standard.

Grahame

[Downrigger]

To me this appears over processed which is not the look I am aiming for.

Nice, Grahame. Good eye, I think. To me, it is a very compelling image. I wonder if it didn't look "over processed" to the naked eye when you were there shooting. I wonder if it is something about the almost unbelievably rich display of greens that confers the suggestion of unreality? I'm guessing you didn't actually PP this much at all.

[kdoc856]

HI, Grahame,

That is a great vista and might well reward frequent re-visitation. My thinking almost completely echoes John's: his crop is just what I had in mind. If you are able, I wonder if it's possible to get just a little lower and closer to that great, huge tree (provided that doesn't make it blend too much into the BG) and make it prominent, while keeping the ridgeline well in view, with just a little of a really compelling sky. Good luck, you might just be onto something really good.

[Stagecoach]

I wonder if it didn't look "over processed" to the naked eye when you were there shooting. I wonder if it is something about the almost unbelievably rich display of greens that confers the suggestion of unreality? I'm guessing you didn't actually PP this much at all.

Mark,

Now that is the crux of the matter. What is the reality and what exactly did I see?

It is the rich greens that are so prominent in these landscapes that I want to portray but in processing them I seem to be losing them. As an example this is the NEF opened in ViewNx with the 'Vivid' setting applied, opened in Elements, only the white point adjusted in levels, capture & output sharpening and sensor spots removed, nothing else. These greens are what I want to retain.

The skies I can work on and this should have been shot with a grad ND.



Grahame

[Stagecoach]

Kevin,

I will revisit this site but unfortunately shooting position is limited due to the road and a very steep bank. The other problem I keep coming up against is that with so few vantage points to scenes without trekking for hours off the roads many of them have pylons and cables spanning them.

Grahame