Early morning, mixed light

[Stagecoach]

The below are two images I took recently that vary from my norm in that I took these after sunrise with the early morning light coming from behind me with part of the scene in shadow and part in good light.

Generally I can decide if I like an image but for some reason these just do not click, is it the composition, lighting or PP?

What I had hoped to capture was the feeling that soon the mist and cloud of the night would be gone.

No 1 - 1/100s, f/11, ISO320, 44mm


No 2 - 1/50s, f/16, ISO320, 28mm


Comments and ideas are very welcome.

Grahame

[Mike Buckley]

I wonder if you can return to the scene of the second one to capture the light of the first one. Naturally, you would also want the low-lying mist to be included. Not that I'm picky.

[Stagecoach]

I wonder if you can return to the scene of the second one to capture the light of the first one. Naturally, you would also want the low-lying mist to be included. Not that I'm picky.

Mike, I would be quite happy to return there tomorrow but having finally had my wagon cleaned of a tonne of mud today after four successive trips to the area the lad who does it for me would not be too pleased

So here's a quick mod that consisted of increasing the opacity of the 'multiply' layer with its gradient mask, duplicating it, then brushing out the area I did not want affected.



Grahame

[Shadowman]

I think the first image works, but as two separate images, I'd remove the area of sky to emphasize the mist and then do the opposite to emphasize the mountain range; perhaps leave some of the mist at the base.

[deetheturk]

Grahame, I'm a +1 to Mikes post although I think #3 looks good!

Cheers David

[tbob]

The first really works for me In my opinion the mist needs to be more luminous and not quite as blue. I think you need to go with the mixed light and enhance it.

I did four things. I am much better at showing than explaining (Picture:thousand words type of thing)

1) Darken and cool the sky a bit, 2) warm up the hillside and darken it just a hair, 3) lighten and warm the mist and 4) just barely lighten the vegetation in front to bring out the slight mist between the trees.

A quick version to show what I mean I am sure you can do better and express your artistry and vision but it shows where I would go with this.

[tbob]

I forgot to add. The water drops on the plant at lower left are great as they speak about the humidity.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Grahame, very nice shots I like Trevor's edit. I like your edit for #2 , I don't know if it would look better if you treated the mountains like Trevor did in #1.

[Stagecoach]

I think the first image works, but as two separate images, I'd remove the area of sky to emphasize the mist and then do the opposite to emphasize the mountain range; perhaps leave some of the mist at the base.

This emphasises something I have been thinking about and that for some of these scenes zooming in and not trying to include so much needs exploring.

[Stagecoach]

Grahame, I'm a +1 to Mikes post although I think #3 looks good!

Cheers David

Thanks David, they would have been better if I could have got a critter in there somewhere

Grahame

[Stagecoach]

The first really works for me In my opinion the mist needs to be more luminous and not quite as blue. I think you need to go with the mixed light and enhance it.

I did four things. I am much better at showing than explaining (Picture:thousand words type of thing)

1) Darken and cool the sky a bit, 2) warm up the hillside and darken it just a hair, 3) lighten and warm the mist and 4) just barely lighten the vegetation in front to bring out the slight mist between the trees.

A quick version to show what I mean I am sure you can do better and express your artistry and vision but it shows where I would go with this.

That makes a big difference Trevor and I will use your example to aim for from the original. I had a go at merging exposures with this one but it failed miserably and most significantly the water drops almost disappeared.

Grahame

[Stagecoach]

Hi Grahame, very nice shots I like Trevor's edit. I like your edit for #2 , I don't know if it would look better if you treated the mountains like Trevor did in #1.

Hi Binnur,

I agree Trevor's edit gives the difference in lighting more emphasis and improves the feel of the image.

One of my criteria for an image and its treatment is that when viewed at 1200/1400px width it must not show signs of 'over processing' so the challenge is pushing things but not at the cost of IQ.

Grahame