Crawford Notch in the clouds: editing suggestions?

[DanK]

This is near Franconia Notch, New Hampshire. It was a heavily overcast day, and the tops of the mountains were often in the clouds.

I haven't had much experience with this sort of image, so I would be interested in ideas about editing. What I did with this was:

--Some luminosity (tonality) edits
--An increase in contrast, primarily using the curves tool
--A bit of vibrance
--Pulled up the saturation of the reds a bit
--slightly dodged the yellows in the lower left
--burned the rock face to bring out more contrast among the three bands in the image
--sharpened

Thanks for any ideas.

[Kodiak]

I haven't had much experience with this sort of image, so I would be interested in ideas about editing.

Hey Dan, indeed, these are adverse conditions that require strategy prior to
shutter release and in PP. Please understand that I could have achieve much
better results with a RAW file.

Here is a suggestion:

[Caddy]

do I see separation through layered depth? I did not think of that.

[pnodrog]

Dan not having seen the original I only assume what you have done has improved it. However my approach with this sort of shot is to take great care in setting the black and white point. If there is a coloured haze I usually use the levels adjustment in photoshop to set the black, white and mid point adjust on the individual channels to achieve the overall brightness, contrast and colour balance I want.

Having done that I would have probably proceeded much as you have to do the fine tweaking.

P.S. If you burn with it set to shadows you can add even more contrast and punch to rock face. Too much and you will detract from the misty mood.

[ShaneS]

Dan, I like the clarity that Kodiak's edit added to the sheer rock and foreground foliage but wonder if it would be possible to keep the brightness of the mist that existed in your original as presented?

We don't have the lovely fall colors that you so nicely present here...and I'm only a bit envious

I have a similar dilemma with my shots in the Mountains in the Mist thread. Trace was kind enough to put up an alternate edit in with detailed steps that might help you see some PP options for this shot.

I am going to work through her suggestions tonight to see what I come up with as an alternative to my original edit. If nothing else it is good practice in bringing out the most in an image captured under challenging shooting conditions.

Shane

[Kodiak]

do I see separation through layered depth? I did not think of that.

Yes Caddy, since the fog is diffusing the light as well as tempering all details,
accentuating the consequences of that fog effect is the way I choose to go.

I first determine the number of possible layers where some local adjustments
may be applied, then work with the features of these layers.

The problems remain in the high light: no details! …even worse when working
like here on a low res. jpg image.

[PhotoByTrace]

This is near Franconia Notch, New Hampshire. It was a heavily overcast day, and the tops of the mountains were often in the clouds.

I haven't had much experience with this sort of image, so I would be interested in ideas about editing. What I did with this was:

--Some luminosity (tonality) edits
--An increase in contrast, primarily using the curves tool
--A bit of vibrance
--Pulled up the saturation of the reds a bit
--slightly dodged the yellows in the lower left
--burned the rock face to bring out more contrast among the three bands in the image
--sharpened

Thanks for any ideas.

Hi Dan,
I think the image is lovely. It really makes me wish I was at the scene too. While I love the warmth of the tropics, to see fall foliage scenes like this would be worth some chill in my bones

I'm not sure what else you were envisioning for the image. The list you have there is much along the lines of what I'd be looking to do also. And I have zero experience with fall foliage.

Though I feel as if I'd like to try to add some warmth to the scene as the fall colours seem to lend themselves to that; though the scene at the moment suggests it was a cool light that day.

You've already added contrast and burned the cliff. Perhaps masking the cliff face for a little more contrast and texture in addition to the burning and sharpening you've done. Though that could take away the misty feel to the scene. I did try this... high pass filter, contrast curve and warming filter with a selective mask in place.



But sure enough, once I'd done that I wanted to go back to the more misty image with less contrast



And then I looked back at the original and decided to take the warmth back out too and stick with what you have, as I liked it as soon as I saw it.

So I'm afraid I'm really no help with this one either. Just can't get a fix on what the scene was like, or even really imagine what I'd like it to be like.

[pnodrog]

Just curious - just adjusted rock face and foreground mainly by burning set to shadow. Ended up thinking it looked like a mix off everyone else's but have to put it up just to compare.

Was not happy with it so I repeated the edit by starting by using my normal approach of first adjusting the levels which were better than I would have expected from an unprocessed image. Which it obviously was not....

[bnnrcn]

I like your edit Paul.May I ask if it was only a levels adjustment or did you do any more PP?

Just curious - just adjusted rock face and foreground mainly by burning set to shadow. Ended up thinking it looked like a mix off everyone else's but have to put it up just to compare.

Was not happy with it so I repeated the edit by starting by using my normal approach of first adjusting the levels which were better than I would have expected from an unprocessed image. Which it obviously was not....

[DanK]

Thanks, everyone. L. Paul--I also start with white and black point. I think where I end up at this point is that it would be worth exploring a bit more burning of the rocks, to get a bit more contrast into the image, and more separation of the three main lines (foliage, rocks, sky). Shane, I agree with you: I deliberately kept the clouds bright, and I don't want to darken the image as a whole.

I won't have time for a few days, but I will go back to this. I did the burning with a layer in photoshop, so it is easy to change the blend mode or opacity.

Thanks again.

[wtlwdwgn]

Great image Dan. I saved the file as a PSD to preserve the details and then imported it into LR 5.6. The only PP was to use the Graduated Neutral Density Tool at -3/4 stop and dragged it from bottom to top. Just my $0.02.

[pnodrog]

I like your edit Paul.May I ask if it was only a levels adjustment or did you do any more PP?

Yes. after tweaking the levels that were much better than a RAW of this type of scene would normally exhibit I did a bit more PP mainly burning with shadow set - with my own photographs it can become a bit addictive and sometimes I have to force myself to stop...

[DanK]

Thanks again for the suggestions. I made a few changes after reading the replies and looking at the examples. I changed the burning of the rocks to soft light and increased the opacity. I pulled down the brightness of the leaves in the lower left a bit, but with a selection and mask rather than a graduated ND tool. I'll post the result below. The changes are subtle, but I like it more.

[terrib]

I really like this shot, Dan. You guys do have a wide range of colors. And I like the mist/clouds.