Mountain Scapes (for want of a better title)

[Stagecoach]

A few more hours spent up high in the damp and wet today, magic !

Even with the overcast cloudy sky, drizzle and being in the clouds at times there was still a need to use the GND to save merging exposures.

Enjoy.

No 1 - 1/20s, f/11, 20mm


No 2 - 1/1s, f/11, 52mm


No 3 - 1/25s, f/16, 15mm


Comments and suggestions welcome as always.

Grahame

[deetheturk]

Very nice Grahame, it's no.1 for me although I like all three, I'm only looking on the iPad at the moment but the red thing in no.1 is catching my eye?

Cheers David

[Mike Buckley]

I sure do like the depth of the first one but agree with David that the orange blossoms are a distraction. Try adjusting the color balance so it is somewhere between the green of the first one and the blue of the second one.

[John 2]

Need the Lightbox to really appreciate these. 1,3 and the 2 for me Grahame with a bit more contrast and a slightly lighter centre to focus attention on the river running through in the first. I agree about the blossom as well.

[Shadowman]

Nice captures.

[vaez]

great all image my favorites 3

[PaulRJennings]

#1 for me.

[bnnrcn]

These are all great Grahame, I loved them I agree with the others about the orange blossom

[Donald]

I just love the muted colours and tones in this image. The great advantage I have is that I have a degree of colour blindness and cannot see the distraction to which David & Mike refer.

[JBW]

Number 1 for me and a question. Is the orange area a 'Fire Tree' (local name) in blossom?

[FootLoose]

Nice shots, Grahame. I expect to see gorillas swinging through the trees in the first one.

[Stagecoach]

Thank you all, David, Mike, John, John, Vaez, Paul, Binnur, Donald, Brian and Greg for commenting on this selection and apologies for the late reply.

Firstly, the rather bright red flowers are somewhat of a pain and are even very pronounced whenever shooting in low light as well. I forgot to tame them down in this image as I usually just reduce the saturation for them and brush over individually.

Try adjusting the color balance so it is somewhere between the green of the first one and the blue of the second one.

I find adjusting the colour balance on these scenes quite tricky Mike and wonder how much the cloud and drizzle that you are actually photographing through affects things. I based these on the sky which was completely colourless to me whereas No 2 was taken last in the day with the sky clearing somewhat.

No 2 would have been a stunner should I have got to the position 2 minutes earlier as on arrival the final yellow rays of the sun were fanned out across the whole view showing as golden streaks on the clouds. The camera was all packed away as I thought I had finished for the day but I was not fast enough setting up.

1,3 and the 2 for me Grahame with a bit more contrast and a slightly lighter centre to focus attention on the river running through in the first.

I'm going to re edit No 1 John so will look at brightening in way of the river to emphasise it.

Is the orange area a 'Fire Tree' (local name) in blossom?

Brian, they are the African Tulip tree, some say they are bad and invading the island, others say they are good and protecting the soil, slowing scrub growth which is prone to fires.

Here's a shot of one from my back garden so you can compare the flowers.

I expect to see gorillas swinging through the trees in the first one.

About the only wildlife of any size that's noticeable up here seems to be the cows that seem to know exactly where you want to place your tripod

Grahame

[IzzieK]

The red flower in the first shot breaks up the greens of the whole scape, Grahame. In fact I like it like that. It doesn't bother me. Please do not remove it. If you want to remove something there, get rid of that grass/weed at the bottom RHS and that little leaves saying hi to your camera at the top LHS. No matter how much edit you do in this one, it doesn't get lost so it is meant to be there...The addition of the river is wonderful too and think it would be nice to explore the place a little bit more.

#2 is just cool -- I can already feel the humidity just by looking at it.

In #3, the mountains behind the trees makes this a very strong shot. I see your cows over there were well fed contented ones. They are resting. Next time a cow gets in the way of your tripod, either blind it with your flash or nudge it with your tripod...maybe it will cooperate...

[Stagecoach]

The red flower in the first shot breaks up the greens of the whole scape, Grahame. In fact I like it like that. It doesn't bother me. Please do not remove it. If you want to remove something there, get rid of that grass/weed at the bottom RHS and that little leaves saying hi to your camera at the top LHS. No matter how much edit you do in this one, it doesn't get lost so it is meant to be there...The addition of the river is wonderful too and think it would be nice to explore the place a little bit more.

#2 is just cool -- I can already feel the humidity just by looking at it.

In #3, the mountains behind the trees makes this a very strong shot. I see your cows over there were well fed contented ones. They are resting. Next time a cow gets in the way of your tripod, either blind it with your flash or nudge it with your tripod...maybe it will cooperate...

Ok Izzie, I have left the red flower but toned it down a bit and removed that straggly bit of leaves top left. The grass bottom right stays, I like it as it's everywhere here and would be a pain to remove, for me.

I started a new edit from scratch but gave up because whatever I did I lost the feel of what I remember the scene and wanted to convey so reverted to the original with the minor changes above and changed the colour balance as suggested by Mike by adjusting the blue channel in levels. I think it's an improvement

I'll have another go at No 3 because I also like that image and think I have lost something in the first version of it.

As for the cows, it's not them that get in the way it's what they leave all over the ground with no consideration for others

Here's a re-do of No 1



Grahame

[Brownbear]

Hi Grahame,

Just to say, all lovely but the 1st image is especially beautiful and real to me.

[ShaneS]

Grahame I like your rework of the first image quite a lot and think it is a beautiful shot!

You said you used a GND filter of these? But how did you manage placement and processing when there was no straight horizon? I know from experience how difficulty if can be to shoot under misty conditions like this and the PP challenges that come with it.

#2 would have been a stunner with the rays of the sun as you described but you win some and you lose some I guess

I know you aren't into black and white but I think that it is something that you should consider in the third...it could be quite dramatic!

[Slipper]

Lovely set. The deep colours are so rich without being oversaturated.
When looked at larger, #1 and #3 have a great range of greens, nicely detailed.

[Suzan J]

These are really lovely images, Grahame. I agree that viewing in the lightbox really brings out the lush green colours. I particularly like # 3 with the interesting trees. One question, though. What is grazing in the background? A cow of some kind? or am I seeing things?

[Stagecoach]

Hi Grahame,

Just to say, all lovely but the 1st image is especially beautiful and real to me.

Hi Christina,

Pleased you like them and especially No 1. I really enjoy trying to capture this type of view of the island that shows the remoteness, natural vegetation and typical weather up high.

Grahame

[Stagecoach]

Grahame I like your rework of the first image quite a lot and think it is a beuatiful shot!

You said you used a GND filter of these? But how did you manage placement and processing when there was no straight horizon? I know from experience how difficulty if can be to shoot under misty conditions like this and the PP challenges that come with it.

#2 would have been a stunner with the rays of the sun as you described but you win some and you lose some I guess

I know you aren't into black and white but I think that it is something that you should consider in the third...it could be quite dramatic!

Hi Shane,

Thanks for approving the re-work

I use a Cokin P121 ND8 (3 stops) Grad Grey which has a pretty good even transition and adjust it's positioning so as to give me an exposure that fills the histogram as close as possible. By positioning in this way when you have not got a clean level horizon you minimise it's affect to only what is necessary.

For this image I slightly lightened the upper area of right hand hill by using levels and a mask and brushing in the area I wanted lighter. The left side was not adjusted at all.

For PP it's minimal on this one, Elements Colour Curve 'Add Contrast', global sharpening, local LCE, de sat that flower, lighten top of right hill and minor colour balance change using levels blue channel.

I'm not into B&W (because it's something I really have not tried seriously) but it may be a challenge to have a go with No 3, post my attempt and get some feedback as to where I went wrong

Grahame