Mountain Scapes (for want of a better title)

[Stagecoach]

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.

Thanks John, at times I get a bit bored with all the greens here but when you look close at all the different shades that change with the lighting conditions they are not so bad.

[Stagecoach]

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?

Thanks for commenting Suzan, yes those are cows, not sure what type but appear friendly although I remain wary of the ones with the horns that come and stare at me

[NorthernFocus]

Nice set, Grahame. Looks like a great way to spend a day.

[Mike Buckley]

Your revision of the first one is stunning. When I suggested attending to the color balance I had no idea that it would improve the depth, which was already tremendous in the original. Whatever you did to the flowers being discussed also looks fine to my eye. Well done!

[FootLoose]

+1

Good work on the reprocessing, Grahame, I feel like I could just peep over those bushes in the foreground to the river below.

[IzzieK]

Thank you for taking time to respond to my whim...I really appreciate it very much. But I like the first one better because of the red flower that seems to distract others but not my eyes. I still think that with all the scapes and features already there, that flower is attractive and forgiving and beautifully incorporated.

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

As for the cows...I suppose you did not wear your wellies...cow poops are good for fertilizers. I remember we used to put them pelleted in my garden along with sea weeds from the beach...the smell stays for two days before it dissipates. I think hubby used to use them sometimes because we had such a nasty neighbour at the time ...but that is a story for another day. I missed those old days...

[ShaneS]

Thank you for the explanation about the filter Grahame. It may come in handy if I ever splurge for one

Give that black an white conversion a try...you might surprise yourself!

[Stagecoach]

Nice set, Grahame. Looks like a great way to spend a day.

Thanks Dan, yes it is a great way to spend time.

One drawback is that due to the terrain and rather risky single lane track there's little chance of getting to more than one good location at a time for those golden hour shots.

I did visit the area during one day of perfect sunshine, blue sky and fluffy white clouds but came back with almost next to nothing worth processing so my solution is to look towards the mountains from my home and if covered in heavy cloud and looking threatening, take the risk and drive up there.

[Stagecoach]

Your revision of the first one is stunning. When I suggested attending to the color balance I had no idea that it would improve the depth, which was already tremendous in the original. Whatever you did to the flowers being discussed also looks fine to my eye. Well done!

Thank you Mike,

I recall reading a comment here (I forget who from) a while ago regarding making final colour balance changes at the end after undertaking all other PP work.

Having now experimented with this image and another similar three it seems that for each having set the 0 and 255 points for the red and green channel setting the blue channel gets it about spot on or if not the most minor adjustment of the centre slider does.

I do not use a calibrated monitor but can clearly see the point where the slight green hue disappears before it starts to get a blue hue.

[Stagecoach]

+1

Good work on the reprocessing, Grahame, I feel like I could just peep over those bushes in the foreground to the river below.

Thanks Greg, it's not much of a river at the moment due to lack of real rain but I'm looking forward to getting up there after a good few days drenching.

[Stagecoach]

But I like the first one better because of the red flower that seems to distract others but not my eyes. I still think that with all the scapes and features already there, that flower is attractive and forgiving and beautifully incorporated.

To be honest Izzie it did not bother me, but I'm so used to seeing them everywhere

As for the cows...I suppose you did not wear your wellies...

Nope !

cow poops are good for fertilizers.

You have given me an idea, my tomato plants are pretty sad at the moment

The other week I took the other half with me and whilst I'm off taking pics she was also busy. Driving back down from the mountains on the stony and muddy track the wagon seemed to have less response than normal and I could also smell burning from the brakes.

On stopping to investigate the smoke from the rear left wheel I noticed the tyres somewhat flatter than normal. On getting home I found the reason why, a tonne of boulders collected for a rockery

Grahame

[Stagecoach]

Thank you for the explanation about the filter Grahame. It may come in handy if I ever splurge for one

Well worth it Shane

Give that black an white conversion a try...you might surprise yourself!

I'm working on it

Grahame