Sierra Sunrise

[Jimr1961]

I shot this in September of last year and just reprocessed it. I'd like to get some critique regarding what would make this image pop more. I've already cropped out a fair amount of foreground because it didn't add much other than the introduction of a foreground layer, so I now have it minimal. I also cropped out some of the lesser interest from either side and put the layer boundaries around the 1/3 lines. I think this could be better, just not sure what to do to enhance it from this point.

[Donald]

Jim

I'm getting a notice in the message that the image is no longer available. Did you move it in the hosting site?

[Jimr1961]

Interesting. I could see it. I re-pasted the bbcode. Can you see it now?

[Rebel]

I can see it Jim

Nice shot, I like the minimality of it.

[Mike Buckley]

Nice colors and textures!

If it was mine, I would crop to eliminate about half of the sky.

To achieve greater pop: I would try to eliminate the haze. Coincidentally, there are several ongoing threads about new software Dehaze tools. If you don't have one, try increasing the contrast, decreasing the brightness, and increasing the warmth, all in relatively small amounts. I might add Local Contrast Enhancement (a particular type of sharpening) or Structure to the sunlit mountains and I would also try manipulating the tone curve.

[Donald]

I might add Local Contrast Enhancement (a particular type of sharpening) or Structure to the sunlit mountains

That was exactly the thought that I had when I first saw it. At the moment it maybe looks a little flat.

[Jimr1961]

thanks, I'll play around with these ideas. I'd like to get the foreground element in the lower left to come out a bit more. How about the edge sharpening? Is it too sharply defined?

[Mike Buckley]

I'd like to get the foreground element in the lower left to come out a bit more.

Perhaps your software allows you to apply a manipulated tone curve to a selected area of the image.

How about the edge sharpening? Is it too sharply defined?

It's too difficult to tell when viewing such a small image. I recommend uploading images that are about 1000 pixels on the longest side. That's still relatively small but usually large enough to make the kind of determination your asking about.

[Shadowman]

I think the peaks have enough POP as displayed, I would either try to enhance what looks like snow on the lower peaks; this would give a good contrast between the sunny upper and what looks very cold below.

[Geoff F]

There is still too much dark matter at the bottom for me. I would try reducing it by around half and going for more of a wider narrower size ratio.

[bnnrcn]

A lot of PP advice has already been given. So, I just want to say that I love the light on the mountains. BTW welcome Jim

[Ziggy]

A lot of PP advice has already been given. So, I just want to say that I love the light on the mountains. BTW welcome Jim

Have to agree.

[Jimr1961]

Lots of great suggestions. Thanks all. I'll play around with it more tonight and repost.

[Jimr1961]

Well, this is what I came up with following the many helpful suggestions. I think anything more would have to be moved to Gimp and done in layers, but I do like it better.

[Mike Buckley]

This works really well and is much nicer than the first version.

[Kris V]

A lot of PP advice has already been given. So, I just want to say that I love the light on the mountains. BTW welcome Jim

+1

[Kris V]

Well, this is what I came up with following the many helpful suggestions. I think anything more would have to be moved to Gimp and done in layers, but I do like it better.

Compared to the first one - This is soooo much better. (IMHO) Maybe just a little too blue in the shadow part.

[Jimr1961]

Thanks all. I think I agree that the shadow could stand a bit of manipulation in the blue spectrum. I'll probably play with it in Gimp and isolate further adjustments from here.

[Jimr1961]

Rather than play in Gimp, I lowered the blues in the shadows and desaturated it a bit because I think the top mountains were a bit hot. I think it looks pretty good. Thanks everyone for your help.

[Mike Buckley]

This last one is the most to my taste when viewing it on my profiled and calibrated monitor. It looks a lot better than "pretty good," as you put it.