High Meadows

[Jimr1961]

This is another shot from last year. I'd like to get some feedback. I think this one could be better as well, but not sure where.

[Shadowman]

Nice blend of colors, did you have an issue with the sky? There seems to be some bluing in the tree on the right. Also, the reflected water has a bit of a violet tone.

[Geoff F]

Yes, I noticed that tree. But at certain light angles that sort of thing it is virtually unavoidable. Maybe a crop from the right and a similar amount from the bottom would be the simplest answer.

Possibly that might also remove some of the slight distractions and make a better connection between the foreground and the distant mountains.

Good strong colours in the clear air and a nice composition.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Jim,

I find myself wishing you had included a bit more to the left and (as mentioned by Geoff) a bit less on the right.

Both the bend in the river and that large bright rock at the extreme left edge of frame suggest this to me.

The blue bloom around the tree branches in sky might be because (at that altitude) the blue channel over exposed - although the 'B' histogram suggests not, as the peak is symmetrical. Have you tried CA correction, it may help clean it up.

Looks like a nice place, Dave

[DanK]

Nice shot. Like Dave, I suspected chromatic aberration in the case of the tree on the right. It's the kind of situation (clear edges with a lot of contrast) that will often show it.

I agree with the idea of cropping some from the bottom. I would be fairly aggressive about it. I have three reasons. I think the image is unbalanced the way it is. The foreground lacks interesting detail. and the spreading of the stream interrupts the nice leading lines it would have it you cropped. I don't know if you allow edits, and if not, I will take this down, but here is my thought about where to crop. See what you think.



I also think the image might be a tiny bit oversaturated.

Hope this helps.

[IzzieK]

Oooopppsss...Dan beat me to the crop option...+1 to Dan...it looks better...

[Digital]

Jim, I realize you shot this photo in a landscape position. Just a thought- suppose you shot this in a portrait position.


Bruce

[Jimr1961]

All good stuff, thank you. I was not as savvy last year at processing as I have become. Still not savvy, but I understand rawtherapee better than last year. I believe I pulled back a bit on the red in an attempt to reduce clipping, but now I understand that the histogram I was using was a wider gamut than sRGB, so I probably created much of the violet and a bit of the CA in the process. I also used a second curve that I now feel does not do it justice. Having a better understanding or the dual RGB curve is a plus and I will reprocess this using what I now know.

I like the crop. I'll look at the raw file to see what is on camera left and look into a more pleasing and balanced crop. I'm heading back out for a week, so I will probably do these edits along with the several hundred I will shoot next week. Last year, I used a 40D and an 18 - 55mm kit lens and 75 - 300mm. This year, it's a 60D and Tokina 11-16mm, Canon 17 - 85mm and Canon 75 - 300mm.

Oh, sorry. Gear? what gear?

[DanK]

Jim,

I may be wrong, but CA is generally not created in postprocessing. It's created by the lens. Postprocessing can make it more or less severe, however. There is a little bit on this in the lens correction tutorial on this site.

Dan

[Jimr1961]

I used the lens correction profile with CA correction, but wouldn't a bit of CA be made more severe if I muck with the red channel? More pronounced

[bnnrcn]

Beautiful scene, I like Dan's crop

[Jimr1961]

I do too.