Mt. Baker from Cap Sante

[lovelife65]

Had some really nice light and clouds today so decided to see what I could do.
I still feel it has room for improvement. Still figuring that out
Not sure if converting to B&W was the right thing to do.

Thanks for peeking.

Sharon

[Shadowman]

Hi Sharon,

The clouds aren't really that impressive so you could probably lose some of the top area of the photo, the clouds look more like sand dunes; they probably looked more impressive in color.

[Manfred M]

Sharon - the lighting is the biggest negative in this image. While the scenery looks stunning and the light "kissing" the snow capped peak is good, everything in front of it is rather gray and dull looking, which gives you a dull image. I suspect that the colour version might work marginally better, but you are still going to be fighting with the light.

Two minor points; I agree with John about the clouds and cutting the sky back significantly is worth considering. The horizon line does not look level and the image needs a slight clockwise rotation.

[lovelife65]

You are both very helpful, thank you. Yes the lighting should have kept me home. It was an overcast day, but the sun hitting Baker was exciting... yet it didn't mean the overall scene was worthy of a photograph

I check lines now in camera and ask lightroom to adjust, and for some reason neither said it was off. But I see it.

Here is color... water is gray, when in reality in good light it should be blue. It all looks pretty dim. Low light, clouds.

Landscapes are tough for me. I shall keep working on improvement

Sharon

[Digital]

Sharon, I like the color version better. Good placement on the horizon line. Soldier on- you are learning.


Bruce

[lovelife65]

Hi Sharon,

The clouds aren't really that impressive so you could probably lose some of the top area of the photo, the clouds look more like sand dunes; they probably looked more impressive in color.

Sand dunes, seriously?

[Shadowman]

Sand dunes, seriously?

Much more impressive in color.

[Rita]

I agree with the others, the colour is better.

[lovelife65]

Thanks for the comments. Appreciated. Thing is, it may look better in color, but it still doesn’t relay the scene properly. So much beauty out here, hard to capture on camera really. I do landscapes to try to improve skill. Maybe part of my problem is I see so many landscape images now over saturated, highly processed and that’s what people seem to love. Gotta focus on better compositions and maybe bumping up that wow factor. Hard to do, all the wows have already been captured thousands of times
Original and unique is really what I seek. I just need to learn to really see...

[Shadowman]

Thanks for the comments. Appreciated. Thing is, it may look better in color, but it still doesn’t relay the scene properly. So much beauty out here, hard to capture on camera really. I do landscapes to try to improve skill. Maybe part of my problem is I see so many landscape images now over saturated, highly processed and that’s what people seem to love. Gotta focus on better compositions and maybe bumping up that wow factor. Hard to do, all the wows have already been captured thousands of times
Original and unique is really what I seek. I just need to learn to really see...

Sharon,

What particular skill are you trying to improve: editing, initial capture, creativity?

[JohnRostron]

I think I marginally prefer the colour version. However I do like the cloud effects in the top half of your image. Rather intriguing conformations.

John

[lovelife65]

Sharon,

What particular skill are you trying to improve: editing, initial capture, creativity?

Hi John
I believe I have the technical side of understanding my camera down okay (still on a learning curve with it).
I hate editing so need to get over that and just learn better skills.

Creativity is a tough one for me with landscapes. what i see is often not well captured or is just the same as what everyone else puts out there
To me, it should be about telling a story. Maybe that fits better with street stuff.

[lovelife65]

I think I marginally prefer the colour version. However I do like the cloud effects in the top half of your image. Rather intriguing conformations.

John

Thank you, the clouds were interesting yesterday, and this capture was right before they fully engulfed Mt. Baker. Winter in the Pacific Northwest

[Tony M]

Hi Sharon,

The colour version reveals more contrast between the clouds and the blue sky, which I would try to preserve in the B&W version. I would also avoid the selenium tone, which makes it more dull than a simple greyscale image. But that's just my personal opinion.

I opened the colour version in Silver Efex Pro and applied the Full Dynamic (Smooth) preset, which produced the below image. It may be too contrasty for your taste, but it gives an idea of what can be done to the sky.


I then tried developing it in Lightroom only, converting the colour to B&W and adjusting the blue and aqua filters. Below is the result. More can be done to increase the whiteness of the snow etc, but it's past my bedtime so I'll leave that as an exercise for someone else



You have a nice photo with an interesting sky and potential for a nice B& W image.

Tony

[lovelife65]

Tony, thanks for taking the time to do this. I especially like what you have done in Efex Pro. Looks much better. All a learning process

[BrianA61]

Sharon, if you shoot in RAW format, you will most likely have to do post processing. Even if you shoot in jpg, you'll probably end up editing at least a little bit. In the original color image, you might be able to sharpen it up just by using the dehaze adjustment in lightroom. That one is a great tool for landscapes that have a lot of haziness to them. I especially like the NIK collection, which I rely on a lot when I edit. I make some basic adjustments in lightroom and then use NIK collection in photoshop to finalize. Setting a few recipes in color effects pro speeds up the process quite a bit. I also like the b/w version that Tony did with silver effects pro.

[NorthernFocus]

Hi, Sharon. Don't feel bad. On Prince William Sound I take dozens of similar shots every summer than end up in the bin. Those scenes are tough. High contrast with the clearly lit mountain top and a lot of haze to deal with at that distance. My eye/mind sucker me into shooting them every time but typically they are beyond my skill.

Tony gave some good advice re.the B/W. Also try playing with the sliders in the color HSL panel in LR. It can be very educational in learning color effects if nothing else.

[lovelife65]

Hi Brian, and thanks. I shoot in raw unless I am using my film camera
I mostly use LR, although I am trying to find time to learn PS. Sadly, I have to learn to like Post Processing in general

Dan, thank you for your kind remarks. Most of these mountain scenes I take indeed should end up in the trash bin LOL but it's good to practice and try to build upon another skill.
I certainly have been playing with a lot of sliders LOL

[Shadowman]

Hi John
I believe I have the technical side of understanding my camera down okay (still on a learning curve with it).
I hate editing so need to get over that and just learn better skills.

Creativity is a tough one for me with landscapes. what i see is often not well captured or is just the same as what everyone else puts out there
To me, it should be about telling a story. Maybe that fits better with street stuff.

Hi Sharon,

Late response but I may be in the same arena as you if you think landscapes are easy stories to convey, unless there's weather involved it would be hard for me to convey a story unless it is my experience in the environment; the composition itself should only convey a story if there is some particular element (waterfall, snowfall, amber waves of grain), other than those particular elements you would look for great skies/clouds, time of day, etc. Would love to hear from others what stories they look to convey in their landscape compositions.

[lovelife65]

Thanks John, very good idea to contemplate.

Landscapes are very hard IMO, because:

1. There really isn't a story to convey (and maybe that isn't necessary in every facet of photography).
2. They are hard to do "differently" than what others have or are doing. I find it harder to find a sense of creativity, but again maybe that isn't something that landscapes strive for (or I am just too new and haven't found my thing yet).

I do shoot them because of where I live, and because I find them difficult. I can be out looking at a scene saying, man it's so beautiful here, yet I don't get that same feeling looking at a photograph.

Street is much easier to generate emotions I think.

Hi Sharon,

Late response but I may be in the same arena as you if you think landscapes are easy stories to convey, unless there's weather involved it would be hard for me to convey a story unless it is my experience in the environment; the composition itself should only convey a story if there is some particular element (waterfall, snowfall, amber waves of grain), other than those particular elements you would look for great skies/clouds, time of day, etc. Would love to hear from others what stories they look to convey in their landscape compositions.