Like some help here

[Ben Egbert]

I have wanted to like this image ever since pushing the shutter. The great sky the good fall color. Unfortunately the foreground is best on the left side and the sky best on the right. The aspens on the right lost their leaves early due to some blight. No snow on Timpangoes this year either.

I am showing my best effort here and the SOOC if you want to play.

SOOC version

150926-1871-5DS- Rsooc

• Ben Egbert
• Dec 24, 2017

 

[AlanLichty]

I went for a more subtle edit - mostly using the Camera RAW filter to liven it up and then some sharpening at the end. Not sure if this is the direction you wanted to take this.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Fine Job Alan, I would have cropped off those dead trees at the bottom as I did in my version, but I see where you are going. I am expecting somebody to do a very hard crop on this, maybe even making a vertical out of it.

 

[AlanLichty]

Hmm - hadn't even considered cropping - OK:

Since I had more trees with color in this I bumped the luminosity/saturation a bit too.

 

[JimFox]

Yeah, we get to Play again!

I just downloaded it, I will work on it in a bit.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Hmm - hadn't even considered cropping - OK:

View attachment 4515

Since I had more trees with color in this I bumped the luminosity/saturation a bit too.

Liking this one much better. Now to see what Jim does.

 

[MonikaC]

Brought out the white trunks in the foreground, GND to darken the sky & lighten foreground, lightened center/darkened borders, then brought detail back to conifers at edges, increased cool color brilliance/warmth ( took it down to 50% but should probably go down more). Maybe should take the saturation down some more.

 

[JimFox]

Here is a quick one Ben. I like the sky I did in this better then yours. The ground layer I am not totally happy with, I kind of like your ground, though you lost too much detail I think in the shadows when you added contrast.

 

[Jeffrey]

I didn't crop. I liked the bare branches in the foreground. Here's my quick take.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Brought out the white trunks in the foreground, GND to darken the sky & lighten foreground, lightened center/darkened borders, then brought detail back to conifers at edges, increased cool color brilliance/warmth ( took it down to 50% but should probably go down more). Maybe should take the saturation down some more.View attachment 4516

Thanks Monica, I also like the white trunks and in fact blue shifted my WB to get my results. I like your sky better than mine, I probably went too cool on mine.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Here is a quick one Ben. I like the sky I did in this better then yours. The ground layer I am not totally happy with, I kind of like your ground, though you lost too much detail I think in the shadows when you added contrast.

View attachment 4517

Thanks Jim, yes, your sky is better, as I said above, I pushed a bit too cold.

 

[Ben Egbert]

I didn't crop. I liked the bare branches in the foreground. Here's my quick take.


View attachment 4518

Very natural looking Jeffrey.

 

[Ben Egbert]

How about this? I took many of the above ideas for warmth, my own for clarity, saturation and contrast, the cropped what I think is the core.

 

[AlanLichty]

The clarity brought the cloud textures out a lot and emphasized the aspen trunks more too. The trunks being lit up makes up for the lack of leaves for interest. Nice result - happy with it?

 

[Ben Egbert]

The clarity brought the cloud textures out a lot and emphasized the aspen trunks more too. The trunks being lit up makes up for the lack of leaves for interest. Nice result - happy with it?

Happier than before, the crop reduces the print size however, but then I think this one never made it to print.

 

[JimFox]

Hey Ben,

I like your take on the sky now. That looks good. The ground layer for me is too warm still. The whites of the trunks should be white still and they aren't. The greens of the trees are not green. But that's me, if you like the warm feel of the ground, then I would say this is a step above your original.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Hey Ben,

I like your take on the sky now. That looks good. The ground layer for me is too warm still. The whites of the trunks should be white still and they aren't. The greens of the trees are not green. But that's me, if you like the warm feel of the ground, then I would say this is a step above your original.

Ok Jim, I will work on the foreground.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Here is one with the bottom cooled off, is this better? Or do I need more.

 

[AlanLichty]

You might be able to dial back the foreground warmth by a touch but not much more than that. The sky should be imparting at least some warmth into that part of the scene.