Sortland and Steinsfjorden Viewpoint

[Kyle Jones]

I hadn't realized this was a "named" viewpoint. We were driving from Unstad beach. where Alejandro had just gone surfing (photo below), and were making our way to Uttakleiv to scout it out at sunset. We came through a tunnel and saw this great view with some wonderful color in the clouds, so decided to stop and take advantage of it, sacrificing sunset at Uttakleiv. I found a pullout and we walked through the snow a little way down the hill to get a clean view of the scene. Processing was a little bit of a challenge, with the hills in shadow and the clouds glowing bright, so feel free to offer any7 thoughts.

Unstad beach is Lofoten's most famous surfing beach and they do rentals all year. Alejandro (my usual photography travel companion) loves to surf so he had to give it a shot. If anyone plans to go out there, Unstad Arctic Surf was the company we worked with and they also serve some of the best food we ate in Lofoten. Here's a landscape shot from Unstad with Alejandro on a wave.

I guess to complete the story... We drove on to Uttakleiv, which is probably the most photographed beach in Lofoten, just after sunset. We still had plenty of twilight to shoot. Unfortunately I took a tumble on some slippery rocks (right after saying we needed to be careful), destroyed the polarizer on my lens, and cracked the base of my camera. I hurt my back too, but that heals. At that point I thought I was going to need to find a way to get a new camera. As it turned out, the camera (mostly) kept working fine throughout the trip and the lens was OK once I managed to get the filter off of it. I usually don't bring backups, in part because I've never needed one and I figure if I break something I can buy a new one. Some areas, like as it turns out Lofoten, don't have places to buy a wide selection of gear. I was lucky I could get my camera to work. Best case otherwise would have been to buy something online from Oslo and get it shipped express to where I was staying.

 

[AlanLichty]

I think you did a very good job handling the light in the first image. I imagine the foreground was quite dark straight out of the camera. I am still trying to wrap my head around surfing with the temperatures that accompany the scene at Unstad Beach. That looks just crazy cold.

Glad you were able to keep going with your camera. I had something similar happen on the Olympic Peninsula once and have been carrying a spare camera body with me ever since.

 

[ProCaliberTraveler]

Speedy recovery for your back, Kyle. I recently had a similar kind of accident at Burney Falls. I slipped off a rock into the creek and scraped up my shin. Luckily I didn't drop the camera.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Great scenery and excellent imaging. I had to chuckle that you were more concerned about the gear than your back. Hope the back is feeling better.

 

[Kyle Jones]

Speedy recovery for your back, Kyle. I recently had a similar kind of accident at Burney Falls. I slipped off a rock into the creek and scraped up my shin. Luckily I didn't drop the camera.

Great scenery and excellent imaging. I had to chuckle that you were more concerned about the gear than your back. Hope the back is feeling better.

Thank you both. My back is fine, it was just really tender for a few days where I landed on it.

 

[JimFox]

Hey Kyle,

Sorry for the late reply, it's not that I haven't seen this, but I have been trying to figure out how my thoughts on #1.

First off, both are great images, with #1 being the more captivating composition. I do think that the sky/ground edge doesn't feel right, almost like the sky has been pasted in. Clearly it wasn't, you were just processing the sky seperate from the ground layer as most of us do. But I think the edge between the mountains and the sky verges on being too different.

It's not as drastic as when someone uses the sky replacement tool, it looks pretty good what you did, but it just doesn't quite fit right. It's like it's 90% there if you get me.

I have done what you did here with this image thousands of times as you have. What I have been trying to figure out is how to solve it. Because the sky should be as bright as it is, and the ground would still be bright as it is. I keep thinking that there should maybe be some kind of shading on the ground? Because the far mountain would be more in shade compared to the foreground one. Maybe that's it? I wish I could put my finger on exactly what I would do if this was mine, but I can't come up with exactly what I would do.

Maybe that last long slope off the lower right peak in the middle should be brightened up a bit more with a gradient as it flows to the horizon?

I am probably being to picky, but there does seem to be something along that edge that just doesn't fit totally right with my brain. Hopefully I explained my thoughts adequately.

 

[Kyle Jones]

Hey Kyle,

Sorry for the late reply, it's not that I haven't seen this, but I have been trying to figure out how my thoughts on #1.

First off, both are great images, with #1 being the more captivating composition. I do think that the sky/ground edge doesn't feel right, almost like the sky has been pasted in. Clearly it wasn't, you were just processing the sky seperate from the ground layer as most of us do. But I think the edge between the mountains and the sky verges on being too different.

It's not as drastic as when someone uses the sky replacement tool, it looks pretty good what you did, but it just doesn't quite fit right. It's like it's 90% there if you get me.

I have done what you did here with this image thousands of times as you have. What I have been trying to figure out is how to solve it. Because the sky should be as bright as it is, and the ground would still be bright as it is. I keep thinking that there should maybe be some kind of shading on the ground? Because the far mountain would be more in shade compared to the foreground one. Maybe that's it? I wish I could put my finger on exactly what I would do if this was mine, but I can't come up with exactly what I would do.

Maybe that last long slope off the lower right peak in the middle should be brightened up a bit more with a gradient as it flows to the horizon?

I am probably being to picky, but there does seem to be something along that edge that just doesn't fit totally right with my brain. Hopefully I explained my thoughts adequately.

Thanks Jim. Your thoughts align with mine, as they usually do. I've been struggling with the same thing and have reprocessed this from scratch more than once.

I'll play with your suggestions and will add another version if I come up with something I like better.

 

[MonikaC]

Nice to see something other than the standard shots of the area. Always bring a backup camera when going on big trips: one time in Iceland, there was a pro photog with us who didn't have a backup camera and managed to drop his into a fumarole....... Not a pretty sight. Fortunately, since he stepped into it, his leg was not badly burned & our trip leader had the same camera to lend him for the rest of the trip.

As for the sky/ground issue: I will often try to decrease the contrast right along the edge to avoid that line. Sometimes it works........