New B&W Please Help me with my questions + give opinions

[AberyClark]

I have a couple of questions.
1. Does the exposure seem right?
2. How can I make the rock STAND out from the trees...to give it that WOW factor

Any other advice would be welcome. The attached image is medium quality JPEG

[AJ Montgomery]

I find it difficult to get a good look at the photo at this small size. I think that what you are concerned with is that there is little separation between the rock and the trees behind it. You may be able to do some selective dodging and burning to enhance the contrast some, however, I think that only minor improvements can be made. One thing is for sure, this photo has apparently gotten you thinking there is more to be had, which is a good thing. Sorry I could not be of more assistance, but when compared to the others before me (hehe) . . .

[kmorgan]

I have a couple of questions.
1. Does the exposure seem right?
2. How can I make the rock STAND out from the trees...to give it that WOW factor

Any other advice would be welcome. The attached image is medium quality JPEG

Hi, if you turn on image editing ok in your profile I'll upload what I did. Which is first to duplicate the background layer. Next you apply a gaussian blur to the duped layer (I used 1.5 pixels as the filter setting). Then add a layer mask (hide all) and paint with white as your foreground color, and this is important, on the image with the layer mask selected (which should already be selected after adding it). Paint everything above the snow and rock, this will allow the gaussian filter to show through and keep the rock and snow in focus.

After this I added a channel mixer layer with the settings: Red 70%, Green 15%, and Blue 15%, Constant -12% and check the monochrome box in the bottome corner.

This layer will by default have a "reveal all" mask applied. Select the mask on the layer palette, then paint, this time with black to hide, and paint the lower part of the image, the snow and rock, to remove the channel mixer effect.

What you are left with is a darker, blurred background emphasizing the foreground.

Kevin

[Sheridan]

What method did you use to convert to black and white?

I prefer converting to black and white via the channel mixer in photoshop. Playing with the channels gives you a huge amount of control over the contrast between black and white of the final image. Of course disreguard if you already knew that :)


If that doesn't work, and you want the whole picture to remain in focus rather than bokeh, I would mask either the background or the foreground and then lighten or darken one till you got the image to pop the way you want.

Nice image by the way :)

[AberyClark]

Feel free to upload the new edited version..I updated my profile

[kmorgan]

Ok, here it is.

Kevin