Yosemite: Am I cheating?

[ayotnoms]

Man, this is fun. Thank Buddha for 2Gig CF cards, storage tanks, and RAW.

When I opened the original file, the shadows were pretty intense so this photo had to be done with two passes in PS. First pass drew out the detail from the shadows and was matched with a duplicate image of the adjusted, non-shadowed portions.

It doesn't appear obvious on my Macintosh nor on my PC laptop screen so hopefully it will show fine on the forum as well.

My thoughts as was walking around Yosemite were, "how did Ansel Adams do this...lugging all his equipment around and not having a way to check histograms and stuff like that?" That he did accounts for why he is a photography god and the rest of us can only draw inspiration from his work I suppose.

Cheers

[lomond]

I think you did a great job blending the shadows and highlights from the original RAW image.

Do you think this shot was crying out for an ND Grad filter ?
The shadows are still a bit dark on the lower left. :?

Beautiful image all the same.

P.S. Not cheating, you are using the availabe information from the RAW file.

[ayotnoms]

I think you did a great job blending the shadows and highlights from the original RAW image.

Do you think this shot was crying out for an ND Grad filter ?
The shadows are still a bit dark on the lower left. :?

Beautiful image all the same.

P.S. Not cheating, you are using the availabe information from the RAW file.
There's still so much to learn. I bought an ND filter for the 50mm 1.4 but haven't really taken it through its paces. As to its utility for this particular shot, don't know.

Is the idea to allow longer exposures to eliminate the shadow while not blowing out the non-shaded areas?

I get all wrapped around the axel on stuff like that. It's enough of a challenge fiddling with all the nerd knobs on the camera in order to get a decent shot. LOL

Anyway, thanks for the input. I bought a year pass to the park so I'll try to remember next time I go up.

Cheers

[stoneylonesome]

I think you did a good job here. I really like the overall effect of this photo.

[sparker1]

It's a good job for sure. Ansel Adams stayed there for years, picking his days and times for shooting. We go there for a few days and need to shoot everything right away, or nearly so. Also, Ansel Adams did his magic in the darkroom, rather than at the camera. It is that technique that left everyone else at the gate. Further, shooting B&W gave him fewer concerns. I certainly don't feel guilty taking advantage of technology (to the extent I am able) to produce my best results.

[ayotnoms]

It's a good job for sure. Ansel Adams stayed there for years, picking his days and times for shooting. We go there for a few days and need to shoot everything right away, or nearly so. Also, Ansel Adams did his magic in the darkroom, rather than at the camera. It is that technique that left everyone else at the gate. Further, shooting B&W gave him fewer concerns. I certainly don't feel guilty taking advantage of technology (to the extent I am able) to produce my best results.
Thanks for the encouraging comments, Stan.

A few forum members quote Ansel Adams in their signatures: You don't take a photograph, you make it.

Good thing I know a little about PS cause all I would do in a darkroom is stub my toes. LOL

Cheers
Steve

[sparker1]

I did darkroom work for years. Each modification took an hour to see the results. Many times an entire evening to produce one acceptable print. Digital is much easier, and the results are much better. I gave up smoke signals when the telephone came along.