Golden Gate Fog

Not sure if the pp is working on this one.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/76054016@N08/7​332564408/

what do you think? what would you do to improve this image?

Hi Rioni - this is a nice composition and I like the contrast of the winding road with the stronger geometry of the bridge. The timing of the fog is great, but I feel you've made it a bit too overpowering. I feel a more subtle handling of the clouds - and too me that's often what clouds are relative to architecture - might be more in order here.

Many of the successful master landscape artists very effectively use a technique called atmospheric perspective. Here is an example by one of my favorites, Albert Bierstadt:

http://www.google.com …%26tbm%3Disch&u​m=1&itbs=1

The human eye normally sees the foreground in darker, sharper relief with distant objects becoming softer and less distinct. This results in a sense of depth. Those artists who were very successful were able to beautifully recreate the 3-dimensional world on a 2-dimensional canvas. And I feel photographers can learn much from this technique.

I am not saying your image is a bad picture. Rather, I feel it can be made much better with a softening of the fog bank and distant details. Right now EVERYTHING boldly stands out as important. I see no depth; does this make sense? - Stu

Perhaps if I demonstrate with a photo it will help to better explain my concept:

http://www.pbase.com/s​apearl/image/94899345

There is no fog in my shot... just some steam on a cold winter day. But I like to feel that with the softer aspect of the farther skyling I've created some dimensionality to the shot.

Personally, I like the overall composition. I think you need to lighten up the foreground and water. I would also reduce the amount of contrast in the fog and lighten it up a wee bit. And i would crop out 1/3 of the foreground to increase the vanishing point perspective.

My reaction is that the processing is a little too intense, but it's a very nice scene. I love that area but have never been lucky enough to catch the fog rolling in the few times I've been there.

Thanks for the comments everyone. Here is another try with abit toned down pp and a slightly different crop.

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I think the lighter touch on the fog makes for a more realistic image now.