Mt. Rainier sunrise from Mt. Ararat

I'm finally sitting down to go through pictures from a three day backpacking trip up to Mt. Ararat, Iron and Copper Mountain and Pyramid Peak in the MRNP. I've already been through these pictures once, very quickly to get some basic edits done on them so that I could share with my backpacking buddy and some family.

Now I'm going back through on some of my favorites and trying to add a little "something" to them . Overall, based on what I feel my skill is, I'm happy enough with this shot below and the editing but I can't help but to wonder what exactly I did wrong here. I'm thinking my focus was on the mountain which is why I'm getting a kind of blotchy/soft look to the foreground?

Anyways, I'd love for some people to take a look at the picture and give me some feedback and/or tips on the shot and editing.

Thanks!

Canon 70d, Tamron 17-50 (@17mm)
1/125 sec at f/8, ISO 400

I think it is beautiful! Love all of the colors.

Diane

Getting the focus spot-on for landscapes is not as trivial as some suggest. It does look like perhaps you focused to far to get the near corners sharp. It's kind of hard to see at this size - the foreground does look soft on reflection.

I would try a USM in 'clarity' mode - or just a clarity slider just in that area and see if that helps a bit (or if you prefer it).

However, it does give it a bit of a dreamy look and I think you can get away with it in this case.

Love the shot. I would definitely print it if I took it.

The only thing I would to is try to draw slightly more attention to the mountain. You have the sun and great window of light leading through the flowers to it. While the mountain is big and prominent, I would increase contrast just a tad where it is washed out a little due to the sunlight. This will give it just a slightly larger weight and balance the image a bit better (IMO of course).


I might also be tempted to add a bit of mid-tone contrast (second one where I then backed off the mountain contrast a bit), but that's even more personal opinion and how 'processed/contrasty' you want to make it. I know looking back and fourth they look similar - I wouldn't do too much more to it for sure.


But of course, just an opinion on a minor tweak.

Well done and nice edits ejenner. I like the touch of colour inthe foreground......I have no idea what MRNP stands for but looks like a great place to see n snap.

Thanks camergal1 and Spike44 for the compliments, I'm happy you like the shot!

Sorry, I should know better with acronyms haha... MRNP is Mount Rainier National Park, which is in Washington.

ejenner thank you for the tips and examples! I'll try what you suggested and see how I like it. I agree with you about the mountain. I struggled with that too when editing. I wasn't sure what the best way to bring more attention to it is, but duh, some contrast makes sense. I tried with a little sharpening/clarity, but wasn't too impressed.

Quick question - if I have a couple more edits from this set (different view/locations though) is it best for me to add them here or should/can I start a new thread? would it be frowned upon starting a new one?

Thanks again!

Beautiful.

This has a serious Lord of the Rings feel to it. I love it!! Great job!!

Great shot! To me the increased contrast in ejenner's 2nd edit gives a sharper feel to the foreground - I like it. Could wind have been a factor in the foreground sharpness? 1/125 is pretty fast, so I don't know.

In my mind the mountain is the subject, it simply overwhelms all other features. That being the case it needs to be the sharpest, with the most clarity and vibrance. As it is it a flat object blending with the flat sky. Like the composition, and thought behind this, But see what you can do to bring that pile of rock out of the background a bit.

Thanks for the additional comments and compliments! Appreciate it!

cmh512 I don't remember it being particularly windy that morning, so I don't think so. Honestly I think it was just the fact that I was probably focusing on Mount Rainier and also, I recently did some AFMA on my camera/lens and it was off a little, so???

Didereaux I'll try to incorporate some of the suggestions here, tonight when I get home and Ill re-post it!

freestylee30 wrote in post #17146076
Quick question - if I have a couple more edits from this set (different view/locations though) is it best for me to add them here or should/can I start a new thread? would it be frowned upon starting a new one?

Thanks again!

I think you could/should start a new one if they are different shots rather than different edits of the same shot. Better not to have too many in one thread IMO.

Here's my edit based off the recommendations for adding some contrast to the mountain (thanks ejenner). I also did a little sharpening but decided to pull it back some because I liked it a little softer.

freestylee30 wrote in post #17147094
Here's my edit based off the recommendations for adding some contrast to the mountain (thanks ejenner). I also did a little sharpening but decided to pull it back some because I liked it a little softer.

YES! It didn't take much. That improved the shot a bunch. Well done

I though it might be worth mentioning there are 2 other forms of contrast that can be either reduced or increased depending on whether you want to draw attention into an area or downplay it.

Saturation contrast and hue contrast.

Normally when we think of 'contrast' we think of tonal contrast and certainly that is the only real choice here for the mountain. But saturation and hue contrasts can be much more subtle and used to great effect. Usually you are going to create hue contrasts in the field, so that leaves saturation contrast.

I wouldn't recommend it for this shot because you have enough hue contrast, but if for instance you wanted to bring out the flowers a bit more, but without making them brighter which might be too obvious, you could desaturate the grass a bit.

Selective saturation/desaturatio​n is much more subtle than tonal contrast, but can really make a difference. In fact it is also used somewhat in this shot by separating the flowers and grass from the sky with an area of lower saturation in the center.

If you wanted to create more separation between the sky and the ground, then reducing saturation in the darks in the trees and mountains would do that. In fact desaturating darks can also be an effective way of making an image look overall less saturated while still leaving a good amount of saturation where you (usually) want it.

Personally I don't think this image needs it, but it occurred to me it might be worth mentioning and it is something I would probably do. I use luminosity masks in PS to do this. It can also be done in Elements or Gimp, but its a little harder.

'hdr'? Use iso 100 and 1/30 since you were at 17mm instead of iso 400 and 1/125.