Yukon hiking

Bcaps wrote in post #17420395
Thanks all for the feedback!

I have a few more from the trip in my Flickr feed. This is from the end of the trip but I tend to bounce around when processing pictures. I actually started processing this during a hunt for new hiking pants. I remember liking the pants one guy was wearing on the trip so I fired up LR and tried to find a shot where I could make out the pant label when I came across this shot and stopped to process it.

Thanks dkizzle. I think I still have a handful that are worth processing. I have another trip coming up in March and know that if I don't get through my backlog of images before then they will probably just sit there for a while...

Off topic, but I was just reading the thread here on POTN about the new 5Ds and 5Ds R and as I had just finished processing my above image (taken with my 5D3), it kept popping into my head whenever the discussion in that thread turned to the dynamic range (and shadow recovery) of the new cameras and how disappointed some people are that it is the same as the 5D3.

It seems every time anyone faults Canon for this there are those that chime in saying that, basically, if you know what you are doing you don't need that extra DR (ie, use filters, position yourself relative to the sun more optimally, bracket, etc). Although I'm sure people will be happy to tell me how I could have captured this better, I think this image is a perfect example of how more DR (or more accurately, better shadow recovery, but I am using them interchangeably even though that isn't correct but you get my point) would have helped.

I'm not particularly happy with the processing on this shot; the foreground/midground is significantly underexposed (and I would have much preferred the hikers to be on that little knoll in the foreground, but I was lagging and missed that shot). All of my gear, including my tripod, was on my back. Most everyone in the group were just hiking along, but I was frequently stopping for a few seconds and firing of a couple of shots and then jogging trying to keep up. The place I stopped for this shot had this nice leading line with the trail coming from the bottom right of the frame, going over the knoll and dropping into the middle of the frame where the hikers are. I liked how the leading line of the trail would draw the eye into the frame to the hikers and then from there up to the sunlit mountains. However, because I didn't have time to do all of those things that I should have to "get it right in camera", I had to work with what I could with one shot, so I exposed for the highlights. I've pushed the shadows up as far as I can and If I go any further the image falls apart. That would not have been the case with my Nikon D810 (which I didn't have at the time).

Sure, I could have had my camera setup for a quick 2 bracket shot. I have done that in the past when I'm hiking under a bright sky and know I won't have time to stop and get my gear out. But I didn't here, and maybe I'm one of the few who don't get everything right every time in camera. And for those of us who aren't infallible, it sure would have been nice to have the latitude to push the shadows up without the image going to crap.