Southern Utah - distant landscapes

During my visit to Southern Utah last December I took these 2 pictures.
I like them quite a bit myself, mainly because of the light on the distant mountains.
But I'm sure that I could have done better on composition and would appreciate any feedback on how to improve these images.

Thanks,

Hans.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/C9wJ​Cq

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/C4yd​ac

I think this is a good, creative use of the foreground to really express the openness/expansiveness of the landscape in that area; that works explicitly 'because' of your capture of the mountains being lit in the background. Nice shots.

It is great light. Personally I feel there is too much foreground and sky. The main element (the mountain ranges) is too distant, and right in the center. If you have enough pixels, a panoramic style crop may bring it more into prominence. Something similar to below:

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the insight.
I tried cropping myself too and although I like the result I still feel that the original represents the actual situation better.
Looking at the original I can see myself standing there again but perhaps that's because I was there and everybody else looks at it with different expectations?

Either way, I now have 2 very nice images, each showing a different view of an amazing area.

Hans.

The higher up you shoot from the more foreground you are going to get in the picture. In this case it isn't very interesting. If you would have shot from a lower angle and with a long lens you might have added more interest and still gotten the great light on the mountains.
Just some thoughts.
SG

Gruntenstein wrote in post #17862920
During my visit to Southern Utah last December I took these 2 pictures.
I like them quite a bit myself, mainly because of the light on the distant mountains.
But I'm sure that I could have done better on composition and would appreciate any feedback on how to improve these images.

Thanks,

Hans.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/C4yd​ac Views from the Skutumpah road, near Cannonville, Utah. by Gruntenstein, on Flickr

Ansel Adams quality.

I like the light in the second image. These are such vast, open areas that it is hard o frame exactly as we want, depending on available lenses. I do like the panoramic suggestion as well.

I would usually agree with cropping to a panorama format, but there is something lost in the expansiveness of the scenery when doing that here. As someone who has always lived in heavily forested areas, I appreciate a big view of the Earth's surface from time to time. I like the images as is, especially #1. Good work! Keep it up!

Thanks all, I appreciate the feedback.

Hans.

i really enjoy them as is - the lighting is great and the setup beautiful, composition is great

hand held? was this 300mm?

curious...did you up the clarity on these?


Only wish the first was even sharper in the distance. You could make a nice series of this composition setup.

Thanks EKOEPP,

both were handheld.
1st one was with my Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM at 85mm
2nd one was with my Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM at 39mm

I did some post processing in Lightroom but I'm not an expert user so... my results may vary , although I do see a positive difference between the out of camera raw and my end result in lightroom.
If I remember correctly I upped the clarity to +30 and vibrance to +25 on both.

Hans.

Gruntenstein wrote in post #17872691
Thanks EKOEPP,

both were handheld.
1st one was with my Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM at 85mm
2nd one was with my Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM at 39mm

I did some post processing in Lightroom but I'm not an expert user so... my results may vary , although I do see a positive difference between the out of camera raw and my end result in lightroom.
If I remember correctly I upped the clarity to +30 and vibrance to +25 on both.

Hans.

oooh tripod

Here ares some ideas for parameters to mess with in Lightroom:

clarity with a brush only on the distant horizon landscape if it all /foreground too- but to keep it off the sky
or keep clarity similar but balance out with color and luminance noise reduction - idea being to further sharpen the distance as the focus and take the clarity noise out of sky

also

could you add sharpening or did you already? maybe +75 and balance with option+masking to see what you're sharpening?

just some others angle to play with it :0)

Hahaha, we were driving and we were already far behind schedule when I took these.
Didn't get enough time to setup. Also the light was quickly changing and I didn't want to miss the moment.
But yes, with a tripod (and a bit more time) the result might have been better.

I'll play around with your suggestions to see if I can improve the quality of these images.

Thanks,

Hans.

Gruntenstein wrote in post #17873866
Hahaha, we were driving and we were already far behind schedule when I took these.
Didn't get enough time to setup. Also the light was quickly changing and I didn't want to miss the moment.

Hans.

I know isn't that always the case! You got it though - the light is perfect