Bear Valley

bbjones

I'm a California ocean boy, but I recently got my first chance to photograph in snow. Good thing I read a little ahead of time, or all of my exposures would have been terrible.

These are my favorites -- I'd love some C&C.

#1


#2


#3


I consider myself a rank noobie at processing -- any suggestions would be appreciated!

chrismoore

I like the lines in #3 best, though for a black and white it could definitely use more contrast. If you give me permission, I can tweak it and show you what I mean.

bbjones

chrismoore wrote: »

I like the lines in #3 best, though for a black and white it could definitely use more contrast. If you give me permission, I can tweak it and show you what I mean.

Sure! I'm really new to the whole processing end, so I'd love to see where you'd go with it, and how you did it.

Thanks!

chrismoore

This is probably more personal taste than anything, but I cropped off the very top as I thought it was distracting. I used a series of levels and curves layers to lighten the image and increase contrast without darkening the tree too much. I think overall the comp would have been better if the tree were straight, and occupying less of the frame. What I really like about this shot is the overlapping lines and patterns, with the tree as an anchor, appropriately off centered.

bbjones

chrismoore wrote: »

This is probably more personal taste than anything, but I cropped off the very top as I thought it was distracting. I used a series of levels and curves layers to lighten the image and increase contrast without darkening the tree too much. I think overall the comp would have been better if the tree were straight, and occupying less of the frame. What I really like about this shot is the overlapping lines and patterns, with the tree as an anchor, appropriately off centered.

Thanks for the rework, Chris! I had played with some versions like that, but I really missed the detail in the snow, where you can see the ripple effect. I like how yours is whiter, but I couldn't figure out how to do that and keep the subtle variations in the snow. Thoughts?

chrismoore

Like I said, its more personal taste. If this were my image, I would focus on the simplicity of the scene- the contours of the hills creating curves and lines. The ripples in the snow introduce an element that I don't feel is necessary for the photo, but you could certainly process it that way if you wanted. The main suggestion I wanted to make was that for a black and white image that relies on lines, there needs to be a more distinct separation between whites and blacks to make them stand out, and a few simple contrast adjustments will accomplish that. Other subtleties can be added or subtracted as you see fit. To keep the ripples in the snow, you would just have to keep the histogram a little more to the left and accentuate the black point. For winter scene like this, IMO the snow should be more white as opposed to gray.