Cedar Canyon...above and below.

oldoval

This is my first attempt at would could be called a "series". The images from the top were taken from my deck. I then made my way down the mountain and tried to catch the last bit of light that fills the canyon. There were some low clouds blocking the light so it wasn't quite as dramatic as I've seen in the past. Thank you for looking.

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2

3

4

5


6

7

8

9

hawkeye978

Nice set overall. I wish I had your deck. I can see the the #2 and #3 images are the same just B&W vs. color. My 2 cents but the color works a lot better for me. I love the contrast you are getting between the red rocks and white snow. That just doesn't come out in the B&W. Love the composition in #6 and the light in the last 2 is great.

oldoval

Tom, Thank you.

I tend to waffle back and forth between B&W and color so I usually just give in and post both. I think I like color with these too.

Cameron

I tend to gravitate towards B&W shots, but I also like the color versions better. The red rocks peeking out from under the snow really add to the shot, especially in #3 and #8!

oldoval

Thank you Cameron.

Sexy6Chick

These are lovely photos - the newly fallen snow coats the rocky terrain and completely transforms it. And you captured some great lighting!

oldoval

Thank you Natalie....very kind words.

HDRoamer

Where is this? Nice view from your deck, love it. Grab some sunsets for us!
The 8th one stands out to me as is because of the colors and comp. But seven with some HDR because of the clouds could really pop. I like the contrast in 6, again you could bring out some shadowed terrain just a bit with technique. You'd like the results of the last with some HDR too. Bring out those shadows just a little more.

Looks like you are all over the place with white balance like me, experimenting to get what you want, maybe evident from the range of tone values. Tell me a different scenario if wrong... like your direction.

oldoval

HDRoamer wrote: »

Where is this? Nice view from your deck, love it. Grab some sunsets for us!
The 8th one stands out to me as is because of the colors and comp. But seven with some HDR because of the clouds could really pop. I like the contrast in 6, again you could bring out some shadowed terrain just a bit with technique. You'd like the results of the last with some HDR too. Bring out those shadows just a little more.

Looks like you are all over the place with white balance like me, experimenting to get what you want, maybe evident from the range of tone values. Tell me a different scenario if wrong... like your direction.

This is Cedar Canyon just out of Cedar City, Utah. Hwy 14 runs right through the middle. In fact I was standing in the road for most of the "below" shots.

4,7 and 8 are all HDR but I didn't go too crazy with the strength so that the images look somewhat natural. I shot quite a few single exposures of the scene in 7 and 8 but there was so much contrast I just ended up with either a blown out sky or a too dark cliff face in most shots.

I tend to shoot with Auto WB but I play with the colors and curves a lot in processing to suit my mood which may be why the values vary so much from pic to pic. I'm REALLY new to photography so I'm still learning what my "style" is and how to balance my images from one to the next.

Here's my best exposure of the non-HDR shots I took. The sky seems flat but probably true to what was going on.

HDRoamer

Have you tried creating an HDR from a single shot where you have decent middle ground? Make copies with incremental exposes from the source image and use those to process your HDR instead of source captures. I think you'll find it easier to gain results, because the light changes so rapidly in the environment you are shooting in. This has saved me much aggravation in processing.

oldoval

HDRoamer. I had never thought of doing that....I'll give it a try.