Buachaille Etive Mor

canon400d

I travelled up north to Glencoe, Scotland in the early morning as the first snowfall occurred on Wednesday night. However, when I got there for sunrise Friday the weather was not what I expected. Dull with the odd shaft of light which lasted for 10 secs and that was it drizzle with low mist. I managed a few shots and here are two of the mountain Buachaelle Etive Mor. I was lucky, I had the place to myself, as a rule there is a queue of photographers as it is so popular.
C & C once again is always appreciated.
Bob

1

2

JC

Very nice images, I think it was worth the effort to get up, even if you didn't capture the snow dusting. This is pretty much how I remember Scotland. Moody and drizzly.

I think you could make these images standout a little bit more. The white balance seems a tad warm to me, but that could have been how the light truly was.

What I think these images need, especially the first, is a graduated ND filter, applied in post. Disregarding the red bias, this is how I would a apply a graduated ND filter to this image.

1) duplicate the original image to a second layer- I'll call this the foreground layer.
2) Stretch the 'foreground' layer for the foreground, ignoring what the clouds do. I wouldn't move the white point, just add a little bit of an 'S' curve in levels, that brightens the mid-tones, and darkens the shadows slightly.
3) add a layer mask to the 'foreground layer', black (transparent) or white (opaque) doesn't matter, you'll overprint the default mask in the next two steps.
4) Copy the entire image from the second layer, to the layer mask. This should give you a black and white version of the 'foreground layer'.
5) Invert the color on the layer mask. Now zoom in on the tree, and look at the layer mask values for the tree, especially where it overlaps the sky. Remember, black shows the underlying layer, white shows the stretched foreground layer. By using the inverted image as the mask, the you are applying the stretch to the tree, and not the clouds. This way you can have a custom ND filter to stretch objects against a bright sky without a halo effect, or having to create the mask manually, pixel by pixel.
6) take a broad brush, or airbrush tool, and paint the bottom of the mask white, to apply the stretch evenly across the whole bottom of the image. Leave the inverted image as the mask where you need the detailed edge between the foreground and the background.

6) is up to your eye, how much you think it needs, depending on how much stretch you apply in 2, you risk blowing out the red channel in the water, but I don't think that's a fatal flaw- the green and blue channel have room in the w ater. Remember, you can always reduce the opacity of the foreground layer, to add more or less of the stretched effect back into the base image.

If you change the white balance and reduce the red channel, there is less of a concern of blowing out the red channel.

I can show you some of the intermediate steps, if you want. It's quicker to do than to type out.

canon400d

kolibri wrote: »

Very nice images, I think it was worth the effort to get up, even if you didn't capture the snow dusting. This is pretty much how I remember Scotland. Moody and drizzly.

I think you could make these images standout a little bit more. The white balance seems a tad warm to me, but that could have been how the light truly was.

What I think these images need, especially the first, is a graduated ND filter, applied in post. Disregarding the red bias, this is how I would a apply a graduated ND filter to this image.

1) duplicate the original image to a second layer- I'll call this the foreground layer.
2) Stretch the 'foreground' layer for the foreground, ignoring what the clouds do. I wouldn't move the white point, just add a little bit of an 'S' curve in levels, that brightens the mid-tones, and darkens the shadows slightly.
3) add a layer mask to the 'foreground layer', black (transparent) or white (opaque) doesn't matter, you'll overprint the default mask in the next two steps.
4) Copy the entire image from the second layer, to the layer mask. This should give you a black and white version of the 'foreground layer'.
5) Invert the color on the layer mask. Now zoom in on the tree, and look at the layer mask values for the tree, especially where it overlaps the sky. Remember, black shows the underlying layer, white shows the stretched foreground layer. By using the inverted image as the mask, the you are applying the stretch to the tree, and not the clouds. This way you can have a custom ND filter to stretch objects against a bright sky without a halo effect, or having to create the mask manually, pixel by pixel.
6) take a broad brush, or airbrush tool, and paint the bottom of the mask white, to apply the stretch evenly across the whole bottom of the image. Leave the inverted image as the mask where you need the detailed edge between the foreground and the background.

6) is up to your eye, how much you think it needs, depending on how much stretch you apply in 2, you risk blowing out the red channel in the water, but I don't think that's a fatal flaw- the green and blue channel have room in the w ater. Remember, you can always reduce the opacity of the foreground layer, to add more or less of the stretched effect back into the base image.

If you change the white balance and reduce the red channel, there is less of a concern of blowing out the red channel.

I can show you some of the intermediate steps, if you want. It's quicker to do than to type out.

Thanks ever so much Kolibri for taking time to outline everything in such great detail. I did have Lee grad filters in my bag. The first image was done with adding a 10 stop. I didn't have time ro fit it to the second image as the shaft of light lasted no more than a few seconds.
I will try but to be honest I will probably struggle to bring everything as outlined to a satisfactory conclusion. I have a reasonable knowledge of CS5 but somehow doubt if I can succeed and achieve this.
Cheers
Bob

R.Jay

Hi Bob, I think I prefer #2 because of the patch of sunlight on the Buachaille and the foreground colour. Had you had the time to get the same look for the water it would have been a real wall hanger, but a great shot all the same I've climbed the Buachaille twice - once in winter - once in summer (Curved Ridge on Crowberry Tower).

Cheers, Richard.

canon400d

R.Jay wrote: »

Hi Bob, I think I prefer #2 because of the patch of sunlight on the Buachaille and the foreground colour. Had you had the time to get the same look for the water it would have been a real wall hanger, but a great shot all the same I've climbed the Buachaille twice - once in winter - once in summer (Curved Ridge on Crowberry Tower).

Cheers, Richard.

Thanks Richard it really is an impressive view. I will certainly return again.
Cheers
Bob

canon400d

canon400d wrote: »

Thanks ever so much Kolibri for taking time to outline everything in such great detail. I did have Lee grad filters in my bag. The first image was done with adding a 10 stop. I didn't have time ro fit it to the second image as the shaft of light lasted no more than a few seconds.
I will try but to be honest I will probably struggle to bring everything as outlined to a satisfactory conclusion. I have a reasonable knowledge of CS5 but somehow doubt if I can succeed and achieve this.
Cheers
Bob

I am stuck already at number 2. How do I stretch a foreground?
Bob

JC

canon400d wrote: »

I am stuck already at number 2. How do I stretch a foreground?
Bob

Your program will look a little different, maybe adjustment layers instead of layers, but you should be able to copy your original image to a new layer, and then open up a "CURVES" dialog box.

On this layer, ignore the sky and Buachaille, you'll mask them out of this layer. In the rocks of the foreground, the water is bright, but the lichen and other highlights are dull. I'd grab the mid-tones and stretch them out to higher values, and take the low-tones and make them a tiny bit darker. I think this "S" curve, is needed in a lot of images, due to the linear sensor response.



(in this copy of your image, I also reduced the red channel to 90% and the green channel to 95%, the Lee 10 ND is supposed to be one of the best for not having a color cast, but i wonder if it was giving your image a red color cast- Is there peat around there? I know that water coming off the peat moors can be colored, so I might be wrong about the color cast)

JC

Here's a before and after of the stretch I applied. This stretch has not blown out the water. I think Photoshop-whatever, has an option in their curves Window to show saturated highlights or lowlights. that you can watch when stretching. What I was looking at while stretching though, was the plants, trying to make them not-too-bright.


I hope you don't mind me using your image for demonstration.

JC

And steps 5 and 6. I made the mask visible so you could see the editing I'm doing to it. Remember, this is an inverted copy of the stretched image. The point of doing that, is to have an ultimately customized ND filter (in concert with the stretched layer). instead of a grad. ND with a linear transition across the image, you've got an ND filter customized to the image now, with a gradual transition across the middle of the image with complex subjects. Everywhere it's black, it will let the bottom layer, the original image, show through. Everywhere it's white, it's letting the stretched image layer show.

I apologize if i"m explaining things you already know.

JC

And my final edit. After I posted the mask, I looked at the image, and realized that the hill behind the tree looked better darker, so I painted over it with black with the airbrush in the mask, set to about 50% opacity.



Of note, all of this was just digital versions of darkroom techniques, no blackbox HDR or contrast enhancement, using these techniques, you can completely control the enhancement you apply. And it's actually really quick to do (unlike in the darkroom), once you get control of the dialog boxes.

canon400d

kolibri wrote: »

And my final edit. After I posted the mask, I looked at the image, and realized that the hill behind the tree looked better darker, so I painted over it with black with the airbrush in the mask, set to about 50% opacity.



Of note, all of this was just digital versions of darkroom techniques, no blackbox HDR or contrast enhancement, using these techniques, you can completely control the enhancement you apply. And it's actually really quick to do (unlike in the darkroom), once you get control of the dialog boxes.

Thanks ever so much Kolibri for what you have done. I really must master this as the final result you have produced is in my opinion first class. The whole image looks so much better than mine.
Cheers
Bob

JC

canon400d wrote: »

Thanks ever so much Kolibri for what you have done. I really must master this as the final result you have produced is in my opinion first class. The whole image looks so much better than mine.
Cheers
Bob

It's still your image. If you hadn't gotten a good exposure in the camera, and hadn't gotten a well designed shot, this wouldn't have done much. But even a *good* exposure, doesn't necessarily mean that it looks it's best straight out of the camera.

I made up this technique after reading about the dark room techniques of some old landscape master (except now I can't remember which one !), and tried to figure out how to do it digitally.

(I'm sure other people do it to, I doubt I'm the first to hit on it, and it's probably the basis for some presets, but I like doing it manually to control the effect).

canon400d

kolibri wrote: »

It's still your image. If you hadn't gotten a good exposure in the camera, and hadn't gotten a well designed shot, this wouldn't have done much. But even a *good* exposure, doesn't necessarily mean that it looks it's best straight out of the camera.

I made up this technique after reading about the dark room techniques of some old landscape master (except now I can't remember which one !), and tried to figure out how to do it digitally.

(I'm sure other people do it to, I doubt I'm the first to hit on it, and it's probably the basis for some presets, but I like doing it manually to control the effect).

I have followed what you have shown me and I think I have almost conquered it after having a few attempts. I will certainly attempt to use this method again because I think the more one does it the easier it will get.
Thanks ever so much for taking the time to show me as it was all totally new to me.
Cheers
Bob

kdog

Well Bob, you've even topped your last set. These are excellent in composition and exposure. Terrific location! I like that you used different shutterspeeds to try different effects on the water. Kolibri has give you some excellent advice on giving these images the pop they deserve.

canon400d

kdog wrote: »

Well Bob, you've even topped your last set. These are excellent in composition and exposure. Terrific location! I like that you used different shutterspeeds to try different effects on the water. Kolibri has give you some excellent advice on giving these images the pop they deserve.

Thanks ever so much Kdog your words are very much appreciated and once again I was so pleased to receive the excellent advice from Kolibri which I will truly treasure.