Canyonlands, Utah

wxwax · May 20, 2006

We made a midday visit to the Canyonlands, just outside of Moab, in Utah.

Here, instead of making universal curves and levels adjustments, I took a tip from Digital PhotoPro magazine, and made individual color channels selections, then worked on them separately.

The result was more discrete, softer adjustments that I find much more pleasing and less contrasty, especially in shots that have some haze.

wxwax · May 20, 2006

Same scene, different focal length and light.

USAIR · May 21, 2006

Wow Sid first one's awesome
Great color great light and look at that trail way down there.

Have to look for that mag to see how this is done anything on line ?

Thanks
Fred

davidryan · May 21, 2006

I think I'm gonna hurl...this photo makes me dizzy :toni I like the photo. I choose to do panos whenever i can with landscapes but I suppose in this case a pano would be kind of useless. Unless it were a vertical one-- those are fun! Thanks for sharing.

wxwax wrote:

We made a midday visit to the Canyonlands, just outside of Moab, in Utah.

Here, instead of making universal curves and levels adjustments, I took a tip from Digital PhotoPro magazine, and made individual color channels selections, then worked on them separately.

The result was more discrete, softer adjustments that I find much more pleasing and less contrasty, especially in shots that have some haze.

Awais Yaqub · May 21, 2006

Beautiful landscape

reminds me Broken Arrow

:

wxwax · May 21, 2006

USAIR wrote:

Wow Sid first one's awesome
Great color great light and look at that trail way down there.

Have to look for that mag to see how this is done anything on line ?

Thanks
Fred

Thanks Fred!

I haven't seen anything online for this technique.

Here it is in a nutshell, Just let me know if you want more detail on any of the steps.

Open piccie
RGB
Channels
Click on each of the three color channels. Select the channel that's brightest in the area of the piccie that you want to change. Your changes will have some affect on all parts of the piccie, but will be strongest on the lightest parts.
Click and drag that channel down to the dotted circle at the bottom of the Channels palette. It will go all blinky. This is your selection.
Click on Layer/New Adjustment Layer/ your choice of adjustment (do *not* use the Adjustment layers on your Layers palette.)
Click OK on the box that opens up (this makes a new layer for your adjustment.)
Make your adjustment and save.

That's it. If your adjustment is too much, you can ease it up by changing the opacity of your new layer.

wxwax · May 21, 2006

davidryan wrote:

I think I'm gonna hurl...this photo makes me dizzy :toni I like the photo. I choose to do panos whenever i can with landscapes but I suppose in this case a pano would be kind of useless. Unless it were a vertical one-- those are fun! Thanks for sharing.

I had to stand back and lean on a rock, I was getting dizzy myself. I was worried about hurling myself over the edge.

wxwax · May 21, 2006

Awais Yaqub wrote:

Beautiful landscape
reminds me Broken Arrow :

Thanks Awais!

Here's another, from slightly earlier in the day at Canyonlands.

Awais Yaqub · May 21, 2006

This is also so cool
are animals also there ?

wxwax · May 21, 2006

Awais Yaqub wrote:

This is also so cool
are animals also there ?

I didn't see any, except for birds.

They're there, but they're very shy and avoid human contact.

bopApocalypse · May 21, 2006

wxwax wrote:

I had to stand back and lean on a rock, I was getting dizzy myself. I was worried about hurling myself over the edge.

Gotta love the vertigo factor there. Now imagine driving down that road! I've been told that when you first start, you can't really see what's in front of you - just the hood of the car, and air.

bopApocalypse · May 21, 2006

wxwax wrote:

Thanks Awais!

Here's another, from slightly earlier in the day at Canyonlands.

Nice angle on Washer Woman! That seems to be the location to shoot from, if you want to catch her - just need a longer lens...

ps. for those that don't know what I'm talking about, Washer Woman Arch is dead center at the top 1/3 or so, just left of another dark tower.

USAIR · May 21, 2006

wxwax wrote:

Thanks Fred!

I haven't seen anything online for this technique.

Here it is in a nutshell, Just let me know if you want more detail on any of the steps.
Open piccie

RGB

Channels

Click on each of the three color channels. Select the channel that's brightest in the area of the piccie that you want to change. Your changes will have some affect on all parts of the piccie, but will be strongest on the lightest parts.

Click and drag that channel down to the dotted circle at the bottom of the Channels palette. It will go all blinky. This is your selection.

Click on Layer/New Adjustment Layer/ your choice of adjustment (do *not* use the Adjustment layers on your Layers palette.)

Click OK on the box that opens up (this makes a new layer for your adjustment.)

Make your adjustment and save.

That's it. If your adjustment is too much, you can ease it up by changing the opacity of your new layer.

Very Nice Sid and easy to understand too
Did a couple of photos up...learn something new every day

Thanks
Fred

saurora · May 21, 2006

Wow, Sid, that shot really does have a lot of depth to it....you really feel like you're standing on the edge ready to jump!!!! I like the tecnique you used .... I will have to try that as well. This week I am reading Photoshop LAB Color (The Canyon Conundrum) by Dan Margulis (along with the swell tutorials on Dgrin). One technique at a time is about all I can handle!!!

firedancing4life · May 21, 2006

Awais Yaqub wrote:

Beautiful landscape
reminds me Broken Arrow :

I was thinking the same thing!!! Except there is no exploding helicopter and nukes.

Great pictures!:D

wxwax · May 22, 2006

Thanks guys!

The interesting spots at the park draw a crowd. I had to wait a long time for people to clear away from the arch.

I have a very hard time processing shots like this: almost white rock under midday sun.

maljo · May 22, 2006

Very nice photo. A comment:
The hot thing these days is to use LAB color.
There is a book at Amazon.com called:
Photoshop LAB color: the canyon conundrum.

I've just started learning this proces but photos
like yours of sandstone really look great after
LAB processing.

maljo

wxwax · May 22, 2006

maljo wrote:

The hot thing these days is to use LAB color.
There is a book at Amazon.com called:
Photoshop LAB color: the canyon conundrum.

I've just started learning this proces but photos
like yours of sandstone really look great after
LAB processing.

maljo

Cool, thanks. Any tips would be welcome!

wxwax · May 23, 2006

A more traditional view of the arch in Canyonlands. Still trying to get the light rock to look decent in midday sun.

patch29 · May 26, 2006

bopApocalypse wrote:

Nice angle on Washer Woman! That seems to be the location to shoot from, if you want to catch her - just need a longer lens...

Here is a closer version of the arch, on the same day, coincidence?

patch29 · May 26, 2006

bopApocalypse wrote:

Gotta love the vertigo factor there. Now imagine driving down that road! I've been told that when you first start, you can't really see what's in front of you - just the hood of the car, and air.

Here are a couple shots of the upper sections of the trail, you can sort of tell where they would match wxwax's photos. I believe it is the Shaffer Trail, which leads to the White Rim Trail.

wxwax · May 26, 2006

patch29 wrote:

Here is a closer version of the arch, on the same day, coincidence?

Cool. Was that 200 x 1.4?

patch29 · May 26, 2006

wxwax wrote:

Cool. Was that 200 x 1.4?

Nope 70-200 @ 180mm, f2.8@1/1000

Canyonlands, Utah

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