The Los Altos hills at sundown

TylerW

Shot these at sunset this evening. First time shooting deliberately with a nearly-closed aperture. This one just got a bit of RAW luvvin' to get it where it is:



While this one took a bracketed exposure, some RAW curves tweaking, and a fair amount of photoshop and LAB color treatment.



I'm pleased with the aesthetic simplicity of the first image, but its just that. I love the pop of the second, as well as using the tools aon hand to get that image where it is. my only worry is that I;ve gone too far, that its become too saturated, and just looks like a Disney film.

Disagree with me. Comments and crits welcome!

Richard

TylerW wrote:

I'm pleased with the aesthetic simplicity of the first image, but its just that. I love the pop of the second, as well as using the tools aon hand to get that image where it is. my only worry is that I;ve gone too far, that its become too saturated, and just looks like a Disney film.

Disagree with me. Comments and crits welcome!

I used to work in that area--beautiful spot and great for photography, especially when there's a bit of fog around. I actually prefer the first shot. In #2 the halo around the sun looks quite green on my monitor and spoils an otherwise nice capture. FWIW.

Regards,

TylerW

rsinmadrid wrote:

I used to work in that area--beautiful spot and great for photography, especially when there's a bit of fog around. I actually prefer the first shot. In #2 the halo around the sun looks quite green on my monitor and spoils an otherwise nice capture. FWIW.

Regards,

Yeah, it was a bit green once I looked at the rgb data. Made some tweaks and reuploaded, thanks for the catch!

Looks like its time to calibrate the monitor again.

Andy

Very nice!

germaine_sba

I really like both shots, but the second appeals to me more. It's the color and the dried foliage. Congratulations!

erich6

I don't like the blue tones on the first shot...I'd take those down a bit. Also, you didn't get enough of the foreground trees to enhance the sense of depth in the perspective which the haze adds to the shot. Otherwise I agree that the simplicity is appealing.

The second one looks great in terms of colors and exposure. You did well in your post-processing. However, I find the distorted halo around the sun to be very distracting and ruins the shot. Also, a bit lower position would've helped to get more of the foreground bushes as a framing element.

Erich

STLMach1

I like both shots. The sun seems a bit saturated in the second shot but other than that, beautiful. Great work!

Michael

athos

i like the second better. the first has too much sky. but i am a big fan of layers of landscape all one hue fading away into white.

besides the yellow halo around the sun being too much it looks great.