Yosemite: "Mammoth Peak"

Hikin' Mike

Friday afternoon, me and a friend took a trip up to the high country of Yosemite. This was my first visit to the park after my knee surgery, so it was good to get out again. There were nice clouds in the sky all afternoon, but unfortunately when the "Golden Hour" came, the clouds had disappeared.

I have to thank my friend for scoping out this spot. It was only 50' from the parking lot, but in my condition I would have never decided to walk that far into "the unknown".

This is Mammoth Peak and in the foreground is a small seasonal creek left over from the snowmelt. I'm posting two versions. I like the first one overall, but I like the second because the colors are a bit more vibrant. Both images were a blending of two exposures in CS2.

Comments/critiques welcome and please let me know which version (if any) you prefer. Thanks!


Canon 300D, 17-40 f/4L @ 24mm, Tripod
ISO 100, 1/100 sec, f/8




Canon 300D, 17-40 f/4L @ 17mm, Tripod
ISO 100, 1/160 sec, f/8

Dixie

The first one - hands down. I absolutely love the composition for it.

The one suggestion I would give is to try the following workflow:

1. Make a duplicate layer from where you stopped after blending the two exposures
2. Adjust the bottom layer for the sky and mountains in the background
3. Adjust the top layer for the foreground
   • Brighten
   • Punch the saturation
4. Erase the top layer in the area over the sky and background mountains using 50/50 opacity/flow with a soft brush (no hardness).

I can show you an example if you wish. Of course you can do much better working with the original files.

Hikin' Mike

Thanks Dixie. Basically what I did was process one image in RAW for two exposures, one for the highlights (sky) and one for shadows (foreground). Opened CS2 and moved one on top of the other (2 layers). On the top layer I added a layer mask and used the gradient tool to create a "Grad Filter". I then adjusted Shadows/Highlights, Levels, Saturation and Curves to taste. Finished off with some sharpening.

Nee7x7

Wow, Mike!!!
In a word...these are awesome!!! I vote hands down for the first one as well. Very nicely done~ Nee

Hikin' Mike

Thanks for looking!