Autumn in Colorado

kkart

This past Friday I headed up to Golden Gate Canyon outside of Golden, Colorado to take some shots of the Autumn colors. This is one of those shots.
I would REALLY like some honest feedback on this capture. I just woke up and was checkin my email just a minute ago and got one that said this shot had a comment on it somewhere else. So I went and read it and was greeted with "About your picture-- there once was a day when I went out with some Velvia, or Agfa Ultra, or some such "hyper-saturated" film. I underexposed it a tad, for the richest colors. I added an enhancing filter, like that gold-blue polarizer I have. All were good, sound techniques, but they added up to make a gaudy mess of primary crayola colors. And I seldom used those options in combination again. You can do the same, easier and cheaper, these days by moving too many sliders all the way to the right. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but IMHO, these colors belong in a place like Lakeside Amusement Park, not in nature.."....wow, chalk it up to being the worst comment I have ever had on my photography.
Does it honestly look THAT bad?!?!??

Minolta 5D/ Minolta 18-200 DT lens/ Singh-ray CPL

Scott_Quier

kkart wrote:

This past Friday I headed up to Golden Gate Canyon outside of Golden, Colorado to take some shots of the Autumn colors. This is one of those shots.
I would REALLY like some honest feedback on this capture. I just woke up and was checkin my email just a minute ago and got one that said this shot had a comment on it somewhere else. So I went and read it and was greeted with "About your picture-- there once was a day when I went out with some Velvia, or Agfa Ultra, or some such "hyper-saturated" film. I underexposed it a tad, for the richest colors. I added an enhancing filter, like that gold-blue polarizer I have. All were good, sound techniques, but they added up to make a gaudy mess of primary crayola colors. And I seldom used those options in combination again. You can do the same, easier and cheaper, these days by moving too many sliders all the way to the right. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but IMHO, these colors belong in a place like Lakeside Amusement Park, not in nature.."....wow, chalk it up to being the worst comment I have ever had on my photography.
Does it honestly look THAT bad?!?!??

Minolta 5D/ Minolta 18-200 DT lens/ Singh-ray CPL

IMO (notice no "H" ) and on my monitor at work (not calibrated, but close) I see the sky is a bit dark, maybe a bit too saturated, for my taste.

The rest of the scene looks pretty good, like a well done wall poster or some such. Nice rich (without being over-done) colors.

Overall, a very pleasing image. If I were you, I would chalk up the above comment to "You can't please everybody, so you gotta please yourself." Do you like it? If yes, then don't let it worry you too much and keep on keeping on.

kkart

Scott_Quier wrote:

IMO (notice no "H" ) and on my monitor at work (not calibrated, but close) I see the sky is a bit dark, maybe a bit too saturated, for my taste.

The rest of the scene looks pretty good, like a well done wall poster or some such. Nice rich (without being over-done) colors.

Overall, a very pleasing image. If I were you, I would chalk up the above comment to "You can't please everybody, so you gotta please yourself." Do you like it? If yes, then don't let it worry you too much and keep on keeping on.

Ya that about sums it up I suppose. Thank you Scott, much appreciated.

Alaska shutterbug

Scott_Quier wrote:

IMO (notice no "H" ) and on my monitor at work (not calibrated, but close) I see the sky is a bit dark, maybe a bit too saturated, for my taste.

I agree, sky a bit too saturated? but the rest looks great. And in Colorado, this is what nature really looks like. I have some photos taken with a film point & shoot that turned out with awesome colors outside of Ouray one time.

Nice job.

Scott_Quier

Alaska shutterbug wrote:

I agree, sky a bit too saturated?
Nice job.

No. Thinking on it some more, don't think that's it. I think too aggressive with the CP filter. Made the sky unnaturally dark.

Charla

Alaska shutterbug wrote:

And in Colorado, this is what nature really looks like. quote]



Yep, that's what the colors really look like. I was going to ask if the original commentor was someone who had ever been to Colorado, because otherwise he really doesn't know what he's talking about. They don't call it "Colorful Colorado" for nuthin!

I do agree that the sky is a bit dark but the foliage is spot on. Very nice image.

davidryan

Scott_Quier wrote:

IMO (notice no "H" ) and on my monitor at work (not calibrated, but close) I see the sky is a bit dark, maybe a bit too saturated, for my taste.

The rest of the scene looks pretty good, like a well done wall poster or some such. Nice rich (without being over-done) colors.

Overall, a very pleasing image. If I were you, I would chalk up the above comment to "You can't please everybody, so you gotta please yourself." Do you like it? If yes, then don't let it worry you too much and keep on keeping on.

Good critque-- but......Being anywhere from 5000 up to 14000+ feet, the sky in Colorado is different from those who live in the "low lands." I took some photos of my wife at a local park (Colorado Springs) and the sky is a very deep blue-- no post processing, no corrections-- just RAW out of the camera. As another poster said in her reply, they call it colorful colorado for a reason-- especially this time of year. The extreme colors may look unnatural to those outside of the state-- but I assure you, this photo is probably exactly how it looks. Just me two cents-- I think the photo is great.

kkart

Alaska shutterbug wrote:

I agree, sky a bit too saturated? but the rest looks great. And in Colorado, this is what nature really looks like. I have some photos taken with a film point & shoot that turned out with awesome colors outside of Ouray one time.

Nice job.

Ya blame it on the altitude for the colors being the way they are

kkart

Charla wrote:

Alaska shutterbug wrote:

And in Colorado, this is what nature really looks like. quote]



Yep, that's what the colors really look like. I was going to ask if the original commentor was someone who had ever been to Colorado, because otherwise he really doesn't know what he's talking about. They don't call it "Colorful Colorado" for nuthin!

I do agree that the sky is a bit dark but the foliage is spot on. Very nice image.

Thank you. Ya as far as I know they have been here, and even live here lol Chalk it up for "prolly lives out by Sterling"! lol

Charla

kkart wrote:

Charla wrote:

Thank you. Ya as far as I know they have been here, and even live here lol Chalk it up for "prolly lives out by Sterling"! lol

Well that would probably explain it!

Scott_Quier

davidryan wrote:

Good critque-- but......Being anywhere from 5000 up to 14000+ feet, the sky in Colorado is different from those who live in the "low lands." I think the photo is great.

I have to agree with this. Though I used to live in C. Springs when I was much younger, I had forgotten about the influence altitude is likely to have on the color of the sky. Please accept my apologies!

I also agree - we all think this is a very good to great photo!