One lake, three views

JC · August 19, 2012

Back in the Sierra high country. You know, clouds are great for dramatic skies, but too much and they just suck all the color out of the images. Not sure how I could have shot these for more color.
C&C always welcome.

Which view do you like best? My processing was kind of all over the place on these.

1)

2)

3)

we did see some color earlier in the day:

4)

and what did we do all day? Glad you asked.

5) morning

6) afternoon

then down the other side

Hikin' Mike · August 19, 2012

Where did you go?

I like #2.

kdog · August 20, 2012

I like the first shot of the lake the best. The foreground anchors the shot and shows the shape of the lake. Plus the sky is better exposed. I guess all you can do in flat light like that is expose as far to the right as possible to capture as much tonality in the midtones as you can and selectively adjust sky/land in post.

CWSkopec · August 20, 2012

I agree with Joel, I like the first one the best. It feels ( at least to me ) a little more dramatic and the clouds add a feeling of an impending storm rushing up the valley at me.

It sounds as though you aren't happy with the color in these images, but you do have a good range of tones throughout, have you tried black & white on any of these?

JC · August 21, 2012

Mike- the morning is Sky blue lake, upper Miter basin. Afternoon lake is upper (unnamed) crabtree lake.

Joel and Chris- I'm happy with the shots for the conditions and the skies are memorable but those lakes are a startling blue when sunny.

Thanks for the comments.

DaddyO · August 21, 2012

Understand the post processing all over the place

Some days it is a struggle to dial in and be happy about it everytime. Each shot can and does present "unique difficulties" that can be tough to overcome. It is a sticky wicket. I can have several shots near back to back and no 2 will be the exact same in final. Approximate yes. Each shot gets different tweak strengths to tastes for me.

What a hike! Well done. Looks like you got a lot of good shots out of it

I like your marking out the route in the ones you selected too. Tough lighting in a tough environment. Image 1 is the composition I like best as well. As mentioned the foreground interest in composition is the richest in that one. Nice effort all the way around

One lake, three views

Comments