Your Best Photograph from the Previous Month - Critique and Discussion Encouraged

[Corran]

IMO, I liked the clouds and the slightly less neutral shadows in the original. Just my opinion, of course. The slightly blown highlights on the rock I would try to reign in if possible.

Another interpretation:



"Virtual" Green filter with a bit more blue/cyan taken out.

[Tin Can]

In B&W the blown highlights are just that

In color they are rivers of Gold

IMHO

[Steven Ruttenberg]

Edit Looks a bit muddy and washed out. Crop is too tight for me in this case. The Canyon is an intense place with intense views that are dramatic and I don't get that feeling from edit.

[Tin Can]

It's your vision

So be it

Edit Looks a bit muddy and washed out. Crop is too tight for me in this case. The Canyon is an intense place with intense views that are dramatic and I don't get that feeling from edit.

[Peter Mounier]

Edit Looks a bit muddy and washed out. Crop is too tight for me in this case. The Canyon is an intense place with intense views that are dramatic and I don't get that feeling from edit.

I agree with you Steven. Your version is stunning with the blues and cyans in the sky complementing the reds and yellows of the canyon. And your dynamic range is excellent for a sunny day with deep shadows and bright highlights. Very nice.

[Vaughn]

Edit Looks a bit muddy and washed out. Crop is too tight for me in this case. The Canyon is an intense place with intense views that are dramatic and I don't get that feeling from edit.

I'll agree with the Tin Man and say its your vision, go for it. Definitely not my vision of the Canyon, but I never did get a decent image for all the time I spent there. We all see and experience color differently, so color photography has always been difficult to judge. Even the edit has too much saturation for my tastes and memories of the Canyon. So it goes. I probably have a low color saturation brain...

[Steven Ruttenberg]

Over saturation is always an issue with canyon shots. What we see is by far not as saturated as this image. I have tried processing to exactly how the Canyon looked/looks, but have found for art sake I lean towards more saturation. I may pull this one back a point or two, see how it looks. Interestingly enough, the Canyon loses its dramatic punch when images are done exactly how Canyon looks.

Maybe after a few Koren years of 4 or 5 visits a year, I can get a really good image.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

IMO, I liked the clouds and the slightly less neutral shadows in the original. Just my opinion, of course. The slightly blown highlights on the rock I would try to reign in if possible.

Another interpretation:



"Virtual" Green filter with a bit more blue/cyan taken out.

I could try to reign in the hot rocks. Black and white looks pretty good too. Next time I will shoot this scene in bw.

[Vaughn]

Over saturation is always an issue with canyon shots. What we see is by far not as saturated as this image. I have tried processing to exactly how the Canyon looked/looks, but have found for art sake I lean towards more saturation. I may pull this one back a point or two, see how it looks. Interestingly enough, the Canyon loses its dramatic punch when images are done exactly how Canyon looks....

And for art's sake may be why I have not yet been successful there yet...I try to translate the dramatic punch of the Canyon by showing exactly how the Canyon looks. One of these days -- but it is a little over a thousand miles to the South Rim from my doorstep! It is some serious travel...but 5.5"x14" on the rim sounds like a lot of fun, too!!

Its been years since I have looked at my Grand Canyon negatives (4x5 B&W and a few later larger negs). Now I am wondering if they are as bad as I remember -- probably...even after 30 or 40 years negatives do not improve with age.

[Ken Lee]

Apparently others like to envision it saturated with a warmer color palette and "rivers of gold" as Tin Can mentioned.

So here's another experiment:

It can be helpful to put our photos away for several weeks after shooting and only work on them after we've lost all remnants of "previsualization". With all due respect to Ansel, even he changed his interpretations substantially over the years. It's not easy to apprehend our work as others do. Discussions and critiques can be very valuable: they speed up time, we might say.