Firstly, beautiful work. Did you shoot this or is it entirely Photoshop? Either way, nice job. Second, perhaps try a cropped down version? I also feel there's a bit too much negative space in the image (hence cropping in), but also could also benefit from a little desaturating and overall color & temp. adjustments. Just my 2 cents, but perhaps the intent was to go for more of a 'surreal' or dreamscape look? Nevertheless, thanks for sharing.
Hey Zach, interesting shot. I think you're making some progress with Photoshop here, but my caution would be to guard against over processing. The pano format is nice for this shot, but there's too many points of interest: the glacier, the ice bergs, the town on the right, the aurora, etc. Andrew is right, there is a lot of negative space on the left side. The sky in the center is too light, somehow doesn't fit with aurora and stars, and the blue is over saturated. The mountain range is too de-saturated, the overall tone of the image is very cool blue, so the peaks should reflect that tone also, or the warm color of a low sun.
Photoshop can be a very powerful tool, but needs a light touch to bring out the beauty you saw in the moment. No one will argue that dodging and burning are essential tools, but manipulation can often lead to saturation issues that need to be corrected. The way to learn this tool is just like you are, over-do something to see it's effect, but then get control of it to reproduce not just the actual image, but also your interpretation of that image.
If you want to do creative editing of your images, I would suggest learning about luminosity masking. This allows you to manipulate sections of the image in a gentle, controllable manner. Keep learning, you've made a good start.
Firstly, beautiful work. Did you shoot this or is it entirely Photoshop? Either way, nice job. Second, perhaps try a cropped down version? I also feel there's a bit too much negative space in the image (hence cropping in), but also could also benefit from a little desaturating and overall color & temp. adjustments. Just my 2 cents, but perhaps the intent was to go for more of a 'surreal' or dreamscape look? Nevertheless, thanks for sharing.
...Lightroom much?
Hey Zach, interesting shot. I think you're making some progress with Photoshop here, but my caution would be to guard against over processing. The pano format is nice for this shot, but there's too many points of interest: the glacier, the ice bergs, the town on the right, the aurora, etc. Andrew is right, there is a lot of negative space on the left side. The sky in the center is too light, somehow doesn't fit with aurora and stars, and the blue is over saturated. The mountain range is too de-saturated, the overall tone of the image is very cool blue, so the peaks should reflect that tone also, or the warm color of a low sun.
Photoshop can be a very powerful tool, but needs a light touch to bring out the beauty you saw in the moment. No one will argue that dodging and burning are essential tools, but manipulation can often lead to saturation issues that need to be corrected. The way to learn this tool is just like you are, over-do something to see it's effect, but then get control of it to reproduce not just the actual image, but also your interpretation of that image.
If you want to do creative editing of your images, I would suggest learning about luminosity masking. This allows you to manipulate sections of the image in a gentle, controllable manner. Keep learning, you've made a good start.