It's been several weeks since I did anything at all satisfying with my camera and yesterday was a bit of a disappointment (word to the wise - if photos thou would take, battery thou must put in). So, it was nice to get out and about this morning as soon as I saw a heavy frost and clear skies. Headed straight down to my regular location in the woods nearby.
These are just snapshots really, I was walking the dog and doing my best not to over-think anything. I'm pretty pleased with the first one though.
It was quite a struggle to manage all the light since the low winter sun bouncing off all the ice created huge brightness, with the shadows in the woods being typically very dark of course. Even my eyes were struggling to look toward the sun, so I managed the first one just by hiding behind a tree in order to avoid catastrophic lens flare etc. The two after that I managed just by casting a shadow on the lens with my hand. I suppose I could use a lens hood, but I've lost more of those damn things than I care to admit over the years so don't bother carrying them. Hell I don't even bother with lens covers. Life is too short.
Then I just waited for the sun to get to the right place for some of my favourite glades, hoping the frost would melt into the air and give me a shot at some sunbeams in the woods. Happy to say that idea paid off!
PS I know the focus is slightly out on that first one. I'm not bothered :)
Hey David,
Actually I like all these shots because they have some great potential for making a bigger impact through some nifty post-processing. I also like the desaturated look of these images.
1) In this shot you could enhance the light rays coming in from the left
2, 4 and 5) If you know how to do this in PS using layers, brush dynamics and radial blur, you could get those dreamy radiating light rays emanating from a single light source from behind the trees. You'll probably have to kill the saturation and contrast a bit in 4 and 5 before you apply these effects.
3) I like the processing (maybe cut the highlights down a little bit selectively in the sky), but I wish the tree in the foreground was more prominent. Maybe getting a little closer and lower down so that the tree rises above the background might help.
Since this location is near where you live, you'll have more chances to try these out.
Sid
Interesting that you say desaturated. I have not touched the colour at all.
I actually don't use PS myself (I edit with Lightroom only) and it's absolutely crucial to me that an image maintains the integrity of the real thing. But I'd be interested to see how you'd process it.
David,
I wasn't suggesting you desaturated it. I guess these colours are normal for this time of the year. I just meant I liked the desaturated look, that's all.
I generally use only LR for 95% of my shots but I occasionally use PS in addition to LR for some specific effects. I'd be happy to try what I suggested, but I'd have to work on the RAW file. I understand if you're unwilling to share it, but if you could, maybe for 2 and 5, I could give it a go. Let me know.
It won't be possible to email the files since they're too large, but if you have DropBox, that would work.
Sid
No worries ;)
I'll send you a WeTransfer to the email on your website.
Thanks, David. I received the files. I'll have a go at them today or tomorrow.
Hi David,
I took a shot at processing your photos. I've posted them here. If you want the jpegs, do send me your email ID and I'll send them to you (I don't have a WeTransfer account; I'm on DropBox).
In image 2, there are two potential light sources (although based on your original image I think the light is closer to the source on the right), and I've made 2 versions, one for each source. In image 5, I simply went with the brightest part between the trees in the middle of the image.
I want to state for the record that I think your shots are great. I'm not really trying to suggest that they NEED improvement. I'm merely stating that I may have processed them the way I had proposed if the shots were mine. So please take my feedback with a grain of salt.
I'd like to hear what you think. This is actually just the second or third time that I've processed someone else's RAW files, and it always makes me a bit nervous. And in each case I wasn't actually present at the shoot location.
Sid
Edit: Never mind the email ID. It was in the WeTransfer email. I've sent you the files.
Thanks for posting back Siddhartha. To be honest I don't see much difference for the first one but the second I see what you've done. Interesting to see your take on it. I find the colour difference a bit odd. It's not wrong, it's just that I know that place so well it's strange to see. It's growing on me :)
I'll come back again with some more thoughts later.
Sure, David. I'd like to hear what you think. I kept the processing subtle. I try not to be too heavy-handed with my post-process. For the first image, click on it to blow it up to full size and you'll see the rays. Faint, but they're there.
Sid