Hi all, I shot this on a recent trip to Glacier National Park with some friends. We were there immediately after major fires started in the park this summer, so visibility was often very limited. It did have it's benefits though, as we got some great backcountry permits since a lot of people cancelled their trips. When the smoke cleared out a bit, it made for some truly stunning and otherworldly scenes with spectacular sunsets. Would love to get some feedback on the post processing here, as I'm still new to it, but any cc is welcome. Thanks!
Nice picture Josh, I like the transition from warm to cool
Thank you Hasan!
Agree, I really like the cool and warm tones mixing around the peaks and the sky. You can even see it in the rocks in the foreground.
It's a nice shot. I got some similar smokey sun images from the Sierra's after the big fires earlier in the summer.
I think the R portion of the image is great, the trees and the peaks in the distance mimic each other a little. And the foreground has a nice orange glow on it from the smoke sunset. But on the L the image is overwhelmed by the sun itself. If I were shooting this now I'd recompose to eliminate the sun and focus on the slope - trees - and peaks. Maybe you can crop to something similar?
I'm also seeing some haloing around the tree tops which might just be the smoke behind but also look like over processing. Looking closer at the larger version of the pic its less noticeable so probably just the smoke layer behind trees.
Thanks for the comments David! That's an interesting point about the sun on the left. I often fall victim to the "capture everything in the scene" mentality. In this case, the colors are clearly adding to the scene, but you may be right that the sun itself isn't adding much and is more of a distraction. In person, the sun was definitely a focal point for me, as the dense smoke created one of the most bizarre sunsets I've seen. However, I'm not sure that it translates into this image. Live and learn I suppose.
I'll have to go back and look at the original straight out of camera to be sure, but I believe any haloing is the smoke layers being backlit behind the trees.
Thanks again!
You have to think about the visual balance or weight of the various parts of the image. Bright spots draw the eye and in the case of your image the sun is drawing the eye away from what I think could be the main subject, the peaks. It puts them in conflict with each other and puts most of the weight on the side of the pic with very little detail, near the sun.
Try a quick crop to eliminate just the sun and see how the image re balances. I did one on my end from your pic and it looks really nice and lends itself to a longer look than before, IMOO anyway!
Well I think this comment will reveal just how subjective criticism is.
For me it's the bottom right corner that does not work as well as the rest of the image. The line of the path pulls my eye the wrong way and it just looks like a big grey triangle. I'm not sure, there's just something about it that doesn't sit quite right with me. Maybe if you warm up that part of the image a bit it.
I agree with the other David though - the sun can probably be cropped out without losing anything and will probably help focus attention in one place.
Oh and by the way, holy cow that's gorgeous...
I agree, the path is a little distracting and headed out of frame which isn't great. But I thought the sun was having a much bigger effect on visual balance.
I wonder how this would have looked paned up so less of the path were in the frame. Maybe try a 16:9 crop on it, no sun, and less path? You can also add a slight vignette to darken the edges and focus more attention in towards peaks (or just doe the path a little to darken it).
Regardless, with out the sun in it (and maybe a little less path), I think this is a solid image. The repeated lines of the slope to the trees, the tree tops and the mountains does a lot for the image, for my anyway. As stated, take all of this with lots of salt! Your opinion is the only one that really matters :)
Hi Josh,
I love the colours in this picture. The dark green of the trees, the cool tones of the mountain and the warm hues around the sun. I like the diagonal line that the trees form from bottom left to top right.
However, it is this very line that, for me at least, creates two very unbalanced halves in this image. The treeline separates the background from the foreground, and while the background is beautiful, the foreground isn't working for me. It's a little too bland, in my opinion. What I may have done differently is either 1) have a more distinctive foreground element like a tree stump or an interesting rock or a patch of flowers (you could perhaps even get really close to one of the tufts of grass along the path), or 2) reduce the proportion of the frame that the foreground occupies if no interesting foreground elements are available.
Of course, this is all very subjective, so please take my feedback with a pinch of salt.
Regards,
Sid