bloody sunsets :-)

[Brambor]

As if we didn't have enough sunset pictures in the world. With that spirit in mind let's show your bloody sunsets. There are these special moments when you find yourself in a situation where you can't help but take a picture of these things...

These were shot with Velvia so the color saturation is there by the nature of the film but other than that I haven't really done any alterations:

 

[kmorgan]

Wow. Those are gorgeous. I wouldn't mind having a couple of those framed and on my walls.

Nice.

Kevin

 

[Brambor]

thank you Kevin. I print up to 13x19 in Ilford Smooth Pearl paper.

 

[pudgy_groundhog]

Beautiful pictures! I like the pictures from the same vantage point with the different lighting conditions. Where were they taken?

ETA: Adding one of my favorite sunset pictures taken in Arches.

 

[bubba]

Wow. Those are gorgeous. I wouldn't mind having a couple of those framed and on my walls. Nice. Kevin

Agree. Mine's already hanging!! (just kidding!!) Great stuff, Brambor.

Just to carry on an earlier (learning) thread about working thirds... with the sky taking in 2/3s of the picture, how is it that this works in this picture so well? [speaking mostly of #1 and #2, although there is more in the foreground in #2]

 

[Brambor]

@Groundhog - eastern slope of the wind river range. The lake is called Baptiste Lake it still had a glacier snow at it's shore in August.

 

[w7xman]

Stunning shots! All of them. Great compositional balance and situational color and exposure.

The first and last are my favorites for evenness of exposure, and simplicity of composition. I find many of the other compositions look 'forced' to include a dark blob in the foreground, which though has good placement, looks too planned. Sometimes the rules work, sometimes they don't!

Great work, and thanks for sharing! I agree, these would look great printed big!

 

[darren]

#1 - my favorite. Great detail in the sky and land, nicely balanced, and is a great capture of "magic light".

#2 - the sky is awesome, but I wish there was more detail in the land. Especially in the rock in the foreground. The patch of snow is a little distracting in the middle of all that black.

#3 + #4 - IMHO they are too dark and there is not enough detail in the land. The sky is also too featureless to hold my interest in the big open area.

#5 - better exposure balance, but again there is not enough to hold my interest in the sky or the water.

So in my book, #1 wins and #2 is a close second. I wish I could see some more detail in the land in #2. It would be a stunner if you could.

Thanks for sharing.

- darren

 

[darren]

Just to carry on an earlier (learning) thread about working thirds... with the sky taking in 2/3s of the picture, how is it that this works in this picture so well? [speaking mostly of #1 and #2, although there is more in the foreground in #2]

In #1 and #2, you can have the sky take up a lot of the frame because it is very interesting to look at because there is so much going on with texture and color. The 1/3 rule does not apply to skies in a particular manner. The general guidance is when taking a landscape photo you determine what is more interesting, the sky or the land and let the better part take up 2/3 or more of the frame. If the land is better then you have it take up the bottom 2/3 of the frame. If the sky is better then you let it take up the top 2/3 of the frame. Again, just general guidance.

- darren

 

[kmorgan]

#1 - my favorite. Great detail in the sky and land, nicely balanced, and is a great capture of "magic light".

#2 - the sky is awesome, but I wish there was more detail in the land. Especially in the rock in the foreground. The patch of snow is a little distracting in the middle of all that black.

#3 + #4 - IMHO they are too dark and there is not enough detail in the land. The sky is also too featureless to hold my interest in the big open area.
- darren

Hey Darren, I like them with the dark foreground. But one of the techniques I picked up on http://www.luminous-landscape.com/ was concerned with just this problem. If you have a scene where you want the foreground fully exposed with a bright background, which you also want properly exposed, you can either shoot bracketed images (which in this case I don't have one to work with) or as I just did, duplicate the original layer in Photoshop, then apply an exposure adjustment (in this case plus 3.6 and 4.4 stops respectively), add a mask to the layer to "hide all", then paint away the parts of the layer mask to reveal the over exposed parts where you want them.

Like so:



and



Kevin (you gotta love Photoshop!)

 

[bubba]

Again, just general guidance.

Yeah, yeah. Thanks. Maybe I just missed the obvious. I'm the rooky but really love all of you sharing pix and techniques.

 

[darren]

Kevin (you gotta love Photoshop!)

Ya, you aren't kidding. If you shoot bracketed shots then you can use PS CS2 to do HDR (high dynamic range) composits of the multiple exposures. Done right they are very nice, done poorly they look cartoonish.

I'm also a big fan of the burn and dodge tools in PS. just like B&W in the dark room in the days of film.

- darren

ps: as for liking/disliking the dark foreground it is always going to me a matter of personal opinion. That is why I like using forums like this one to get multiple opinions.

 

[Brambor]

I haven't grown fond of HDR's yet but I used dodge and burn in photoshop. I haven't really given it too much thought whether I want to manipulate these shots.

Even though it is about 2 years since I shot these I still have my soul full of the breathtaking experience. How many times in your life do you have 20 inch cutthroats taking your fly every second cast while observing this sunset? I did not know whether shoot or retrieve

 

[bikehikeskifish]

No-brainer: RETRIEVE!

 

[Mark Schaefer]

Really beautiful. I like the #1 best, and #2 has an incredible sky. I will miss Velvia when I convert to digital.

Do watch your horizons. They are just a little off level, and no doubt correctable in PS or in printing. It is especially noticeable flipping between #3 and #4. And yes, I do understand rocking boats. Often, I would hear my photo instructors tell me; "Mark, all the water is going to drain out of your lake!"