Gary,
That’s really a cool picture. Where is that? Looks like basin country. I’d like to see that sometime. It’s interesting to see how nature tills even man-made stuff back into the earth eventually.
This is an old access road coming down from San Jacinto Mtn. In the distance, part of the Coachella Valley (wind turbines in the distance). This is above old Palm Springs. There are many canyons and historical landmarks that I am only now becoming familiar with where the Cahuilla Indians gathereded.On this most recent trip the Joshua Tree area was most impressive for us.
Do you have any Graduated Neutral Density filters? They are clear on the bottom and then gradually add density to the top so that when you have an image with the contrast that this one has you can move it up and down to hold back (darken) an area that is lighter and give it a bit more detail. You can also do the same thing in photoshop with a gradient mask and an image exposed each for the highlight and the shadow.
ND filters sometimes throw the color though. If it’s something that I really care about I’ll do the photoshop route even it’s more PC time, it usually ends up not looking so “filtered”. Filters can get expensive and if you like running lean and mean they are more clutter in the bag. Not criticizing the shot, but you might try it.
Thanks for that advice. I kept running into that same scenario of a very bright, hazy horizon. I really appreciate the advice and will check into this. I use to have some very nice square filters years ago for an old camera but never checked into filters again. I recent effort with a polarizing filter was not how I remembered one in the old days. I could not discern the change in the horizon/top as I rotated the filter.
I have Lightroom 3 and Aperture but honestly never taken the time to learn to use them. I will resize or lighten/darken a shot with Picasa/PicMonkey, but am never comfortable with the other methods.
Hey, I just got Lightroom. Pretty excited to start in with it. If I find the ND fix in there I’ll let you know. If you decide to pick up ND grads, I recommend Singh-Ray. They are spendy but very good- usually not much color weirdness. You can get by on the cheap by using Cokin P series mounts to put your filters in and mount on your lenses. Buy step up rings so your lenses can all fit the main filter mount. You can sometimes find these second hand in camera stores or online. Whatever filters you get, don’t get cheap because that’s exactly what you’ll get but you don’t need to buy the most expensive (and they do get expensive) either. Cheaper ones color shift and scratch and smudge like crazy.
I’m with you on polarizing. Really gotta watch them shooting at angles from the sun because they only do half the sky etc. I use them mostly on water anymore. Looks like a fun trip!
I’m kinda hijacking the comments here but yes, Lightroom has a gradient tool. It’s a little different than photoshop but perfectly fine. It’s in the “Develop” window right below the histogram preview. Theres a little mini palette of tool icons, it’s the square next to the paint brush icon. Click on it. When you hover your cursor over the image it becomes a crosshair kind of thing, click and drag and a box will come up showing the area of your gradient mask. Once you have that in place then you can start making adjustments with the sliders. Pretty cool. I’m going to go back and play with it now. Let’s see one of those desert shots with a digital gradient on it!
SwittersB & Exploring 
now there’s a road worth walking.
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I really love this one 😉 it builds different emotions .
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I am always fascinated by scenes of nature reclaiming man’s intervention
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I too like that imagery. Old buildings, encroaching vegetation, cracks and weeds in the pavement. Thanks for dropping by.
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Gary,
That’s really a cool picture. Where is that? Looks like basin country. I’d like to see that sometime. It’s interesting to see how nature tills even man-made stuff back into the earth eventually.
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This is an old access road coming down from San Jacinto Mtn. In the distance, part of the Coachella Valley (wind turbines in the distance). This is above old Palm Springs. There are many canyons and historical landmarks that I am only now becoming familiar with where the Cahuilla Indians gathereded.On this most recent trip the Joshua Tree area was most impressive for us.
LikeLike
Do you have any Graduated Neutral Density filters? They are clear on the bottom and then gradually add density to the top so that when you have an image with the contrast that this one has you can move it up and down to hold back (darken) an area that is lighter and give it a bit more detail. You can also do the same thing in photoshop with a gradient mask and an image exposed each for the highlight and the shadow.
ND filters sometimes throw the color though. If it’s something that I really care about I’ll do the photoshop route even it’s more PC time, it usually ends up not looking so “filtered”. Filters can get expensive and if you like running lean and mean they are more clutter in the bag. Not criticizing the shot, but you might try it.
LikeLike
Thanks for that advice. I kept running into that same scenario of a very bright, hazy horizon. I really appreciate the advice and will check into this. I use to have some very nice square filters years ago for an old camera but never checked into filters again. I recent effort with a polarizing filter was not how I remembered one in the old days. I could not discern the change in the horizon/top as I rotated the filter.
I have Lightroom 3 and Aperture but honestly never taken the time to learn to use them. I will resize or lighten/darken a shot with Picasa/PicMonkey, but am never comfortable with the other methods.
Really appreciate the input anytime.
Gary
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Hey, I just got Lightroom. Pretty excited to start in with it. If I find the ND fix in there I’ll let you know. If you decide to pick up ND grads, I recommend Singh-Ray. They are spendy but very good- usually not much color weirdness. You can get by on the cheap by using Cokin P series mounts to put your filters in and mount on your lenses. Buy step up rings so your lenses can all fit the main filter mount. You can sometimes find these second hand in camera stores or online. Whatever filters you get, don’t get cheap because that’s exactly what you’ll get but you don’t need to buy the most expensive (and they do get expensive) either. Cheaper ones color shift and scratch and smudge like crazy.
I’m with you on polarizing. Really gotta watch them shooting at angles from the sun because they only do half the sky etc. I use them mostly on water anymore. Looks like a fun trip!
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Thanks so much for great advice. I will let you know how I do.
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Gary,
I’m kinda hijacking the comments here but yes, Lightroom has a gradient tool. It’s a little different than photoshop but perfectly fine. It’s in the “Develop” window right below the histogram preview. Theres a little mini palette of tool icons, it’s the square next to the paint brush icon. Click on it. When you hover your cursor over the image it becomes a crosshair kind of thing, click and drag and a box will come up showing the area of your gradient mask. Once you have that in place then you can start making adjustments with the sliders. Pretty cool. I’m going to go back and play with it now. Let’s see one of those desert shots with a digital gradient on it!
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Love this picture!!!
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Thank you!
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