Retouch: Not good at landscapes, but... Can you optimize this one?

[fahim mohammed]

nature can be too beautiful to resist, however ineffective one is to express it`s grandeur!

Hope you like it just as much as I enjoyed it in person.

Sun was just breaking after a dull and cloudy day across my balcony.

Thanks for looking.

 

[Rachel Foster]

Better than any landscape I've done! I like it, Fahim.

 

[fahim mohammed]

Rachel, you are very generous. Just above the tree top off center, I would see mont blanc. on a clear day that is.

Thank you for stopping by.

Better than any landscape I've done! I like it, Fahim.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Fahim,

This is an excellent spot for snaps. You have a good eye. Have that understanding of what is worthwhile is the first hurdle most folk cannot get past.

A good eye and timing to use it best is go together! If you don't have both, forget it! (You cannot even ask that right lady to join you even join you for coffee!) So first you discovered the right location and positioned yourself well. The range of shading is enormous and this is a huge challenge. I know you must have many more. This, like the Himalayas, is so rich in possibilities. This heavy effect from the sky changed I expect each with the movement of the clouds and the angle of the sun. It would be great to caqtch light beams coming through the clouds, but I guess one needs water vapor or dust to actually see the beam.

Thanks for sharing. I'm glad you resisted the obvious temptation to try to brighten everything. It's enjoyable but a very hard picture to have to edit!

Asher

 

[fahim mohammed]

Asher, thanks for your valued comment. As I sit in abu dhabi looking across concrete, i miss this
vista even more! I shall be home tomorrow. i shall camp in the desert and practise my landscape skills there shortly.

btw, getting to know the right ladies is much easier...why? nature has done its part and in its generosity created a lot of them! Anytime is the right time for me..only needs that undefinable
charm that they seem to think i am blessed with a plenty...lol!!

Give it a try.

 

[Ron Morse]

What a beautiful view you had Fahim. Nice.

 

[fahim mohammed]

Ron, thanks for the kind words. Btw, so true your sig.

Best.

 

[Mike Shimwell]

Hi Fahim

I've looked at this a few times and it rminds me of a couple of views from Norway last summer. I think it also brings back the age old problem of how to deal with such contrasts when making a picture. I wish you well if you wish to work further on this one - but agree with Asher that resisting universal brightening is the right approach.

The best picture we managed of a similar scene in Norway was shot by my daughter with her Canon G7 - she caught the moment the sun spotlit the village in the valley below together with a powerful boat and its wake as it entered the harbour.

Mike

 

[Asher Kelman]

Judicious lightening in a dark picture: keeping the mood but letting in the light!

........The range of shading is enormous and this is a huge challenge.....

.......glad you resisted the obvious temptation to try to brighten everything. It's enjoyable but a very hard picture to have to edit!

So Fahim,

I had to see what was possible. The picture, to me at least, is flatter than it could be and could benefit from isolating one by one each zone of the image and then allocating for just that, it's own profile. The changes in some places are minimal, in some areas much stronger. However, before accepting each of the layers, I left the picture and did something else, as is my custom! Then, I removed 5% to 95% of each new layer so only the minimum alteration needed is used. Of course, this does not do full justice to your image, as such changes need to be done from RAW and then printed and judged only then. So what I present is just the concept of allowing the image to be expressed in rationed lighting according to importance and needs of each area.

First the original, then the edited version below.

Fahim Mohammed Mont Blanc Environs, Swiss Alps
by ADK, with permission​

The changes are not drastic, for that would remove the mood. Still, the edits hopefully bring out more of the detail in the puffy clouds and defining the fields and village houses that appear like jewels in the valley below. I'm looking forward to seeing this with my own eyes soon!

Asher

 

[fahim mohammed]

Asher, your work definitely more represents the tonality and brightness of the scene . I specially like
the subtle, but very big difference, the brightness and sparkle you ps brings to the clouds, the village.

Thank you for your effort.

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Perhaps it would be a nice idea to make this into a challenge? Then we can see how others PP such a picture with endless possibilities. No pressure ;-)

Cheers,

 

[fahim mohammed]

File for Download!

Cem..let's try

Here's the download link!

Good luck everyone!

 

[Michael Fontana]

Fahim

I haven't been at that the place exactly, but I know similar places and situations.
A balcony and other places might work for the eye, but rarely for a image, captured by the cam.

And even beeing closer to ot inside the soup, the mood that you feeled can't be captured easely. Here's a repost from last year, as a sample:

We know, there's Mont Blanc behind your clouds, but we don't see it. It for sure works differently whithout clouds.

Not the editing is the problem.

 

[fahim mohammed]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your comments. I concede I am not good at landscapes ( or maybe other types of photog too !). I want to learn how to improve.

Though your attached pic does not show up for me, I am sure it must be very good.

The idea was to ask people better than me help me improve the pic I took in post edit ( if possible ) and
concurrently suggest ways I could improve my photographic efforts.

Thank you.

 

[janet Smith]

Hi Fahim

Here's my very quick rough attempt, I've done some work with levels, shadow and highlight correction, cloned the roof out of bottom LHS, burned a bit, dodged a bit etc etc, cropped a bit of the sky, generally tweaked a bit here and there. Bit rough and ready (short of time) but if more time was spent, I'm sure it would be improved.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Just your cropping, Jan opens up the landscape. Excellent!

The brighter picture now works far better.

Asher

 

[Michael Fontana]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your comments. I concede I am not good at landscapes ( or maybe other types of photog too !). I want to learn how to improve.

Though your attached pic does not show up for me, I am sure it must be very good.

The idea was to ask people better than me help me improve the pic I took in post edit ( if possible ) and
concurrently suggest ways I could improve my photographic efforts.

Thank you.

I'm not a good landscaper, either - I like to much beeing in the alps and not taking photos, because it's work and usually I don't like to work in the hollydays....

Therefore I don't have problems to accept, that sometimes a photo can't show what I felt looking at the landscape. In these situations, I don't even try to capture.


Quite surprising, that you can't see my link - do you see Janet's one?

Good luck in improving the skills,

 

[fahim mohammed]

Michael, thanks. I can see your picture now. The difference being that I try as much as possible to capture what I feel and when I feel it. I try, but mostly am not successful.

best.

I'm not a good landscaper, either - I like to much beeing in the alps and not taking photos, because it's work and usually I don't like to work in the hollydays....

Therefore I don't have problems to accept, that sometimes a photo can't show what I felt looking at the landscape. In these situations, I don't even try to capture.


Quite surprising, that you can't see my link - do you see Janet's one?

Good luck in improving the skills,

 

[fahim mohammed]

Hi Janet, how you keeping?

That is much better than the original. much better. Maybe a tad brighter, a slight darkening would make it really stand out.

Well done and thank you. There then hope for me yet!

Best.

 

[Mike Shimwell]

Hi Fahim, as it's now a challenge... here's a very quick go at a tweak or two

Let me know if you like it.

Mike

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Among other things, I corrected the color balance (it had too much blue imo) and did a slight crop which is comparable to the original crop by Fahim.

Original by Fahim:

Edit by Cem:

Cheers,

​

 

[fahim mohammed]

Good morning Mike. definitely much more pop than mine. Guess I could make passable shots and you
could make it presentable..lol.

Have a nice day and thanks for your contribution.

 

[fahim mohammed]

Excellent Cem. Maybe a psychiatrist would evaluate my pic as one of doom and gloom! Your's as belonging to an optimist!

Thanks for the effort you put in. Best wishes.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Among other things, I corrected the color balance (it had too much blue imo) and did a slight crop which is comparable to the original crop by Fahim.

Original by Fahim:

Edit by Cem:

Cheers,

​

Cem,

I like you version with the blueness tamed, a major contribution and stronger than I would have chosen, but very workable. What tools did you use? Still, it would go much further if your trimmed the cloud as Jan has done, cropping just to split the blue strip of sky in the left upper corner. Also the village can be brightened.

It's good to see the different ideas. This is a helpful challenge to us. How does onen pull out of the ordinary, the extraordinary? May not be always possible but certainly you have each shown ideas that can be used.

Asher

 

[janet Smith]

Hi Janet, how you keeping?

Hi Fahim

Fine thanks, but in chaos......... I have a house full of decorators at the moment!

I enjoyed working on your shot, although it was only a very quick tweak, I enjoy it when we all have a try, it fascinates me to see the differing results we come up with......

 

[janet Smith]

Among other things, I corrected the color balance

Hi Cem

I really like your version, I'd be interested to hear more about how you achieved this, I go to Scotland again soon, and often face difficult light like this, I use a ND gradient filter to calm glaring skies and try to balance the scene a bit. I'm going to the far north west, then the Isles of Skye, Harris, Lewis and South Uist and a few other small isles off Harris, so there'll be lots of big skies and shadey mountains....

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Hi Cem

I really like your version, I'd be interested to hear more about how you achieved this, I go to Scotland again soon, and often face difficult light like this, I use a ND gradient filter to calm glaring skies and try to balance the scene a bit. I'm going to the far north west, then the Isles of Skye, Harris, Lewis and South Uist and a few other small isles off Harris, so there'll be lots of big skies and shadey mountains....

HI Jan,

First of all, have a great trip and I am sure you will have many keepers. Shoot raw as usual. Once you come back, we can virtually sit together and discuss the post processing steps .

Cheers,

 

[janet Smith]

First of all, have a great trip and I am sure you will have many keepers. Shoot raw as usual. Once you come back, we can virtually sit together and discuss the post processing steps

That makes me feel better, thank you Cem, it frustrates me when I have a shot that I don't feel I've got the best from, my pp skills have improved enormously, but it's a never ending learning curve isn't it......