I had to drive an hour for this one, since our alpine valley here is still under the influence of an inversion, and so all is foggy, smoggy, and misty. It was good to see sunshine again. I'm so busy right now, but it was sure worth taking an afternoon to be with my wife and my camera (in that order!)
I did all kinds of crazy things to this to bring out the texture in the rocks and to keep the Adams' Zone System in place. First, I cleaned things up just a bit by blurring the A and B channels working in Lab color. Back to RGB, I used the Watercolor filter (highest detail; no paper texture) to "fix" the texture in the rocks. I then faded this filter to about 15%. I did the same thing with the crosshatch filter (small brush, high sharpness, low strength), then faded this to about 15%. This really enhanced the rocks; digital cameras seem to really dislike this kind of texture.
I converted to b/w using the channel mixer (low blue, high red and green). Sharpened, cropped, and did just a little dodging and burning here and there.
I had a few good photos this week, but my wife liked this one best. Technically, I think it's darn good. I'm not sure it has a whole lot of WOW factor, though. Especially for Windows folks, who'll see this a bit darker.
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Place: 15 out of 292 Avg (all users): 6.5304 Avg (commenters): 7.8125 Avg (participants): 6.4397 Avg (non-participants): 6.6509 Views since voting: 2998 Votes: 247 Comments: 23 Favorites: 8 (view)
Thanks for the comments, all who did so! This was a fun challenge, and I applaud the winners; I thought Steve's (stdavidson) photo of the saguaro landscape was magnificent--certainly one of my favorites of the challenge. I'm not surprised it won and I'm really happy that it did.
As for processing, the processing I did is almost invisible. Just a greater clarity of texture on the rocks, and some energy spent in getting details and many shades of gray.
I`ve just read your post processing details David and am in awe of your skills and knowledge on the subject.
How I wish I could spend a day in your company !!
This was my favourite picture in the AA challenge. I think it should have received a ribbon. I gave it a 10. I had no idea how exceedingly it was processed. You are really great at working with Photoshop and aesthetics. Congratulation on this great entry!
Quite frankly, this is the best image of this challenge. The tones are wonderful, the focus razor sharp and the contrast is perfect Adams. The way the clouds highlight the mountain is sublime.
This is my personal choice for BEST in this challenge! It was from the instant I set eyes on it.
the way the clouds mirror the top of the mountain really give some dramatic separation, some good mountain shots in this challenge - wonder whuch will come out top - 10, good luck
This image should win the blue ribbon. Super shot! Great composition and capture of white cloud highlighting the mountain. By far, this is the best example of the Ansel Adams style. The tonal range is perfect and it's super clarity is in the best tradition of Ansel Adams. Ansel himself would praise it.
Enhanced contrast between dark peak (I can't bring myself to use that name!) and framing cloud feels a little forced but overall this is a class act which I've bumped up 2 points. The covering of snow is just enough for highlighting without dominating the tones (a problem with several entries). Great capture and processing.
Dramatic sky, good composition and light ... one of my favorites for this challenge. In my opinion the only "but" about the picture is the border, it kind of distracts instead of help to enhance the picture.
Good luck!!!
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