Photoshop Challenge

[Noel_Carboni]

Those controls were there in CS3 as well.

I've had a bit more time to play with your image. This time I put some effort into enhancing the depth through some manipulation of curves in the lightest parts, and I enhanced the color further while keeping a careful watch for it to get too noisy.

I really like a blue/cyan tint for images like this in that it conveys a sense of "cold".



One thing I hadn't mentioned before is that I cropped some off the bottom to help de-center the horizon.

-Noel

[KevinStecyk]

Originally Posted by Buddy Thomason

In addition to the challenges mentioned above, I noticed a significant amount of red/green color fringing, especially on the edges of the snow covered rocks in the foreground. I eliminated that, straightened the horizon and cropped the image all with one tool in PSCS4 - filter menu, distort, lens correction tool. Creating more detail and transition areas in the sky allowed it to better balance the overall image against the visually strong foreground. I enhanced the contrast in the central distance where the glacier descends to try and draw the eye forward into the scene.

I've spent some time up there at Lake Louise and know that in this light and season the green in the trees is not prominent. The water, however, always has a rather strong turquoise tint. I considered rendering that more accurately but decided that most viewers would be distracted and even troubled if that aspect of the scene was too strong, despite the fact that in person, the color in the water is very strong that way.

Given the nature of the digital file attempts to reduce noise in the blue channel, and sharpening almost anywhere, degraded the image so I avoided those.

That view, the most photographed view of the lake, is almost always a challenge due to the great contrasts involved. My favorite light for that view is that which produces soft pastel colors in the sky and water, with no wind and little cloud cover. As I recall, it's orientation does not lend itself to spectacular sunrise or sunset shots. So the light can be right at odd times depending on the circumstances.

I always enjoy seeing the variety of interpretations with shared RAW files. Thanks for this opportunity!

What a fantastic write-up and image. Thank you so much Buddy!

[Jason_Hoss]

Here is my 2 cents worth. Processed in Apple Aperture using the devinette tool set as well as highlight and shadow recovery.

[MikeA]

Now here's an interesting question:

A few of you, including Kevin of course have actually had the privilege of seeing that view with their own eyes.

Can anyone comment on the colours in the processed images? I know time of day and cloud cover can alter things quite a lot. I'm wondering if the variation in the colour and density of the foreground rocks between all of our processing attempts is in any way realistic?

Kevin, do you remember what colour they actually were when you took the photo?

Mike.

[KevinStecyk]

Originally Posted by Jason_Hoss

Here is my 2 cents worth. Processed in Apple Aperture using the devinette tool set as well as highlight and shadow recovery.

Great treatment Jason!

[KevinStecyk]

Originally Posted by MikeA

Now here's an interesting question:

A few of you, including Kevin of course have actually had the privilege of seeing that view with their own eyes.

Can anyone comment on the colours in the processed images? I know time of day and cloud cover can alter things quite a lot. I'm wondering if the variation in the colour and density of the foreground rocks between all of our processing attempts is in any way realistic?

Kevin, do you remember what colour they actually were when you took the photo?

Hi Mike,

I believe the rocks are quite grayish in color, not nearly as colorful as our treatments have rendered them.

The lake is always a beautiful turquoise color because of the dissolved silt (limestone, I think) from the glacier feed.

When I took the photographs, it was overcast with white clouds. We see the clouds in the photos. And, you can see from the exposure of 1/250 at ƒ5.6, it wasn't terribly bright outside.

So it's hard to remember the color of the lake that day. When I think of Lake Louise, I automatically picture it on a warm summer's day, when it looks different.

As Noel has commented before about his pictures, I am similar in that I am not after faithful reproduction of what my eyes actually saw. Rather, I am more interested in what I remembered. That is, we naturally remember things more colorful or beautiful than they were. A good example, I recall the trees being green, yet they weren't and aren't with the snow coverage.

So all the variations that I have seen posted qualify as faithful. They are faithful in that they probably come close to what I remember, not what I actually saw.

If I am honest with myself, I think the scenery that day was pretty bland, non-descript. A true faithful reproduction would likely be a pretty boring picture.

So is our treatment realistic? It's aggressive to true reality? Is it obscenely garish? No, I don't think so. Do the reproduced pictures match what I saw? In some ways.

I think it would be interesting to show a non-photographer, a person with little interest in images or photography, true accurate, depiction of what he or she actually saw that day, and one of our pictures. I am curious as to which more closely matches his or her memories.

I probably didn't answer your question well Mike. All I recall was that, while it was bright, it was overcast and dull. I don't think there was much color in the rocks. And the lake is always a wonderful color, though I am sure that we enhanced it.

Best regards,
Kevin

[Buddy Thomason]

These are from late July, 2005. The first one was shot roughly mid-day and the second one was early AM (it's a lot colder than it looks!). I'm sorry they don't help much with our discussion about winter colors but they might be of some general use in trying to understand more about the location an its opportunities.