Clouds, light, shade and landscapes

[ucci]

I seem to have developed this unhealthy fascination for the interplay of sunlight and cloud shadows across hilly landscapes. Hopefully 'tis but a passin' fancy. If not, please tell me professional help is readily available, preferably at nominal cost!

Thanks for viewing and for any comments you may care to post. Good, bad or indifferent, they are all much appreciated. Thank you.

[kdoc856]

Hi, Ken

If you are "afflicted" perhaps you'll find comfort in company. Yours is a worthy but challenging endeavor- as fascinating as that interplay is, it's equally difficult to translate it to it's full impact in a photo, and I applaud these offerings.

Not sure what software you use, but the skies and foregrounds will almost always benefit from being processed on different layers, or at least treated individually to maximize detail and contrast and exposure. I think you can gain some impact on several of these by experimenting with cropping options to avoid splitting the horizon at the halfway point (# 1&2 in particular), and #5 could use several degrees of clockwise rotation. I am viewing these on a poor and uncalibrated monitor so I will take a better look when I get home. I think with some selective levels and contrast adjustments, you can make these things pop.

[ucci]

Hi Kevin
Thank you for your most helpful feedback which I find to be of great value. I will certainly be taking it all on board for application and follow up. Thank you. Basically I shoot in raw and use ACR followed as best as which ever seems to work best for any further pp using either Topaz photoFX lab or the shadows and highlights filter under Adobe's image/ adjustments menu. I tend to minimize cropping as I often end up with an ugly noisy mess because I push it too far and end up with a dearth of pixels. Thank you once again for your advice and help.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Ken,

Good feedback from Kevin there.

I don't do much landscape shooting myself, but last time I did, I found it useful to separately adjust the balance of the high lights and shadows, in some of these, you could probably afford to lose a little blue from the shadows.

HTH,

[JPS]

Hi Ken,
I like this thread and agree with the guys that a few minor adjustments woud make them pop a bit.
I always push things with my landscapes and did try adjusting one of your shots, in the way I would have PP it, just to see how it would look and I think it worked.
I look forward to seeing any adjustment you might make, based on the suggestion given above.
Thanks for sharing.
Cheers
John

[FootLoose]

I seem to have developed this unhealthy fascination for the interplay of sunlight and cloud shadows across hilly landscapes. Hopefully 'tis but a passin' fancy. If not, please tell me professional help is readily available, preferably at nominal cost!

Afraid not, Ken, but I find it is a seasonal thing. I am only affected by it from the beginning of summer until the end of spring.

I agree with what others have said here about processing. The first and fourth are my favourites.