Is there anything to be done when clouds look like this?
I went on a day trip to Hakone yesterday and we got a boat across Lake Ashi (pictured) and a cable car across the mountains. It was all incredible but very cloudy all day, and very flat, diffuse cloud at that. Would love to do something with the photos so does anyone have any ideas about how to make this look more interesting?
I've uploaded this SOOC file to Dropbox, link below - feel free to download, play around and show me!
Uhm... What do you think is wrong with this? I love the moody broody feel... I would probably process the background for misty drama, and then add some clarity and a bit of light to the boat... Srsly - I'd take this sky for photography over bright blue and puffy clouds any day!!
I agree with the others, the light and diffuse sky gives it a great feel. I doubt there is any "detail" in the sky anyway, so just go with it. Like northy, I would lighten and emphasize the boat a little.
thanks a lot for the feedback, im intrigued! Ive seen incredible misty lake shots on 365, i love mist, but they look better than this.. idk, this image just feels very flat to me! I tried your suggestions @northy and took another photo from the lake and played with clarity and dehaze ( i havent used either before) and it does look a lottt better! I guess im used to clumsily whacking on as much contrast as possible w skies, but you cant really do that with mist.. So the question is how you process it then. Learning curve.. Thank you for the responses, i really appreciate it x
@izzyromilly hey Izzy... here's what i would generally do in processing... first off, i would decrease clarity overall... i prolly wouldn't bother with dehaze because i'd want to emphasize the mist, not reduce it... i find decreasing clarity often gives a bit of a sheen to mist which makes it feel less flat... then i would probably convert to b&w in silver fx, probably using the smooth high dynamic preset (or possibly the full spectrum or full spectrum preset)... i might try playing with the colour filters... red or green... then back in LR i would tweak contrast aiming for just a smidgeon of true black somewhere as well as a smidgeon of true white... i'd also paint on some clarity for the boat and brighten it a smidge, and then use the reduce noise slider for a bit more glow... if it still needs a little something, i might add some slight tones to the shadows...
@northy thanks so much for the detailed advice northy - i've done this and i actually like it. i dont have silver fx but played around with the colour filters and graduated filters maybe i'll try something similar with the original boat pic as well as i really like that that one has something in the foreground to draw the eye. thanks for pointing out the clarity tool .. i still dont 100% understand what the colour filters do to each colour but am getting there slowly i think !! thank you for sharing this
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thanks a lot for the feedback, im intrigued! Ive seen incredible misty lake shots on 365, i love mist, but they look better than this.. idk, this image just feels very flat to me! I tried your suggestions @northy and took another photo from the lake and played with clarity and dehaze ( i havent used either before) and it does look a lottt better! I guess im used to clumsily whacking on as much contrast as possible w skies, but you cant really do that with mist.. So the question is how you process it then. Learning curve.. Thank you for the responses, i really appreciate it x