Beautiful shot. Love the detail on the rocks and the power of the clouds. Did you use a polarizing filter or a digital method to help define them like this?
As you know, I am always alone in the mountains. It is a special feeling for me, when so many people seem to enjoy the landscapes that mean a lot to me. It touches me very much ...
@mbrutus Dear friend, I do not use special filters when taking pictures. I mean, with the possibilities of digital image processing, the use of special filters has lost in importance. My approach is to try to capture a certain mood while taking pictures. This includes a feeling, but also a conscious vision of lines, light-dark shapes, colour tones, directions, contrasts, harmonies,... I think there is a creative craft in which much is teachable and learnable. An arrangement of such elements can be simple or very complex - every motif has to be reassessed and viewed as a picture over and over again. Just a minimal change of the viewpoint or the camera setting is enough to create new conditions in the image area and its expression.
The next step after triggering the camera is carefully checking the result at home on the big screen. That subsequent work can take a lot of time. Sometimes I perform an edited picture again after days - then I see it fresh and new again; and often I can judge and decide better.
On the concrete example of the photo with the mountains and clouds, it is clear what impressed me: Mountains and clouds are mutually dependent in this case. I took out the colours of the original shot - they would weaken the drama I was aiming for. I intensified the light-dark contrasts. But I made sure that the textures of the mountains and fine gradations between light and dark do not get lost. I sharpened some parts, softened others. Such processes happen very often at different layers in Photoshop - I let partially shine through and combine as I want. Finally I found that a touch of a dark, cold blue (prussian blue) and a delicate yellow tone in the light tones give the overall mood a pleasant basic tone.
All this does not happen linearly, but is a trial and error of various possibilities, a game with different setting values that Photoshop offers in large numbers. I'm also open to coincidences. This sometimes opens up a completely new image concept.
I consider if I could reconstruct the process of creation for this picture and visualize it with individual phases. An exact reconstruction is impossible - I can not remember all intermediate steps and discarded interim results. Anyway, this documentation would be interesting, but a bit time consuming.
@jerome Thank you, my friend, for taking the considerable time I know is required to craft me such a well considered response. Your process is most interesting and will give me much cause to reflect. At this time I do not engage in as complex digital processing as you. I mostly restrict myself to a simpler photo editor, though it is my aim to eventually master Photoshop. Suffice to say, that your work does uniformly display your fine attention to detail and your superior artistic sensibilities. I will, as always look forward to regarding your work and taking much inspiration from it. I will share with you, that as much as your photos obviously benefit from you considerable talents in photo editing, I feel that your most impressive work is done at the time of the capture with your keen eye and overall artistic visual concepts. All of which your post capture talents only serve to embellish. Many thanks again, for you kind response.
Thank you all for your nice visit!
As you know, I am always alone in the mountains. It is a special feeling for me, when so many people seem to enjoy the landscapes that mean a lot to me. It touches me very much ...
The next step after triggering the camera is carefully checking the result at home on the big screen. That subsequent work can take a lot of time. Sometimes I perform an edited picture again after days - then I see it fresh and new again; and often I can judge and decide better.
On the concrete example of the photo with the mountains and clouds, it is clear what impressed me: Mountains and clouds are mutually dependent in this case. I took out the colours of the original shot - they would weaken the drama I was aiming for. I intensified the light-dark contrasts. But I made sure that the textures of the mountains and fine gradations between light and dark do not get lost. I sharpened some parts, softened others. Such processes happen very often at different layers in Photoshop - I let partially shine through and combine as I want. Finally I found that a touch of a dark, cold blue (prussian blue) and a delicate yellow tone in the light tones give the overall mood a pleasant basic tone.
All this does not happen linearly, but is a trial and error of various possibilities, a game with different setting values that Photoshop offers in large numbers. I'm also open to coincidences. This sometimes opens up a completely new image concept.
I consider if I could reconstruct the process of creation for this picture and visualize it with individual phases. An exact reconstruction is impossible - I can not remember all intermediate steps and discarded interim results. Anyway, this documentation would be interesting, but a bit time consuming.