Considering a metal print, but seeking cc: Before spending a fair amount to make a large-ish metal print, I'd appreciate some honest feedback. People I've shown this to say they like...

Desert Gecko Loc: desert southwest, USA

Before spending a fair amount to make a large-ish metal print, I'd appreciate some honest feedback. People I've shown this to say they like it, but it can be difficult to distinguish platitudes from honest likes, so I thought I'd ask for some honest thoughts from fellow hoggers.

This is about a 50% crop, so there is more to work with in the original RAW file -- but a bit of that is ugly foreground, so I doubt a wider view would help.
Sony a7R with Tamron 35-135mm f/3.5-4.5 Tele-Macro on Sony la-ea4 adapter
35mm
handheld at 1/60
f/9.0
ISO 100

Thanks!

(Download)

neilds37 Loc: Port Angeles, WA

I know the rush you get when atmospheric conditions present a sunset/sunrise such as this. Some may say it's over-saturated, but the bottom line is - do you think the metal is worth it. Unless you're going to put it up for sale, yours is the only opinion that really counts. I'd suggest putting it to bed for a while and see what you think when you return to it after a "cooling off" period.

manofhg Loc: Knoxville, TN

I like the picture, think it would make a great wall hanging. About the only thing that find isn't the foreground, I think that adds some balance to the sky, the focus is a bit soft. I think the composition, colors, tones, etc. are all fine. I love shooting sunrises and sunsets and this is nice, cold morning best I can tell, but beautiful. Where was this taken?

Desert Gecko Loc: desert southwest, USA

neilds37 wrote:

I know the rush you get when atmospheric conditions present a sunset/sunrise such as this. Some may say it's over-saturated, but the bottom line is - do you think the metal is worth it. Unless you're going to put it up for sale, yours is the only opinion that really counts. I'd suggest putting it to bed for a while and see what you think when you return to it after a "cooling off" period.

Thanks, that's good advice about "cooling off." But I'm cool; I took this in 2016, and it's already been featured in a calendar. I also wonder if it's a bit too saturated, but honestly, this is how the scene looked. Reminds me of a sunset I once caught from my backyard that was so incredibly vivid I had to de-saturate the pics a bit because they looked fake.

Desert Gecko Loc: desert southwest, USA

manofhg wrote:

I like the picture, think it would make a great wall hanging. About the only thing that find isn't the foreground, I think that adds some balance to the sky, the focus is a bit soft. I think the composition, colors, tones, etc. are all fine. I love shooting sunrises and sunsets and this is nice, cold morning best I can tell, but beautiful. Where was this taken?

I agree the foreground adds some needed depth. What I meant in my post is that I cropped out some foreground that I do not think added anything to the image. There is a bit more foreground in this than I had in my original crop because I cropped this for an 11x14 print to see how it looks before going metal -- and frankly, that 11x14 is a real eye-grabber, quite dramatic.

And you noticed the softness, did you? I did, too. The 11x14 looks a bit soft up close, but not from a few feet back. I don't remember if I added any sharpening to this or not, as I processed this more than a year ago. I'll look at that again. Thank you very much.

This is an early fall sunrise over Walker Lake, Nevada.

neilds37 Loc: Port Angeles, WA

Desert Gecko wrote:

Thanks, that's good advice about "cooling off." But I'm cool; I took this in 2016, and it's already been featured in a calendar. I also wonder if it's a bit too saturated, but honestly, this is how the scene looked. Reminds me of a sunset I once caught from my backyard that was so incredibly vivid I had to de-saturate the pics a bit because they looked fake.

Sounds like you're good to print. The first sunrises I've seen with colors like this was a couple of weeks after a massive volcano eruption in Iceland in May, 1911. Here lately the summer wildfires have been providing the particles.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

You could probably do something to smoothen the clear bits of sky. And I would say that the sky as a whole is on the limit where sharpening is concerned. You may have to watch that because the printing process may add more sharpening as a standard procedure. But you've avoided the usual mistake of letting the yellows and oranges get too dark and solid. It should make a lovely print.

Desert Gecko Loc: desert southwest, USA

R.G. wrote:

You could probably do something to smoothen the clear bits of sky. And I would say that the sky as a whole is on the limit where sharpening is concerned. You may have to watch that because the printing process may add more sharpening as a standard procedure. But you've avoided the usual mistake of letting the yellows and oranges get too dark and solid. It should make a lovely print.

Thanks, R.G. I didn't know what you mean by"smoothen the clear bits of sky" but after looking at it again, I see the blue fades as it approaches the clouds, almost like halos around the clouds if it were an HDR. Is that what you are referring to? It 's interesting to see what resemble halos (and I had not noticed them before) because I didn't do anything that would normally cause them. Thanks for the feedback!

R.G. Loc: Scotland

If you're not seeing it then it's obviously not bothering you so you probably shouldn't worry. I was referring to the general lack of smoothness due to clumps of darker and brighter sky, together with the slight graininess that you see when you zoom in. I noticed it before I zoomed in, but that's just because of my personal preference for smooth skies (a lack of smoothness is something I look for). Much of that may be due to the conversion to jpg for uploading. The file that you'll be printing from will be bigger.
-

(Download)

Desert Gecko Loc: desert southwest, USA

R.G. wrote:

If you're not seeing it then it's obviously not bo... (show quote)

Astute observation. I had not noticed that, and you are correct that it does not show in a higher-res jpeg on my desktop. I'll make sure it's gone before sending this off for printing -- should be an easy fix (or easily avoided with proper resizing). Thank you very much.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

You're welcome.

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

This is a beautiful scene, with lots of fine elements. I love the light rays.

How large were you thinking of going? I clicked the download to enlarge it and it did seem a bit soft. The grasses in front are definitely soft, but that may have been from wind. I do a lot of metal prints, and I find they sort of "enhance" soft focus (make it more noticeable), whereas canvas prints sort of hide it. However, my concern may just be that this is a small version of the real image and perhaps I'm over-enlarging it. I get accused of soft focus a lot since my lens isn't very sharp. That's why I think about it.

Desert Gecko Loc: desert southwest, USA

neilds37 wrote:

Sounds like you're good to print. The first sunrises I've seen with colors like this was a couple of weeks after a massive volcano eruption in Iceland in May, 1911. Here lately the summer wildfires have been providing the particles.

Here in the desert we get some very colorful sunrises & sunsets, but usually there aren't enough clouds to make a good photo. Deserts just tend to have colorful skies, and some deserts are better than others. I have a Facebook friend in Tucson, AZ, who posts images from his morning walks almost daily. The color he gets down there is simply amazing.

There is a website which uses atmospheric conditions and weather forecasts to predict daily sunrise/set color that I've used for quite a while now and have found to be pretty accurate. Nothing worse than getting my gear and heading out, setting up under a partly cloudy sky expecting some nice color, then watching the clouds just turn gray (almost as bad as getting caught without my camera when the sky puts on a show).
https://sunsetwx.com/

Desert Gecko Loc: desert southwest, USA

AzPicLady wrote:

This is a beautiful scene, with lots of fine eleme... (show quote)

Thank you, first of all. I rather like the image as well, and I'm thinking a 16x24 metal print because the gold reflections on the lake might look especially nice (to me, the reflections look like gold foil). At 11x14 with a "lustre" finish it does look a bit soft, but I've not had a chance to go back into Lr to see if I even applied any sharpening, as I usually just accept the default with images from my a7R. I did a standard process of exposure, contrast, crop, etc. more than a year ago, then last week I used Ps to crop this dimensionally for an 11x14 test print. I suspect it either needs a bit of sharpening applied or that cropping (twice) softened it. But it is entirely possible the image has some camera shake, as I took it hand-held at 1/60 and neither camera nor lens had any image stabilization. On the other hand, I shot this at 35mm, so I'd have to have been mid-seizure to get camera shake, I think. Still, you are the second to comment about softness, so I think I'd better take another look at what I can do about it. Again, thank you very much.

neilds37 Loc: Port Angeles, WA

Desert Gecko wrote:

Here in the desert we get some very colorful sunri... (show quote)

Thank you for the link. Hope it works for this area too.