Whitewater11 Loc: Ellensburg, Washington

I see so many procedures photographers use to strengthen their images. It would be great if some would share their techniques of working with light in landscapes. I will start this off with a landscape that I find acceptable out of camera. A second copy has used the paintbrush in camera raw to darken the edges 25% and lighten the path. If you are not aware of that powerful little brush it is adjustable, interesting and quick, but creates permanent change as opposed to non destructive edits possible in layers programs. A couple of crops test alternate possibilities with the image, but I will likely stick with the original. I see so many beautiful images others produce and I hope some will share how they work adding, subtracting and cropping their images.

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John from gpwmi Loc: Michigan

Thanks for posting the original and the edits. I find this very informative and helpful. UHH is so helpful as an educational tool and posts like this help me, and I'm sure others, to expand our vision on what's possible. The original is so striking, I probably would not think of subtle changes let alone major ones.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Thank you for this topic, Lynn. You found a terrific photo op that you made extra-special with your compositions and dodge and burn editing technique. I love your subject and time of year.

Do you want this to be a participatory thread? I didn't want to add a pic until I was sure

Whitewater11 Loc: Ellensburg, Washington

Thank you for your kind words.

Absolutely, I was hoping people might contribute some instructional ideas with their pictures and I should have made it clear that my picture may be used for any non commercial use. I am sure there are many adjustments that would improve the original.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

This is a worthwhile subject that goes straight to the heart of what makes a good image and how we can strengthen our images.

Light is just one factor that can be used to draw the eye. In more general terms it is vividness that draws the eye.

Brightness can be used to add localised vividness but there are other factors such as contrast (which gives a more extreme mixture of brightness and darkness), sharpness and colour strength. To the latter we could add that colours can be tint-shifted to become more vivid, typically by shifting them towards the warm end of the spectrum (red, orange, yellow), but the use of that technique is very dependent on appropriateness.

It's also true that warm colours advance while cool colours recede, so main subjects can be warmed up while backgrounds can be cooled. It is usually the case that very moderate adjustments will work best and the effect is best kept subtle. That is usually true of any tint-shifting technique.

I should add that while tint-shifting has its place, contrast, saturation and sharpening are the usual and most basic methods of increasing vividness.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

The edits below (of southeast Yakima a couple of Novembers ago) are more about separation of tones and forms rather than being a directed path through the scene. I did try to provide a starting point with the smoke plume.

I haven't been out much the past year or so, but many of my landscapes were shot around dawn and often in fog. Golden light and moody weather are my favorite subjects!

#1 has a lot of dodging and burning in PS Elements main workspace (with layers). Two tutorials on the technique are posted here).

For #2 I tried levels adjustments to darken midtones (PS users are more likely to employ the curves tool) + added a bit of Nik Glamour Glow in a "cool" hue.

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SOOC, from raw

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Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Lynn, I think this is Hanson Rd (a barn just out of sight on the right is on the Ellensburg "Barn Quilt" tour). February 2017.

I cropped and cloned to remove the near barbed wire fence. I could have avoided including it in the frame if I'd dared get out of the car to crawl across an ice skating rink road

Hopefully, the composition itself guides your eye through the frame, along with a little help from the darkest elements. I sharpened the tree to help the feeling of distance to the hills. The slight hazy fog in early morning and a little help from pp provides the gentle quiet mood.

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SOOC, from raw

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R.G. Loc: Scotland

Your posted examples show that there are pros and cons where cropping is concerned. For example, the clear path in the centre channels the eye into the distance and therefore into the image, and your first crop focuses attention on that eye-channeler. However, with the more focused perspective comes a loss of context, and that in turn can lead to a loss of sense of place as well as a loss of story-telling. There are some that go by the mantra that you should crop away anything that doesn't support your main subject, but that line of thinking can lead to ignoring the fact that most subjects benefit from including some context, which in turn usually results in more effective story-telling. And subjects very often benefit from having some sort of a setting, even if it isn't directly related to the subject in an obvious way.

Some will say that any empty spaces at the edges of the scene are a potential distraction and you should get rid of them by cropping. However, it's very often the case that surroundings add to the scene by increasing the sense of place. An alternative to cropping is to reduce their eye-catching tendencies by using various techniques such as darkening round the edges (as you have done) in the form of a vignette. That can work even when the vignette is so slight it works on a subliminal level.

You can also reduce the empty spaces' eye-catching tendencies by reducing their vividness in other ways such as reducing contrast, saturation and sharpness. In the following shot I could have cropped in to use the trees as framing elements but I didn't want to lose the sense of place that the surroundings give, so I used the combination that I just described (including a vignette) to make the outlying areas less eye-catching, which allowed me to keep them in the frame.
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rdgreenwood Loc: Kennett Square, Pennsylvania

I’m doing backflips of frustration because I’m unable to add anything to this discussion. I’m on a ship heading for the Falkland Islands, and 99.9% of my images are at home. This is a great topic, one that’s too often overlooked.

I remember riding through a nearby town and spotting a woman photographing another woman who was posed on the steps of the town hall. The photographer was working her subject from about four feet away. I couldn’t stop myself: I rolled my window down and shouted, “Shoot wide, crop tight!” The photographer smiled and backed off.

Whitewater11 Loc: Ellensburg, Washington

Very good points and an awesome photograph to support your information. This is exactly What I was thinking folks could share.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

If you click on | Quote Reply | under the post that you want to reply to, we'll know who you're responding to.

Whitewater11 Loc: Ellensburg, Washington

These three images are all very interesting and demonstrate variations of techniques. Th first one is the one I would put on the wall, but I really am drawn to the tone of the original and it is also an interesting nicely composed scene. Thanks for sharing.

Whitewater11 Loc: Ellensburg, Washington

R,G.
Thanks for the excellent article and picture. I was unfamiliar with the procedure in responding to your contribution.

Whitewater11 Loc: Ellensburg, Washington

Linda, Thanks for your contribution. I will get the procedure for communication down eventually.

Whitewater11 Loc: Ellensburg, Washington

Thanks for the beautiful post and from right in my front yard so to speak. These winter scenes can bring out the emotion and this is a good one for that. Very helpful instruction and technique.