Caucuses mountains & lakes in Autumn

alan72

alan72

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Alan
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Lakes Maralgol and Goygol in the far West of Azerbajian near the Armenian border.

A 5 hour drive from Baku but well worth the effort.

We left lake Maralgol to drive back to the hotel about 40 minutes after sunset and it was very dark, there are no artificial light sources. The driver of the minibus waiting for us thought we were crazy asking what we were doing out here in the dark, "it's wild up here" he said. Later we found out why. Photographing stars at Lake Goygol later on, which is within the heavily fenced hotel complex and we could hear wild dogs barking and howling up in that direction, and a bear roared just a little way across on the "wild" side of the lake. We scarpered back into the hotel pretty quick. The manager pointed out that the fences surrounding the hotel complex are there to keep the wildlife out, not people.

It's pot luck with catching the colours at the right time so far away, but we had fun and it is a stunning unspoilt area

Constructive C&C welcome.

Thanks

Alan

Mt Kapaz by Alan, on Flickr

Maralgol mirror by Alan, on Flickr

reflection of autumn by Alan, on Flickr

Orionids over Goygol by Alan, on Flickr

Goygol colour by Alan, on Flickr
 
I know somebody on TP who will like the second shot, but for me the third one wins. Lovely shot.

They all look a bit flat though, as though some PP would really bring out the colours. I am too heavy handed with my processing to give the best advice but a contrast boost through curves would be where I would start. Of course, it may have looked just as you captured them, and adding oomph might not be appropriate.
 
I like number two! Great in my opinion.

The astro shot I also like but I do think you should have gone for a lower ISO as it seems noisy to me. ISO3200 seems high, I keep to 1600 on astro to keep noise down.

Edit- also on the astro shot, is there a Halo on the hills?
 
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ianmarsh said:
I know somebody on TP who will like the second shot, but for me the third one wins. Lovely shot.

They all look a bit flat though, as though some PP would really bring out the colours. I am too heavy handed with my processing to give the best advice but a contrast boost through curves would be where I would start. Of course, it may have looked just as you captured them, and adding oomph might not be appropriate.
Click to expand...
Thanks Ian, the light was quite flat down at the lake shore as the sun was already behind the surrounding mountains when we started shooting. I was a little hesitant to over push the processing as in my eyes the colours were quite vibrant and I didn't want to over saturate, but they have had contrast, curves and some saturation boost. I'm comparing the Flickr images with the originals in lightroom and they do strangely look less vibrant on Flickr. I'll have to check if I have messed up an export setting, and will revisit the pp to see if it I'm just being too gentle:)!!

Thanks for looking and commenting!
 
Tom Green said:
I like number two! Great in my opinion.

The astro shot I also like but I do think you should have gone for a lower ISO as it seems noisy to me. ISO3200 seems high, I keep to 1600 on astro to keep noise down.

Edit- also on the astro shot, is there a Halo on the hills?
Click to expand...
Thanks Tom, I was in the mindset of Milky Way shoots and 3200 seemed pretty good compared to my usual 6400 for astro! we were still before astrological twilight start at this point without moonlight, so it was ISO 3200, f2.8 and 30 sec and I was working for a nice histogram, I agree 1600 would have been better but I worried about the foreground being too dark and noisy. I've just had a look at the original and the halo effect is there in the raw file, I think there is a layer of mist / cloud forming over the mountains which might be giving that effect. Strangely it seems to get more pronounced when I adjust the white balance.
 
I love the first three. Amazing photographs and processing wise they’re right on. I know I’m not a fan of high black points, big vignettes and lots of contrast in images so they work well for mr tastes.

Good to see some non uk landscapes on here too
 
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