Chamonix - the oddballs

LongLensPhotography

LongLensPhotography

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LongLensPhotography
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The last series from Chamonix: the oddballs and the experiments.

The morning of the third day was super misty after all those rains. During the sunrise I could just barely see the silhouette of the mountains. Normally, I wouldn't even get out of bed for these conditions, unless making it to the top for the cloud inversion shots, which I was clearly not up to. In this place however I had to give it a go. This is about as clear as it ever was that morning.

This is not my typical so I really want to hear from you if this is good or hopeless, and what if any edits should I consider.



Next 2 pieces are long lens shots after randomly driving up one of the slopes to get above the mist.
Editing of the colour version is very unconventional to get rid of the super strong blue cast in the shadow areas. If you shot high mountains in the shade you will know exactly what I mean, otherwise you certainly haven't seen how extreme it gets.
Basically sky is edited separately and mountains separately. I just wonder if it looks realistic representation of the perceived view (as opposed to true photographic representation).



Then the black and white vertical version... We "lose" the sky here and that golden hue on the highlight areas in exchange for conventional mono treatment, the clarity of "layers". Which do you prefer?
 
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Finally I could not resist doing some long lens shots into the mist. There was a nice opening for a few seconds. It probably looked more dramatic to me then.
 
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You can remove the colour cast in the blue areas in curves/levels - you need to set individual white and black points for each of the red, green and blue histograms and alter the tonality of each curve. If you just use the luminance curve or collective RGB one you won’t stand a chance...

The edit you’ve done is fine but try sliding the blue black point in (that’s the biggie) and the red and green white points in and the cast goes as you’ve “corrected” the colours as each individual output histogram lines up.

The Cheserys shots are the ones tbh

I might have enjoyed the extra time in bed. You got it done earlier.
 
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Being perverse, I prefer these to the sunnier ones you've posted earlier. They have (to me!) real mountain atmosphere. The second in particular, with lovely diagonals holding the composition together. Also like the misty last, though I'd consider trimming a fraction off the lhs to bring the edge closer to the trees.
 
They’re not hopeless at all, looks you should experiment more... 1 is beautiful - well composed shot from a gorgeous view, 2 and 3 I like how the mist almost reflects the shape of the mountain and 4 is quite a nice intimate one, maybe just a small crop off the top required
 
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The last shot would look better if the mist surrounding the central group of trees was uninterrupted further out in the frame. You could crop a bit from the top to get rid of the trees showing through up there, and perhaps try a bit of cloning.
 
ihasa said:
The last shot would look better if the mist surrounding the central group of trees was uninterrupted further out in the frame. You could crop a bit from the top to get rid of the trees showing through up there, and perhaps try a bit of cloning.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I think I will gravitate towards cloning considering it is cropped a little already.
 
SFTPhotography said:
The edit you’ve done is fine but try sliding the blue black point in (that’s the biggie) and the red and green white points in and the cast goes as you’ve “corrected” the colours as each individual output histogram lines up.
Click to expand...

I had a quick play with this. Initially this shifts most of the blue shadows but effectively they start turning a little green and I can see subtle but notable changes in the highlights. White point adjustments quickly give something very odd looking. I suspect it may still need to involve layers and blending different edits together. I'm sure you have more experience with tweaking individual histogram channels separately.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
I had a quick play with this. Initially this shifts most of the blue shadows but effectively they start turning a little green and I can see subtle but notable changes in the highlights. White point adjustments quickly give something very odd looking. I suspect it may still need to involve layers and blending different edits together. I'm sure you have more experience with tweaking individual histogram channels separately.
Click to expand...

You’ve shifted too far when that happens. If you then shift in say a little green also that helps.

The white points usually are ok on alpine scenes - the whitest point will be the snow - the shadows are the pain. Same with a lot of the Pyrenean stuff - if it’s hazy the shadows turn a yucky blue colour that needs corrected
 
You mention getting rid of blue shadows. Aren't shadows on snow under a blue sky actually genuinely blue in reality? I'd agree that they look strange like that and actually a bit unpleasant but won't it always be tricky removing that colour cast?
 
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jerry12953 said:
You mention getting rid of blue shadows. Aren't shadows on snow under a blue sky actually genuinely blue in reality? I'd agree that they look strange like that and actually a bit unpleasant but won't it always be tricky removing that clour cast?
Click to expand...

Snow will reflect the sky and I personally love a cold blue winter tint as long as it’s not overbearing. Each to their own I suppose
 
jerry12953 said:
You mention getting rid of blue shadows. Aren't shadows on snow under a blue sky actually genuinely blue in reality? I'd agree that they look strange like that and actually a bit unpleasant but won't it always be tricky removing that colour cast?
Click to expand...

Not massively - not the way a camera captures it. Once you add in contrast the problem gets worse.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
Finally I could not resist doing some long lens shots into the mist. There was a nice opening for a few seconds. It probably looked more dramatic to me then.

View attachment 266288
Click to expand...

Great set of images, I agree with the some other commenters that I enjoy these more than most other typical mountain shots. I like this one with the mist, the only thing I notice is the odd clipped black areas on a few of the front trees
 
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LongLensPhotography said:
Thanks. I think I will gravitate towards cloning considering it is cropped a little already.
Click to expand...

Here is the edited version.



jerry12953 said:
You mention getting rid of blue shadows. Aren't shadows on snow under a blue sky actually genuinely blue in reality? I'd agree that they look strange like that and actually a bit unpleasant but won't it always be tricky removing that colour cast?
Click to expand...

This is a minimal edit of a different Swiss mountain shot to illustrate how bad it gets as soon as you adjust the generic black point (WB = 5900K which is warmer than standard daylight). Your visual centres correct the cast in your mind, but the camera sees it unfiltered; and this gets super bad once converted to limited profile like sRGB. I am OK with a bit blue reflection on the snow but this I am sure we will agree is beyond acceptable.



Next example I did what Steve suggested, slightly desaturated blue (-10) and added (-20 blue; +20 sat) grade filter over sky with colour masking on set to sky selection. I think this is looking a lot better? Note the colour shift in the midtone section, the browns. Here it is probably desirable. It wasn't so clear cut with Chamonix image above.
 
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That was definitely too blue. I reckon black and white is the way to go with that light or put the camera away until it's a bit more favourable - it does bring out the features of the mountains but it's harsh and leads to washed out images, it may work with dramatic clouds though which would likely bring spotlighting effects and something to contrast with the mountain peaks
 
Scirocco_09 said:
That was definitely too blue. I reckon black and white is the way to go with that light or put the camera away until it's a bit more favourable - it does bring out the features of the mountains but it's harsh and leads to washed out images, it may work with dramatic clouds though which would likely bring spotlighting effects and something to contrast with the mountain peaks
Click to expand...

Whenever the sun is out and you are dealing with both shadow and sunlit sides this is what happens at high mountains.

If you want to see a real horror story here it is:


400mm, blue is already desaturated a bit. It's not a great image but a great illustration of what is going on with colours. I have no idea how to edit it properly. I think it looked a bit more red than purple, and it didn't feel so blue, but then moving WB to the right doesn't do it any good.
 
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That top "blue" mountain shot is absolutely ghastly; but the blue shadows occur throughout and not just on the snowy areas. Are you sure it's not just a white balance problem?

I don't have a solution, by the way - just thinking aloud......

The lower one is obviously a lot better.
 
jerry12953 said:
Are you sure it's not just a white balance problem?
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Certainly not, or not in the traditional sense, or else the sky would look same ghastly blue. This is what you get with high mountains every day. It basically affects all deep shadow areas very heavily, possibly further strengthened by haze, long lens and more UV rays at thinner atmosphere. If anything snow makes it less dreadful by reflecting back some sunlight into the shadows
I'm more than happy to send some RAW files for you to play with.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
Whenever the sun is out and you are dealing with both shadow and sunlit sides this is what happens at high mountains.

If you want to see a real horror story here it is:

View attachment 267060
400mm, blue is already desaturated a bit. It's not a great image but a great illustration of what is going on with colours. I have no idea how to edit it properly. I think it looked a bit more red than purple, and it didn't feel so blue, but then moving WB to the right doesn't do it any good.
Click to expand...

The haze doesn’t help - add any contrast and it just goes blue. It’s naturally a low contrast scene so don’t set black points at 100% black. It won’t have any.

Try in levels/curves taking the blue black point in a little and bring the red one white one in to enhance the reds. Don’t over correct it - the mist should be cool to white - not warm

It’s the only way - it’s not an exposure issue as that scene will easily fit with the dynamic range of a 5d3 sensor - only need to bracket if your blocking and clipping at the same time.
 
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jerry12953 said:
It's very odd. I've taken plenty of photographs up in the mountains without encountering that problem.
Click to expand...

It’s a common issue in the Alps and Pyrenees. A lot of it’s down to the fact it’s hazier than the U.K. due to warmer summers, less rain to clear the air and the far higher altitude.

Getting the shadows “neutral” and removing the blue from the haze is the longest and hardest part of processing images I find. The way I do it is to manage the individual r, g and b histograms in much the same way you’d correct a colour cast from a naff filter.
 
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