Cape Royal Point North Rim Grand Canyon

Joseph Bautsch

New member
This was taken at Cape Royal Point, North Rim, Grand Canyon.
f/stop: 10
Shutter Speed: 1/125
ISO: 327
Focal Length: 18mm
Camera: D80

Critique and comments please? Does that dead tree add to the composition?

Cape Royal (3).jpg
 
Maybe it's the compression or the size of this image, but I'm finding it hard to see the depth in the image. The dead tree offers a clue to the close-up, but the elements past the close in rock formation look a bit flat (two-dimensional).
With your permission, I can see what I can do - perhaps you'll like it, or perhaps I'm barking up that tree in the picture.
 
Last edited:

Browncoat

Senior Member
I see where EoI is coming from, and agree. Perhaps it's just the size, indeed.

The composition is good, I think the tree creates a sense of depth and perception. The problem with any desert type photo is that the color palette is so restrictive, it's hard to determine depth. This may be a good candidate for a B&W conversion!
 

Joseph Bautsch

New member
Thanks guys. You were correct. I was so busy looking at the tree that I couldn't see the forest. :eek: There are two problems I can see, one is the color and the other is the habitual haze in the canyon. You can see it looking up the canyon to the upper right. I've been to the Grand Canyon North Rim four times and always have had a problem with the haze. There is way too much red in the original posting. That with the haze gave it a flat look. I went into curves and removed a lot of low end red tones and tweaked the high end. I also tweaked the green. That gave it a lot more depth. I also tried the black and white. I flipped back and forth between that and color. I didn't see much difference in quality but being a color person I stayed with that. See attached.

Cape Royal (5).jpg
 

garao

New member
Hi Joseph, if I look at my monitor from a lower angle, the image gets darker, giving it more depth (to my eye). You might want to play with the black point to see if that enhances the image for you. A little darkening also mitigates the haze.
 

Joseph Bautsch

New member
Hi Gene - I really crunched this one through poet processing trying to get it to work. I've always found haze a problem in the Grand Canyon. You almost have to live there to catch the few days where there is little or no haze. I've about pushed the black point to it's limit already. The shot looks a lot better full screen in the original RAW rather than the small email jpeg shown here. I could increase the exposure and add a little more contrast that would probably achieve the result your recommending. I'll try it. Thanks for your thoughts on it. :)

Happy shooting, :)
Joseph
 
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