Grand Canyon in the rain

Rainstorms sweeping across the Grand Canyon towards East. They have caught up with me some minutes later and I have been soaked fully. But it was exhilarating standing there, watching the beauty of nature at this scale.







Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

OK Cem, I'm concerned...don't you ever sleep????
Thanks though, for staying up late and sharing this beauty.
Great capture.
From this perspective I can feel the breeze rising ahead of the storm!

Cem_Usakligil said:

Rainstorms sweeping across the Grand Canyon towards East. They have caught up with me some minutes later and I have been soaked fully. But it was exhilarating standing there, watching the beauty of nature at this scale.

​

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

Click to expand...

This, Cem s one of the most colorful rock formations I have seen. It's just about as attractive as one can imagine with all those colors revealed by the erosion of the mountains over perhaps millions, (or even perhaps hundreds of millions), of years. There's a pleasant experience here that people would pay money for to see again and again.

However, I do find that the sky might fall short i balancing the rich rock formations below. You signature is in a poor place, IMHO, as the sky is already struggling to command such an imperial landscape. I wonder whether the sky can be reinvigorated your new tone mapping software? Maybe just relocating your lettering and adding another cm of the beautiful top hue would be just perfect? This problem with the sky is minor and correctible.

Asher

This is an impressive view Cem and very unique as it is more usual to see photos of the Canyon under bright sunny days.

Asher Kelman said:

I wonder whether the sky can be reinvigorated your new tone mapping software?

Asher

Click to expand...

I thought the same Asher, I like the photo as is but it seems to be a good candidate for a well measured HDR treatment.

Wonderful picture, Cem!

Admittedly, when I first gazed upon the picture, it almost felt like I could see the clouds and rain bands moving as you would have seen them.

John Angulat said:

OK Cem, I'm concerned...don't you ever sleep????
Thanks though, for staying up late and sharing this beauty.
Great capture.
From this perspective I can feel the breeze rising ahead of the storm!

Click to expand...

Hi John,

I do sleep, occasionally ;-). Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers,

Cem_Usakligil said:

Rainstorms sweeping across the Grand Canyon towards East. They have caught up with me some minutes later and I have been soaked fully. But it was exhilarating standing there, watching the beauty of nature at this scale.

Click to expand...

Hi Cem

You are showing us some very special work of yours recently, which I've found inspirational, and this is no exception.

The only suggestion I could possibly make for this one after looking at it for quite a while is I wonder if you could strengthen the bottom LHS at all, the striations in the rocks don't show as well in this area I think perhaps brightening and increasing contrast just slightly in this area would help balance the brighter top right, just a suggestion....

I would have loved to have been there, I know how excited I would have been by such an enormous landscape. Thank you for sharing your exhilarating day there with us.

Hi Asher, Ruben,

Thanks a lot for your kind comments. I know that this is not one of those majestic pictures of the Grand Canyon, but it brings back very sweet memories when I look at it. The nature can be so powerful and beautiful at the same time, humbling us.

Asher Kelman said:

....However, I do find that the sky might fall short i balancing the rich rock formations below. You signature is in a poor place, IMHO, as the sky is already struggling to command such an imperial landscape. I wonder whether the sky can be reinvigorated your new tone mapping software? Maybe just relocating your lettering and adding another cm of the beautiful top hue would be just perfect? This problem with the sky is minor and correctible.

Click to expand...

Ruben Alfu said:

...I thought the same Asher, I like the photo as is but it seems to be a good candidate for a well measured HDR treatment.

Click to expand...

You guys do really crack me up, lol. Following the intensive HDR pictures in the past few days, I had tried staying away from all that for once and to bring you the beauty of nature in a subdued way instead. But hey, your wish is my command .

This is not a straightforward HDR processing. The original raw suffers from a lack of dynamic range and the image gets very noisy when treated in HDR or pushed too much. So I did create a HDR version from a single raw using the SNS-HDR, focusing on getting the sky right. Then I have opened the image in PS and have applied noise reduction with neat image vigourously. After that, I have even Gaussion blurred the skies further to smooth out the noise. I have then duplicated the image into a new layer and used multiply blending to bring out the texture of the clouds even more. Following a flattening of these two layers, I have copied this resulting image to a new layer on top of the original image I have shown earlier. Asher wanted me to add a "cm" at the top. This image was originally cropped a bit at the top, so I did not have to extend the sky using any tricks; I just undid the cropping .

At this stage, I had my initial image as the lower layer and the new optimized image for the sky at the top level. I have then used the luminosity blending mode and brought the opacity of the top layer down until it was visually pleasing. Added a gradual layer mask to apply this only to the sky and also to a bit of the horizon. The blending mode was done to prevent noise from seeping into the image and messing up with the hues and the saturation. Finally, I have added some local contrast enhancement to the sky to further enhance the texture. Here is the end result compared to the original version. Which one is better, do you reckon?
Cheers,

Damien Igoe said:

Wonderful picture, Cem!

Admittedly, when I first gazed upon the picture, it almost felt like I could see the clouds and rain bands moving as you would have seen them.

Click to expand...

Then the picture has been successful, thanks for letting me know

Cheers,

janet Smith said:

Hi Cem

You are showing us some very special work of yours recently, which I've found inspirational, and this is no exception.

The only suggestion I could possibly make for this one after looking at it for quite a while is I wonder if you could strengthen the bottom LHS at all, the striations in the rocks don't show as well in this area I think perhaps brightening and increasing contrast just slightly in this area would help balance the brighter top right, just a suggestion....

I would have loved to have been there, I know how excited I would have been by such an enormous landscape. Thank you for sharing your exhilarating day there with us.

Click to expand...

Hi Jan,

It was a beautiful sight and I would love to go back there sometime soon. There is so much beauty surrounding us all over the world, we should simply pay more attention and stop destroying it instead. But enough of the the environmental plug ;-).

In the second version, I have done the brightening and some local dodging in the bottom LHS as you've suggested; thanks for the good idea

Cheers,

Cem_Usakligil said:

There is so much beauty surrounding us all over the world, we should simply pay more attention....

Click to expand...

Absolutely, we just need to see when we look....

Cem_Usakligil said:

In the second version, I have done the brightening and some local dodging in the bottom LHS as you've suggested; thanks for the good idea

Click to expand...

Yes I think the LHS is significantly improved, but I have to say I'm not too sure about the sky in the new version.... sorry

janet Smith said:

...yes I think the LHS is significantly improved, but I have to say I'm not too sure about the sky in the new version.... sorry

Click to expand...

No need to be sorry . I think that the slight changes I have made to the sky or to the bottom LHS are both good but they may also be unnecessary. My purpose with this photo was to convey the nature's majesty and to provide a new sight to a well known location under different weather conditions. This can be achieved with or without these adjustments IMO. But since the adjustments are neutral with respect to my goal, I did not see any harm in working them out in the second version. I am not so sure I am going to print this picture. If I do so, I will try both versions on Epson velvet fine art paper. Or perhaps a third version which is somewhere in between

Cheers,

#2

Hi All,

While I was busy showing this one, I thought I might as well show some others from the Grand Canyon. I hope you don't mind? These were all taken on the same day, prior to the rainstorms.

Cheers,

#3

Cheers,

#4

Cheers,

#5

Cheers,

#6

Cheers,

Hi Cem

Beautiful series, 3 & 4 stand out to me - thank you for sharing these!

Cem, you have got yourself at some brilliant viewpoints, and it seems at the right time. These are really great images, with lovely light.

Hi Jan, Paul,

Thanks a lot for your kind comments, really appreciated. I have become awkwardly self conscious after showing these because I thought that I was showing too many pictures. Some members out there may have become a bit weary of my constant stream of pictures recently, albeit showing various subjects and using various techniques. If so, I honestly don't blame them. Another aspect of my fear was the fact that these are cliche images of a very well known location and these pictures have been taken a million times before and much better than mine at that. You have helped ease my mind a bit with your posts, thanks again .

Cheers,

Cem,

I'm trying to go through these great contributions and at the same time do a lot of studio related work which has become a serious and wonderful part of my life. I am so impressed by your work. Yes the HDR technology adds so much and I'll come back to that in detail and to the other pictures that follow.

The lesson that comes from this is that one cannot simply rely on the lens and filters, (UV/polaroid or other) to render a file that can transport other folks to the majestic experience your eyes brought you, 360 degrees wherever you looked. This means that the same struggle and work needs to go in each and every image as the chances are that the camera alone, (as compromised by thousands of "best-fit decisions" by our Japanese engineering friends for most common end use), cannot cut through the haze, distribute emphasis like our brains, catch the wispy layering and bellowing of the ever changing clouds and bring that to us in a few simple steps. This is where the "men are separated from the boys", so to speak and the artistic vision, taste, skill, aptitude and technique are needed and with at least one of the pictures, the first, you have shown how to eventually pull this off with aplomb!

More work is needed on the others.

Back later!

Asher

Cem_Usakligil said:

Hi Asher, Ruben,

Thanks a lot for your kind comments. I know that this is not one of those majestic pictures of the Grand Canyon, but it brings back very sweet memories when I look at it. The nature can be so powerful and beautiful at the same time, humbling us.




You guys do really crack me up, lol. Following the intensive HDR pictures in the past few days, I had tried staying away from all that for once and to bring you the beauty of nature in a subdued way instead. But hey, your wish is my command .

This is not a straightforward HDR processing. The original raw suffers from a lack of dynamic range and the image gets very noisy when treated in HDR or pushed too much. So I did create a HDR version from a single raw using the SNS-HDR, focusing on getting the sky right. Then I have opened the image in PS and have applied noise reduction with neat image vigourously. After that, I have even Gaussion blurred the skies further to smooth out the noise. I have then duplicated the image into a new layer and used multiply blending to bring out the texture of the clouds even more. Following a flattening of these two layers, I have copied this resulting image to a new layer on top of the original image I have shown earlier. Asher wanted me to add a "cm" at the top. This image was originally cropped a bit at the top, so I did not have to extend the sky using any tricks; I just undid the cropping .

At this stage, I had my initial image as the lower layer and the new optimized image for the sky at the top level. I have then used the luminosity blending mode and brought the opacity of the top layer down until it was visually pleasing. Added a gradual layer mask to apply this only to the sky and also to a bit of the horizon. The blending mode was done to prevent noise from seeping into the image and messing up with the hues and the saturation. Finally, I have added some local contrast enhancement to the sky to further enhance the texture. Here is the end result compared to the original version. Which one is better, do you reckon?Cheers,

Click to expand...

Cem,

Here is what I find so commendable. We can critique without offending even those we admire the most. You take this in a positive spirit and are not defensive. The usual comment of "That picture is done!" or "That's how I meant it!", while valid is not sufficient.

Asher

Cem_Usakligil said:

Hi Jan, Paul,

Thanks a lot for your kind comments, really appreciated. I have become awkwardly self conscious after showing these because I thought that I was showing too many pictures. Some members out there may have become a bit weary of my constant stream of pictures recently, albeit showing various subjects and using various techniques. If so, I honestly don't blame them. Another aspect of my fear was the fact that these are cliche images of a very well known location and these pictures have been taken a million times before and much better than mine at that. You have helped ease my mind a bit with your posts, thanks again .

Cheers,

Click to expand...

My take on all this is that your images are a wonderful celebration of one of my favorite places. Thank you.

Cem_Usakligil said:

Here is the end result compared to the original version. Which one is better, do you reckon?

Original version:

New version:

​

Click to expand...

Hi Cem,

First, sorry for the delay in my reply, I´m in the middle of some (unbearable) paperwork that is taking me a lot of time and energy :-(. Anyway, thanks sp much for taking the time to work on this photo and for the generosity of explaining what you did. I like the new version better, the subtle changes do make a difference. I´m enjoying the whole series in the thread, thanks for sharing!