Enhancing Mount Baker

[Ken Rogers]

I'm so excited about my new Panasonic FZ5 camera. I've been busy taking pictures of everything. Here's a shot of Mount Baker in Washington, USA. In reality, the peak glowed a deep orange/yellow as the sun set, but somehow this color wasn't represented in the photo. So of course, I blended some orange/yellow back into the photo. I also added some mist behind the foothills (a little overdone?). The rocks around the peak were darkened and multiplied to make them stand out.

Your thoughts are appreciated.

Ken

[Kraellin]

hi ken,

umm, i think i actually like it better without the mist. great original shot and nice work regardless of my preference.

Craig

[Duv]

Hi Ken

I think what you are trying to capture is something they call Alpen Glow. I can't do it but I do think the mountain ridges in the foreground could perhaps handle a wee bit more contrast. Great image. We can see Mt Baker big time from Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, BC. Check it out on a map, it's amazing!!

Dave

edit: Mmm. My post is kinda suckin..OK so do as I say not as I do..or somfun.

[Ken Rogers]

You're from Nanaimo? I'm in the Fraser Valley. Small world!

[Duv]

Sweet Ken! Luv yur Avatar!

Dave

[Ken Rogers]

Likewise. Actually, I think I got my avatar idea from yours!

Ken

[Gary Richardson]

Hi Ken,

had a vquick play with your image.

Applied levels adj layer to up contrast, applied grad mask to limit effect to foreground.

Applied Colour Balance adj layer to add a touch of yellow/red, and masked to show only mountain area.

Vquick job, so masking may not be as good as it should, but you get the idea.

Sorry the sky's posterised on posting, (larger image did'nt have this problem).

[Kraellin]

decided to have a go at this one also.

duped layer.
fast fix adding more blue and red and contrast.
new raster layer
to new added clouds plugin filter and adjusted to taste.
gausian blur to clouds layer
erased clouds over blue foreground at 100% opacity
erased clouds over mountain at about 5-10% opacity, leaving a slight mist/haze.
fast fix on clouds layer to give more contrast and color. mostly added a bit more blue to it.
edit: oh, and i cropped off the bottom a bit to balance the picture.

done.

Craig

[Ken Rogers]

Very nice, Kraellin. You took a different approach, adding clouds to the sky like that. I like it.

Ken

[Kraellin]

thanks ken.

it's an interesting original picture. it almost has an oil painting quality about it without any retouching.

Craig

[mdavis]

The shot is absolutely beautiful.

I'm not familiar with the real world "alpen glow", so maybe I'm way off here, but, to my eyes, the sky is way too cyan to be believable. I know there was a low, setting sun which is orange/yellow, but the sky color hurts the original image for me.

[Duv]

I'm beginning to think that perhaps Ken's original is somewhat overexposed. Alpen Glow normally happens when the sun is only "minutes" from setting.

Dave

[Gary Richardson]

Nice one Dave, looks good.

Being from BC I suppose you see a few such sights.

As its a tad flatter where I live, the only time I see such beauty is when I go skiing. (Speaking of which, the ski season isn't so far off now, can feel the old ski legs twitching already.)

[Duv]

Funnily enough Gary, I've only seen Alpen Glow twice. Living on Vancouver Island which is relatively flat where I live, we do get lovely distance views of the Coast Mountains on the mainland. Perhaps it is the angle to the setting sun that we miss this type of beauty. Whenever I need an Alpen Glow fix, I pull out my copy of Galen Rowell's Vision: The Art of Adventure Photography. Here's a pic from our place. Even though Mt Baker is way down in Washington, when we can see it, it's three times higher than our Coast Mountains..quite spectacular!

Cheers
Dave

[Kraellin]

nice work, dave. you really captured the setting sun look.

Craig

[Ken Rogers]

Dave,

I recognise the landscape in your picture. I used to fly into Nanaimo all the time. Was that shot taken north of the airport, facing north towards Gibsons/Sechelt?

Ken

[Gary Richardson]

Love the panorama Dave.

It's a few years since I was last in Vancouver, and then only passing through on my way to Whistler. Love the drive up the Sea to Sky Highway.

[Duv]

You guys had better stop by and see me if you happen this way again!! Ken, you're bang on!

Cheers

Dave

[Con Looymans]

Hi Ken,

I like the photo.

Just a thought, but the reason you probably lost the warm colour in your original shot was because the white balance would have been set to "Auto" and as such would have tried to neutralise the "unnatural" colour cast.

I've had similar problems when shooting subjects with a strongly coloured background. I've gotten around this by setting my colour balance to Daylight

Regards

Con Looymans

[Ken Rogers]

Thanks. I just bought a new camera and I intend to learn the basics of photography. I believe my FZ5 has those features so I'll have a good read.

Ken