Sunset on Col De Néronne (Cantal, France)

[Joanna]

Hello sharks!

I would be very grateful for your comments on the image underneath. The part that I am particularly struggling with, is whether the exposure is about right, especially in the bottom part (not too light?). Also I wonder how I could enhance the reflection on the car maybe, and/or how to increase sharpness in that area? All other thoughts also welcome of course!

EXIF to be found on flickr

https://flic.kr/p/2jxRWya

[Dahlia Ambrose]

Hi Joanna, I love the subtle colours and the brightness in the background. Looks like you were too close to the car, so it is slightly out of focus. Not sure how sharpness can be increased there. It would have also been nice to include the bottom of the car in the frame.

You could slightly brush specific areas and make adjustments to bring out or enhance details 🙂

[Joanna]

Thank you for your thoughts, Dahlia!
On showing more of the car: Following this shot, which was my first in this series, I shot one that showed more of the car. Unfortunately the sky had already changed at that point and I liked the sky on the first image best. I am including the second for reference.

Please find my feedback on your other comments in the separate comment underneath.

[Dahlia Ambrose]

Thank you for this Joanne. The sky sure looks more beautiful in the first image 🙂

[3pco]

Nice image. I like how the vintage truck accents it. Makes the viewer ask questions. I can read the license plate, so I think it’s focused well enough.

IMHO, your exposure is about right. Your sky is very soft and not very light, and I think the soft bottom shadows fit it.

You could increase the apparent sharpness in the bottom by burning the blacks to add contrast. When you push up the brightness in a dark area, everything comes up and you lose your blacks. The best way to get them back is to burn them through a luminance mask. There are some free sets available on the net (google Greg Benz). You could even do it by hand along the ridgelines on a soft image like this – dodge one side and burn the other.

[Joanna]

Thank you so much for your feedback, Dahlia and 3CPO! Just using Lightroom I have been trying to follow some of your suggestions and came up with the image underneath. I am now a lot more pleased about the reflections on the car, but I still feel less sure about the bottom part. Although I like my landscapes to show some layers, I am not sure if dodging the grassy edge was the best choice here?

[Falxy]

Hi Joanna….not sure what you want me to look at!

The sky takes up two thirds but the truck draws my eye……try cropping the r/h foliage and the top of sky.

i also agree with lack of detail….that said I like your vision! 🙂

[Bruce Gordon]

Hi Joanne! I was hesitant to say anything, but I struggle with the same issue with my images. I see a beautiful sky, and I want to capture it. Then I look at the image I got, and it isn’t really what I wanted to capture. So I stopped doing it. Well, what I really did was I stopped trying to capture the sky for its own sake. Clouds are really my soft spot, but a photo of clouds is… just clouds. We get a beautiful sky almost every night; for me the beauty is in the sky’s relationship with the earth.

I have begun to find an image I think is a good subject, and wait till the sky is special, and use it to accent my subject. I’m not great at it, but I am happier with my results; the sky gets noticed as a strong supporting actor.

Having said all that, I’d like to see the truck as the main character, and the sky in the supporting role. Sorry to have gotten all philosophical and stuff… 🙂

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