Orderville Canyon Photo

Photographer’s Note

This is a slot canyon in Zion National Park, Utah, USA. Some may feel that it is kind of a cliché to take such shots, but my feeling is that it is like taking a picture of a flower and such things never get old. My question is that dark area in the back--is it too dark? I kind of like it--I tend to like dark, rich shots that bring out the vibrant colors.

WORKSHOP ADJUSTMENTS:
AdrianW made me aware of several things: (1) there was a disparity between the color saturation of the left and right canyon walls, (2) the shadows lacked detail, (3) the original photo had a very bright spot in the upper middle, which the camera translated as bluish.

Here are my adjustments after AdrianW's helpful workshop:
1. Opened original file.
2. Boosted saturation over entire photo 8%.
3. Using the Polygonal Lasso with 10 pixel feather, I selected the right canyon wall and then boosted saturation on the right half another 15%.
4. Heighted the contrast by 9%.
5. Using the Polygonal Lasso with 10 pixel feather, I selected the upper middle section and darkened it slightly using Levels.
6. Using the Polygonal Lasso, I selected the darkest area in the middle and lightened it slightly using Levels.
7. Cropped the photo to reflect a 10 x 8 ratio (for printing/framing)
8. Changed the image size to 72 dpi: 700 x 525 pixels
9. Used Unsharp Mask: threshold 1 / 0.5 pixels / 95%.
10. Added a 10 pixel black border.
11. Used the Save for Web feature. I refuse to save under 75% quality, so I made the image smaller until it was finally 640 x 512 pixels and saved at 75% quality.

Thanks for your comments everyone!

adam, tonyking has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

ninadev (5112) 2003-09-04 22:01

That shot is wonderful... and so were your other versions. You really give us a lesson here, working so much on a photo that was already much appreciated by everyone and try to improve it, or modify it to find other ways of showing it, and on top of that taking the time to give us all the details of your workshop. You must be a great professor and you deserve a standing ovation for your work but mainly for being an example that it is not the quantity of photos that count but the desire to improve and taking the time to do so. I will remember that and try to take example of you.

Sorry no smiley, I don't have any more for today to give, reached my daily limit.

Alonso (245) 2003-09-04 23:51

definitively great shot..! the color red is so intensive, i like it..! this one is one of my favorites..! excellent work!

Darren (6815) 2003-09-05 0:42

This looks much better David. The extra saturation is especially helpful in making this a pleasing shot. I understand your worry about it being a cliched topic, but really I think you need not worry. I hope to visit this area at some point, and when I do, I will take similar shots to this. If they turn out well, I will post them here. An interesting subject is an interesting subject after all.

agarcia (393) 2003-09-05 6:06

Excellent improvement from an already great original, David! I find more pleasant the color saturation now :-)

martin (1242) 2003-09-06 2:10

Simply beautiful.

Skorj (581) 2003-09-06 3:53

An excellent example I think of appropriate post camera work. Though a lot of work it was! The original composition was good, but lacked the balanced impact of the RP version. Worth the effort, with your excellent framing now being evenly complimented by the marvelous colors of the canyon walls.

ronners (10) 2003-09-10 19:02

I do like this one very much David. In the original and in this reposted version I notice some really intense red areas on the canyon walls. These look a little bit artificial due to their intensity. Take a look at the bottom center, three 'levels' in from the front right to see what I mean. Just looks a bit weird to my eye ;) Nonetheless, a great shot.

Coyote (457) 2003-09-15 17:16

This also is excellent work but IMHO, not any better or worse than the original. Actually seems a different place to me. Man, I'd like to go here- again, you get a brownie point (lol).
Good work.

light (857) 2003-09-20 20:42