Another Landscape for critique

Here is another photo that I would love people to have a comment on. I am very thankful and grateful for any comments that might help me out.
Ive taken on board what people are saying about HDR but since I dont have ND filters for skies and am not likely to buy one I have decided to tone this one down considerably and try and keep it as natural as possible.




Thanks
QC

As an image, it's very calm and restful. Pleasant indeed.

In terms of colour, it's very, very yellow and this gives it a fantasy look, a long way from natural.

Where is the yellow hue coming from? Is it a conscious choice, the WB setting, or is it the result of the HDR software? Otherwise it's a nice shot though.

Maybe white balance? I know Photomatix Pro gives the option to set WB before the images are merged, either from a preset or custom fine tuner. Maybe setting something a bit cooler before you get going on the main editing sliders will help?

I think this image is much, much nicer than the first one in the other post. It's a lovely composition and nice light, BUT I think the processing is still letting it down. As others have mentioned, there is a pronounced yellow tone across the whole image. I've used Photomatix on many occasions and it has never created a yellow hue like this.

It might we worth checking the colour space settings on your camera and all your processing software, make sure it's 'SRGB' all the way through the chain.

I'm not sure what processing packages you have (except lightroom), but none of the ones I've used produce yellow colour casts. White balance on the camera would be the next thing to check, failing this, the only other thing I can think is that it has been warmed up deliberately? One thing I always try to do with landscapes is to ensure that the grass looks a natural green; this usually involves lowering the yellow saturation by anything between 10 and 20%. The image could also stand quite a large hike in the levels, I would guess the Histogram on this one is balanced to the left and even the sky's highlights are not close to the tipping point in terms of their brightest areas.

It be nice to know what camera settings were used, i.e. aperture and shutter speed. The image is a little 'soft' in the foreground, although the background detail looks sharper. I know you've asked about other lens alternatives for landscapes in the past and it may be worth having a go with a cheaper old manual focus lens, something like a Pentax-M 28mm F3.5 which should produce sharper images.

I hope you don't think I'm being over critical, I'm just trying to offer some useful suggestions. You clearly have an 'eye' for landscapes, but other elements are holding you back at present; once you find the 'right' way for you I think your images will fly.

Regards
David

A couple of other suggestions as to the yellow bias in the images:

Could the monitor being used to edit the images have a purple cast (purple is the opposite of yellow on the colour wheel) hence compensating with too much yellow? [According to http://www.purple-carrots.com/ purple carrots help weight loss, lowers risks of cancer, heart disease, stroke & diabetes so QuestionableCarrot ought to be in good shape!]

Some artists, eg Van Gogh, are known to have been colour blind, so perhaps the photographer here is similarly affected both in artistry and vision?!

John K

THANK YOU all as always for calling it as you see it.

The feedback is truly great here.

I dont have a problem with my monitor and Im pretty sure its set to SRGB David. I think I have got an issue with two particular colours! :@)

I have an issue with yellow and green. I dont like vibrant green and usually tone it down and as for yellow? I obviously (unconciously) jack it up some when it comes to processing.

*off to editing suite again

Thanks guys

Its a very subtle difference but is this more appealing?

That one's better Alistair; the yellow hue has almost gone. If you can tone down the vibrancy of the greens it will be just about perfect.

Regards
David

Thanks David. Its something that I am obviously struggling with. From now one I will be thinking hard about my yellows and greens!
As regards the sharpness of the image. I usually spend a lot of time on getting the focus point for my images and composition etc.
In a nutshell? The 18 55 just isnt sharp...

I look forward to the day when i get something else but its great to learn on.

Thanks

Al

How about this one Alistair? Hope you don't mind but I've had a little play with it and this is my take on the scene.




Best wishes
David

Have you increased contrast and blacks David?

Hi,

Looking at the cloud cover I'm guessing the original is very flat as there's not much pleasant light in evidence. Please don't take this the wrong way but sometimes it's best not to spent time PP-ing a shot which lacks something like decent light, they rarely end up looking like a great image. I think you'd be far better off checking out sunrise/sunset positions at the location and revisiting to get the shot you were hoping for on this visit, you'd then find that hardly any processing would be needed let alone HDR.

Just my thoughts

Simon

I've made a more neutral version, more like I would expect the colour to be in this sort of scene.

And a warm version, applying an 85 filter: