In my opinion, the best views to effort ratio for a hike would be the Hooker Valley trail in Mt Cook/Aoraki National Park, New Zealand. A 5km relatively flat walk to the shores of Hooker Lake and views of the mighty Mount Cook, crossing rivers on large footbridges several times. This is the first crossing of Mueller River looking towards Mueller Lake and Glacier. I have many photos of Mt Cook itself (which I will share over time) but this is still one of my favourite photographs of the area. Taken in October 2015.
Camera Settings
Canon 5D MKIII
17mm
F8
1/1000sec
ISO 100
Website kieranstone.com
Instagram @kieranstoneau
Facebook Kieran Stone
You have to work on your HDR technique a little you have a lot of hallowing going on here or is this a neutral density filter photo? I like this image, the shot is crisp and clean and the cloudy sky offers a nice range of color in the photo with the diffused light. This image is kind of high key with some blown out details in the sky, I like it!
If I post one photo at a time, I could have images for 10 years ;D
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jazminmillion/albums/72157606678021476
Have a good week!
It's a single exposure and there is zero hallowing. It's not a tone mapped HDR image or had any clarity added. The high amount of detail comes from the fast exposure because it is a hand held shot.
I'm glad you like it and thanks for the upvote.
The blue in the sky does not look normal, the post processing went really wrong or you need a new monitor. Maybe you over saturated thinking you were gonna max out that blue but it looks cartoonish like bad HDR and the clouds are blown out, points for the effort made to travel to a location however, going to have to work on exposure and light balance maybe.
That is my photographic opinion, as a professional photographer my experience is worth at least 2 cents.
You decide...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jazminmillion/albums
lol
Hi Jasman. I have done a lot of high altitude mountain shoots over the past 20 years (Nepalese Himalayas/Japan Alps/NZ Alps/Alaska/Canadian Rockies and Coast Mountains/US Cascades/European Alps/Scandinavian Mountains/Bolivian and Peruvian Andies/ Argentinian and Chilean Patagonia) and the sky is that deep blue colour when your up in the high mountains. There are a few reasons.
The first relate to their being less light scattering when at altitude due to a thinner atmosphere (both in terms of distance to the space boundary and air density), less particulates, and also a critical one is there is much less water vapor in the air as high altitude cold air is capable of holding exponentially lower moisture content at the dew point (ie 100% humidity) than warm air. This has a similar end result to using a polarizer on the sky at sea level (the polarizer reduces the total amount of scattered light from water vapor by removing waves of a certain orientation). This is why if you use a polarizer at high altitude you often end up with a black sky (this effect was even worse in the old days with slide film as the dynamic range of the film was lower than modern cameras; however could be used for effect if done properly).
The second reason is the glacier and snow and clouds in the shot also reduce the exposure level of the whole shot as the camera tries to balance the exposure; which darkens the sky unless you actually use HDR techniques to bring back the brightness of the sky. If you think of going out in the snow; staring at white snow for a few minutes then looking at the sky; its looks black for a few seconds until your eyes adjust. If you stare at the snow for long enough you eventually go snow blind as they have trouble adjusting and everything else looks dark. This is all in keeping with @Kieranstone indicating that its a single shot. I cant see any hallowing/HDR artifacts when I look at it on a larger screen other than viewing some JPG compression artifacts. This comes from the free steemit hosting which uses a high compression ratio on the image; which I don't like, and link all my own shots to my own website.
With respect to the saturation; I agree the image is highly saturated. This is obviously the choice of the photographer and a matter of opinion as to what looks good. I would personally back the saturation off a bit; but that's just me and my style of photography is different to Kieran (if we were all the same the world would be boring). I would however not adjust the hue difference between the opaque glaciated blue of the river and the crisp dark high altitude sky as to me that is what makes the photo and thats what I love about being up in the mountains. Rob
Thanks Rob. That's a good example of professionalism when it comes to critiquing another artists work.
You may be a professional photographer but you are certainly lacking in professionalism. From your constant advertising of your Flickr page I see you have photos of concerts. Not landscape photography, not travel photography, not portrait photography, not fine art photography, not wedding photography etc etc. So your opinion of anything other than photos of musicians on a stage is not worth 2 cents.
I won't comment on your photography because my experience as a professional photographer is in fine art landscape and travel photography. Of which this image has won an award at a national level from a professional photography institution.
Some parts of the clouds appear blown out in this smaller resolution but my histogram of the full resolution says otherwise. Even if they were, so what? Some of the stage lights in your photos are blown out. That doesn't make it a bad photo does it?
And my style of art is all about bright and vibrant colours. I like deep blues.
Thanks for awarding me points on effort. That's very nice of you. You get a big thumbs up from me too for all your efforts.
https://www.instagram.com/kieranstoneau/
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Breathtaking, those colours are amazing all in 1 shot... You inspire me to want to have my own proper camera! Thank you for sharing the settings!
Thank you! You're welcome :)
Gorgeous colors, my man. Love the depth of this shot
Thanks! The blues in the water from this region are almost unbelievable. Check out images of Lake Pukaki
Ah, it looks ugly. I don't ever want to go there ever. Blue water is gross. . . . . . .
hahaha, maybe it looks better when you're there
I guess I'll have to just check it out myself to make sure!
Another epic shot! I think it'd be hard to take a bad picture in New Zealand.
I like to think you could throw a camera at a scene in NZ and it would take a good photo :)
🤣
Good one! That'd be a funny video skit to do!
Now that I think about it - the same real estate adage can be applied to photography - "location, location, location."
This is an amazing shot. Really great work!
Much appreciated, thank you
Been looking through your posts. Gorgeous photos! Glad to have you on Steemit :) Following...
Thank you very much!
like a child snickers at the name of the valley
The shot is gorgeous...love the color of the water <3
Hehehe thank you
@kieranstone look what a wonderful clouds! It so good to start the morning with these amazing paradise! Congratulations!
Thank you very much! Thanks for the resteem too :)
I have yet to do this hike. Need to spend a few more months / years in NZ lol
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I wish I could have a few months/years in NZ! it's only been a week or 2 at a time
Yes. One day I will do some slow travel though there.
The colors are incredible! Congrats
Thanks heaps!
Beautiful shot. Love the tones in this one.
Thank you :)
Frankly, I love this shot. The stream continuing on in the distance, the stones first catching my eye, and the clouds taking up the top part of the photo. I am a layman when it comes to photos, but I know what I like. Thanks for posting.
So beautiful. Looking at the drama and epic subjects in your photos is so much more interesting than trying to understand cryptos. thankyou for posting here.