My version of the lets play image

[Ben Egbert]

Here is my version. My analysis is that the original was sky heavy to get those clouds plus the gap between the horizon and clouds cause another problem for cropping.

I wanted to leave as much of the canyon in as possible and still get a non centered crop. So I used free transform to compress the sky downward and then cropped just a bit off the bottom and of course the top was already lowered. I left part of the rock in place. My version is not as warm as Alans, although in the many iterations of this image I have been there.

CC welcome, and hopefully those who worked this image will comment on the technique I used. Is it too fake?

 

[AlanLichty]

I like the canyon itself but the dark parts of the clouds feel like they are a bit too dark.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Right, one of the effects of compressing an area makes it darker. I could probably fix that.

 

[Ryan10]

Ben, in terms of the colors, i think they are bit too saturated for my taste. I also think the contrast is a bit unnatural looking. I voted for Alan's image because it looks the most natural to me. Yeah, he may of added a bit of magenta or yellow tone, but overall, the image looks natural with smooth blends to the contrast regions. Actually, mine and Alan's image looks relatively similar with the exception of my cloud experimentation.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Thanks Ryan. Other than saturation or to dark in the sky, what do you think of the composition changes with the sky pulled down?

 

[Ryan10]

Thanks Ryan. Other than saturation or to dark in the sky, what do you think of the composition changes with the sky pulled down?

I went to the Grand Canyon last year during Thanksgiving. Almost all of my images have identical compositions as yours. I focussed on capturing the enormity of the GC without including a foreground element to anchor the scene or provide scale. Now that I look back at my images, I'm kind of dissatisfied with them in that sense. I wish I would of got more of the GC as a backdrop with a "subject" in the foreground.

For instance...here is an image where I consciously placed a foreground subject in my image. I am happier with it then most of my other images where all i'm photographing is the canyon and the sky.

Grand Canyon Tree by Ryan Luna, on Flickr

If you follow that Flickr link, you can see my other GC images. Looking back now, I feel almost all of them are missing a foreground subject.

 

[Ryan10]

In addition to all I have said, my GC images have helped me understand that simply having a beautiful scene and sunset is not always enough to make a compelling image. My approach now is to try and find a compelling and interesting subject within a scene. I still sometimes fail and fall victim to a beautiful sunrise/sunset, but I'm trying to move away from that allure.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Thanks for the example, a very beautiful one in fact. I hear you on finding a compelling composition, and I usually can't see one at the time.

I followed your link, but after scrolling the page all the way to the bottom (many images) I did not find another GC image. Do you have them in a separate folder? I thought maybe I was viewing a general Flicker page rather than yours.

 

[Ryan10]

Oh...yeah, if you click on the image, you won't see all the other images I have. Here, click this link that takes you to all of my images.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ryanlunaphotography/

 

[Ben Egbert]

Ryan, you are in a whole different league. I saw many of your other GC images I liked, especially Mather Point Pano. But there were many other images that are oustanding.