B&W Landscape Steamboat Rock

[Brian Moore]

Steamboat Rock, not far from the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State. It's almost an island, connected to the land upon which I am standing for this picture, by an isthmus at its southern end. The body of water in the foreground is called the Devil's Punch Bowl. There is a larger body of water on the other side of the rock. It's called Banks Lake, and it's named for the construction supervisor of the Grand Coulee Dam. These bodies of water wouldn't be here if not for the Grand Coulee Dam.

 

[Ralph Turner]

Beautiful cloud shapes and their shimmering reflections in the water. The Rock looks hugely imposing with it’s sheer rock faces.

 

[Brian Moore]

Beautiful cloud shapes and their shimmering reflections in the water. The Rock looks hugely imposing with it’s sheer rock faces.

Thanks Ralph. That whole area, around north-central Washington, is very beautiful. We had visited the Grand Coulee Dam earlier on this day. That's what drew us there.

 

[Stevenson Gawen]

That's an impressive bit of landscape I must say! Apologies for the probably irrelevant question, but... did you use an orange filter? Or assuming it's digital just a 'filter' in the conversion? Wondering as I sometimes find it hard to get a smooth dark sky, when doing it in post... that one is lovely and smooth!

 

[Brian Moore]

That's an impressive bit of landscape I must say! Apologies for the probably irrelevant question, but... did you use an orange filter? Or assuming it's digital just a 'filter' in the conversion? Wondering as I sometimes find it hard to get a smooth dark sky, when doing it in post... that one is lovely and smooth!

Thanks Stevenson. Actually I converted it in Lr. It provides a number of choices with baked in settings. This was B&W 07, which provided me the darkest sky. For a while there I was shooting digital infrared with my Sigma Quattro SD. I removed the IR Cut Filter (easily done on that camera and equally easy to put it back in) and used a Hoya R72 red filter on the lens. Shooting in black and white mode, with the sun behind me and a blue sky in front, I could get inky black skies, which is a look I often like. The above was with my Canon 5DSR. The Lr preset came reasonably close to the IR sky look without having to convert the camera.

 

[Stevenson Gawen]

Thanks Brian. I will have to do a little more experimentation in darktable (my preferred Lr alternative)... it has very few 'ready cooked' settings but (so far) I've found it capable of almost anything - once one knows how!

 

[Brian Moore]

Thanks Brian. I will have to do a little more experimentation in darktable (my preferred Lr alternative)... it has very few 'ready cooked' settings but (so far) I've found it capable of almost anything - once one knows how!

I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with, Stevenson.

 

[Pete Askew]

What a striking landscape, Brian. IR renders it perfectly and provides that slight other-worldly look (I'm saying nothing more!). Very effective.

 

[Brian Moore]

What a striking landscape, Brian. IR renders it perfectly and provides that slight other-worldly look (I'm saying nothing more!). Very effective.

Thanks Pete. (Not IR, though very much an IR look.)

 

[Rob MacKillop]

I’m going to hold back commentating until I see it on my big iMac screen instead of this little phone. Big-vista images require screens to match.

 

[Dave Farnes]

A beautiful scene. I love the way the patterns and textures in the sky, rock and water all compliment each other.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Yes, it’s a cracking shot, Brian. There’s just one thing that is bugging me though, as my eye keeps getting drawn to it: the small cloud, right-hand edge, half-way up. Easily gotten rid of if it bugged you too, but very probably it doesn’t, and I’m nit-picking over a very fine shot. What do you think?

 

[Brian Moore]

Yes, it’s a cracking shot, Brian. There’s just one thing that is bugging me though, as my eye keeps getting drawn to it: the small cloud, right-hand edge, half-way up. Easily gotten rid of if it bugged you too, but very probably it doesn’t, and I’m nit-picking over a very fine shot. What do you think?

You're right about that little cloud, Rob. It didn't bother me at first but when I glanced at the picture yesterday it annoyed me. Thanks Rob!

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Well, if you wait long enough the clouds will move on. They do that, even in photographs…