Yellowstone, Old Faithful

[ArthurDent]

Here is a version with edits using the LR6 heal brush. What do you think? My preference is to get it right in the camera, but my club does allow unlimited photoshopping.

[David H. Hartman]

I'll recommend Capture NX-D, the Flat picture control, exposure compensation, Active D-Lighting and LCH Master Lightness if a simple slider can't give the desired results.

I don't believe in exposure to the right. I feel that exposure to the right pushes detailed bright area up to an area of the image scale where recovery is very difficult and probably unrewarding. It's much easier to deal with raising the shadow than to get useful separation where most of what was recorded is the enharent noise in light.

Dave

[ArthurDent]

I'll recommend Capture NX-D, the Flat picture control, exposure compensation, Active D-Lighting and LCH Master Lightness if a simple slider can't give the desired results.

I don't believe in exposure to the right. I feel that exposure to the right pushes detailed bright area up to an area of the image scale where recovery is very difficult and probably unrewarding. It's much easier to deal with raising the shadow than to get useful separation where most of what was recorded is the enharent noise in light.

Dave

Thanks for your comment, Dave. I've not used Active-D-Lighting much and really don't understand it. When should it be used and what problems does it solve for the photographer? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[pluton]

The brightest areas of the geyser have shown some recovery of detail, which is good and helps the photo.  But the neighboring sky has become posterized, which is, IMO, not desirable.  Maybe back off on the exposure reduction in the affected area.  Better to have a credible highlight blowout than a fake-looking "recovery".  Also, I liked the general sky and ground exposure(brightness) better in the original.  No reason to make the sky too dark.

[Jack Dahlgren]

I needed to get the entire u shaped arc of blue into the image. Plus, the placement of the geyser to the left results in a good rule of thirds placement of the eye catching element. I'm not a slave to that rule, but I think it works in this image.

I disagree that it is a rule of thirds placement. The geyser is way off to the left. I do agree on not being slave to rules.