My attempt. I think the foreground should be more in shadow than everyone else is showing, although I did bring it up quite a bit.
20251101_Zagoria_0368.ORF.xmp (8.1 KB)
20251101_Zagoria_0368.ORF.xmp (8.1 KB)
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Exactly.
What is very beautiful about this photo is the illumination of the autumn leaves on the rock plants by the setting sun.
If you isolate them and hint at them, the whole scene takes on a depth that is lost when everything is evenly lit:
20251101_Zagoria_0368.ORF.xmp (24,5 KB)
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Thank you for sharing this wonderful image, @jeremyrh . I’m going to offer up another RT rendering that uses your own ‘bottom’ version as a guide to the lighting and colours (I believe) you’re aiming for.
20251101_Zagoria_0368.ORF.pp3 (19.4 KB)
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That’s a very interesting edit, Boris - I’m looking forward to downloading the xmp to see what you did!! The result is very beautiful and dramatic! What I would say - and this is not intended as a criticism! - is that the real scene did not look like that 
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A couple of monochromes.
The texture of the rocks, the “mysterious” canyon and the mountain ranges on the horizon all caught my eye most. And I initially just found the entire right side distracting—there was a lot going on in the image. So I went with this crop.
20251101_Zagoria_0368.ORF.xmp (12.3 KB)
Then I was intrigued by what I left out, so I made this crop too that has a bit more of the canyon, but now makes the distant mountain ranges a little more mysterious. 
20251101_Zagoria_0368_01.ORF.xmp (4.1 KB)
dt 5.4
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Thank you for this illustration. Thanks to this edit’s history I finally get a handle on diffuse and sharpen. Now going back, your videos suddenly make sense, previously my brain just refused cooperation. The effect on the sun’s glow made it click, at least a bit.
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FUJIFILM film simulation in ART with the official Provia LUT
20251101_Zagoria_0368.ORF.arp (14.6 KB)
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A beautiful and atmospheric photo! The scenery reminds me of Saxon Switzerland.
Here is my version with Filmic RGB. I used two instances of the tone equaliser with built-in templates to adjust the contrast. One could, perhaps, brighten the illuminated rocks a little more by slightly increasing the brilliance of the midtones in colour balance RGB or by moving the corresponding node (-5 EV) upwards in the tone equaliser.
20251101_Zagoria_0368.ORF.xmp (10.8 KB)
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wow really nice image and edit. tried to reproduce the essence of this render (a bit less punch) in vkdt:
20251101_Zagoria_0368.ORF.cfg (11.1 KB)
ended up painting a fair bit with various masks:
this was fun to do. thanks for the inspiration.
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20251101_Zagoria_0368-2.jpg.out.arp (12.9 KB)
20251101_Zagoria_0368-1.jpg.out.arp (12.9 KB)
20251101_Zagoria_0368.jpg.out.arp (13.0 KB)
3 quick versions with minimal editing and using the ART ODT
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Used AGX’s feature where you can select where the tone mapping ‘pivot point’ luminance is to maintain the contrast in the hills in the back.
20251101_Zagoria_0368.ORF.xmp (20.7 KB)
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kodak_portra_400_nc_-.cube.zip (58.7 KB)
Sunset problem - can I get the best of both worlds_-20251101_Zagoria_0368.ORF.xmp (542.6 KB)
1 Like
