Need advice on getting details in fog/clouds

[Duke]

My boy and I had a great day snowboarding last Sat. The slopes were right in a cloud bank and much of the day we had very low visibility. However, at the very top the lift broke out into the sun and the view was great. I had to go get my camera out of the car and risk packing it up to the top on our last run. However, the fog/cloud that I thought made the scene so unique is hardly noticeable in the shot. One would have to look at it for a while to even notice that the valley is filled in. Nothing I tried could bring out any cloud detail in the shot. I could get them a bit darker, but nothing good. Perhaps is just doesn't have it? I will post the shot in the before/after post to show what edits I did, but they are just LR4, lens correction & slid some sliders in the BASIC section of LR4 (meaning some contrast, clarity, highlights, etc) and some dodge and burn. I attempted to brush the clouds and then sharpen or go extreme contrast or mess with the exposure amount, etc. Nothing worked. Not that I didn't want my boy in the sot, but the unique quality of the shot was the clouds and they are just....unremarkable at best. This shot I posted does not have any of those cloud brush changes since none of them worked. I would appreciate some tips. Also, I am a bit shy with my shots as one of the newer and more amateur photographers on this site but this time I am asking for any additional critique for a learning experience. Sock it to this one please. Once again I will put the before after in the other post more relevant for a before after and perhaps you can unload on it in that one but do please give some pointers on how to get cloud details.

I think my boy has an almost photomatix look, but his Burton jacket has an odd sheen to it that I think gives that bit of surreal look. No photomatix in this shot.

 

[Nick]

There's detail in there to be had! Perhaps try some local brushes on them... highlights and clarity perhaps. Does LR have multiply/polarize? That would be good too. But what could really do wonders on it is the detail extractor in Nik Color Efex Pro. Great shot though!

After thought.. is it just me, or is it slightly crooked to the right? Hard to tell with the cloudy horizon, but it feels like it might could us just a tiny tilt counter clock wise. But then again, sometimes I think that, then I tilt it and realize it was straight to begin with.

 

[Duke]

After thought.. is it just me, or is it slightly crooked to the right? Hard to tell with the cloudy horizon, but it feels like it might could us just a tiny tilt counter clock wise. But then again, sometimes I think that, then I tilt it and realize it was straight to begin with.

That's an interesting and now that I look I think that my boy has a slight port-side list going but the cloud and therefor the horizon has a starboard side list. Conclusion: it is just a skeewampus shot but I do think it needs some horizon straightening. thanks.

 

[Dave]

What does your histogram look like on the unaltered shot?

 

[Duke]

Thanks for the comments. Ashergrey, here is the histogram from the SOOC RAW.

 

[Dave]

So the clouds aren't clipped, they're just mostly massed in one big blob luminosity-wise. Hmm. It seems the camera sensor just couldn't capture the fine tonal balance your eye perceived. I think Nick is on track that local adjustment brushes will be your biggest help. Under-exposing in camera might have captured more detail in the fog, but at the expense of making you boost everything else in post.

 

[Duke]

So the clouds aren't clipped, they're just mostly massed in one big blog luminosity-wise. Hmm. It seems the camera sensor just couldn't capture the fine tonal balance your eye perceived. I think Nick is on track that local adjustment brushes will be your biggest help. Under-exposing in camera might have captured more detail in the fog, but at the expense of making you boost everything else in post.

Thanks. i did try the brush and lowered exposure, jacked clarity and contrast all the way up, messed with a few other tweeks but to no avail. I think you may have hit it that this is just out of the sensor range. Perhaps this is indeed a time that I should have shot a bracket set and merged. Thanks for the help. Too bad I couldn't quite capture it. It was a spectacular view!

 

[Nick]

Can I run it through detail extractor and see what it gets? If you wouldn't mind, shoot me the raw @ nick@backcountrypost.com

 

[Duke]

Can I run it through detail extractor and see what it gets? If you wouldn't mind, shoot me the raw @ nick@backcountrypost.com

Hmmmmm......its way to big for any of my email methods. 20MB

 

[Duke]

Can I run it through detail extractor and see what it gets? If you wouldn't mind, shoot me the raw @ nick@backcountrypost.com

Maybe I can mail something. I do want to see what you can do with it.

 

[Nick]

Gmail is usually limited to 25MB. Dropbox is also a free way to move around large files.

 

[Dave]

And if you haven't signed up for Dropbox, *cough*Use this link to give us both free space*cough*.

Seriously though, Dropbox is awesome.

 

[Nick]

Got the email, Duke! Ran it through Nik Efex...

SOOC


With a few adjustments and the detail extractor filter in Nik Color Efex Pro.

 

[Duke]

Got the email, Duke! Ran it through Nik Efex...

With a few adjustments and the detail extractor filter in Nik Color Efex Pro.

Nick I think that looks great! Looks like clouds now instead of the staypuff marshmallow man dead in the background.

 

[Duke]

I did a bit of dodge/burn in LR with this result. Not happy but better than SOOC. The D&B I can't help but consider to be pheaux detail and it looks that way. I like your Efex version better. Mine got a bit dark trying to get some contrast/detail. Looks like a storm a brewin' in my shot. BUT.....I'm quite sure that much of my problem is user error. nearly all of my LR learnin' has been from Youtube tutorials.