A few from China

[BernardLanguillier]

My friends,

Here are a few images shot recently in China, Shichuan, Jiuzhaigou.









Many more after the link.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bernardlanguillier/sets/72157631856730936/

All images shot with D800, Zeiss 50mm f2.0, Leica 180 f2.8 APO, most are stitches.

Cheers,
Bernard

[Peter McLennan]

Superb!

[francois]

Another set of gems!
Well done, Bernard and thanks for sharing.

[Lloyd Mayeda]

Outstanding!

[Gulag]

Great shots! The very first time I went there was back in the fall of 1976.

[BernardLanguillier]

Great shots! The very first time I went there was back in the fall of 1976.

If I may ask are U from China?

If not you must have been among a handful of foreigners who knew the place back then I would think.

I was there once 6 years ago.

Cheers,
Bernard

[Gulag]

If I may ask are U from China?

If not you must have been among a handful of foreigners who knew the place back then I would think.

I was there once 6 years ago.

Cheers,
Bernard

I worked for WWF back then and we were in the area for the feasibility study of establishing an international giant panda research base.

[BernardLanguillier]

I worked for WWF back then and we were in the area for the feasibility study of establishing an international giant panda research base.

I see, very interesting, thanks. Unless I am mistaken that research center was established between Chengdu and Jiuzhaigou?

I remember passing next to such a facility when we took the bus back from Huanlong to Chengdu 6 years ago.

Cheers,
Bernard

[opgr]

I was wondering if you could share some words of wisdom on the colorprocessing. Specifically these two examples:

1. The relatively over-saturated cyan compared to the rest of the image colors in the first image? I know the chinese readily dump all kinds of industrial chemicals in anything remotely resembling a lake, but this seems slightly out of balance?

2. The relatively over-saturated reds in the Praying Scrolls image, which results in an odd lack of definition in the red mainframe. See attached image. Is this on purpose? Why did you chose to do so? Is it clipping in the original? If not, what do you see on your monitor that you choose this processing? There is a clear change in rendering between the frame in open light, and the frame in shade like under the scroll…

[wolfnowl]

Looks like a beautiful place, Bernard.  Nice to see you 'branching out'!

Mike.

[acktdi]

The water is naturally cyan/turquoise in color, due to the mineral content of the water.  I was there during the first week of October and saw it myself.

[BernardLanguillier]

I was wondering if you could share some words of wisdom on the colorprocessing. Specifically these two examples:

1. The relatively over-saturated cyan compared to the rest of the image colors in the first image? I know the chinese readily dump all kinds of industrial chemicals in anything remotely resembling a lake, but this seems slightly out of balance?

2. The relatively over-saturated reds in the Praying Scrolls image, which results in an odd lack of definition in the red mainframe. See attached image. Is this on purpose? Why did you chose to do so? Is it clipping in the original? If not, what do you see on your monitor that you choose this processing? There is a clear change in rendering between the frame in open light, and the frame in shade like under the scroll…

Hi there,

1. This is the natural color of the water,
2. It would seem that image is a bit over-exposed in that area. It was more of a side subject and I confess not to have spent much time on that one, but thanks for pointing out this issue.

Cheers,
Bernard

[opgr]

The water is naturally cyan/turquoise in color, due to the mineral content of the water.  I was there during the first week of October and saw it myself.

I have no problem with the hue, I have a problem with the saturation.

It currently looks like fluorescent cyan, especially relative to the foliage in the background.

[opgr]

Hi there,

1. This is the natural color of the water,
2. It would seem that image is a bit over-exposed in that area. It was more of a side subject and I confess not to have spent much time on that one, but thanks for pointing out this issue.

Cheers,
Bernard

Okay, I was just wondering whether you possibly had tried to emphasise some of the colors in post processing...

[opgr]

Just to clarify some more: what I see in the images is this:

Image number 3 is a very nice image with a lot of "depth", except for the small strains of grass in the top-right corner. I can see the definition, or at least I can distinguish light on the very top, but the green is simply unnaturally saturated and light. Especially given the remainder of the image. (Even if it was actually that green, which I can hardly believe, i would specifically choose to tone it down for balancing purposes. I would not initially choose to emphasise the green by oversaturating it.)

Image number 4 on the other hand has very flat green. Works particularly well in the subject, but looks unnaturally flat to me. Especially considering the amount of granular definition visible in image 2 for example.

And as mentioned, a similar saturation imbalance is visible in image 1 and the Scrolls image. Or the Tibetan village image where I see both desaturated-but-defined cyan wall paint, and over-saturated fluorescent cyan. Considering that Cyan is one of the most elusive color pigments in the entire spectrum, I doubt the wall paint really is that saturated. So, this is either a result of post-processing choices, or of the color-management chain, and possibly it is a result of the color-rendition imbalance I keep seeing from the D800 which I assume was used for these images.

Anyway, none of this should take anything away from the fact that Bernard produces great images which I am sure will also scale well to large print sizes due to his immaculate panorama processing. 

[sdwilsonsct]

Lovely. Inspiring.

[langier]

Number one is the winner of the group! Seeing the unexpected.

[NicoChina]

Nice,
I haven't been there for a few years. Wondering how it looks now. Is it still possible to stay in the small villages or it's hotel only?

J'étais dans la province d'en dessous la semaine dernière :p

[BernardLanguillier]

Salut Nico,

You cannot stay inside the park nowadays, at least not offifially.

Cheers,
Bernard

[Steve Weldon]

Very nice!