Alaskan Cruise Glacier Bay

A few shots from a recent Alaskan cruise. These have all been edited in some way. How could they be improved?

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2860/9...fb7de012_c.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5327/9...808936a2_c.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7315/9...e8b826a1_c.jpg

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2866/9...36935742_c.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3696/9...d55c5d24_c.jpg

The last one is taken from a sequence of shots of a large glacier calving. Unfortunately, my camera settings were not ideal and I had the ISO up to 1600, which is pretty noisy on the Olympus E-520. I see noise and chromatic aberration in the shadows. Any advice on the best way to process and ultimately display this sequence is greatly appreciated.

Here's a link to the entire sequence.
Margerie Glacier Calving Sequence - a set on Flickr

I am not a fan of the first 2. They are by far not bad, just not very interesting. It's something you would take a snapshot of to show people what someplace looked like after vacay. However the 3rd one is beautiful, my only comment on it is that it looks a little hazy, possibly upping the contrast a bit to give it a little more punch? I like the action in the last two, very cool and the last one I love the blue at the top, it gives the whole shot a "cold" feeling (which is good because it IS ice after all!)

Actually it was a pretty hazy day in Glacier Bay. I noticed a lot of the time on the trip, when you looked into the mountains there was always a haze in the distance. I never had perfectly clear skies. I tried to clear up the haze in post processing without making it look to touched up. Here's the original shot, out of the camera:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikzen/9612708802/" title="P8131519 by erikzen, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7324/9612708802_c7ffa6ab41_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="P8131519"></a>

If you do your levels right it should take away some of the haze. It does look better though now that I see them both. Have you thought of maybe using just some slight sharpening? I mean VERY little, it might help make the ice and the mountains pop a little more. I do love it though. It looks like something you would see in a calendar. And it makes me kind of miss the snow!

I'll play around with it some more. Maybe I can get it a little clearer. I do see what you mean about the first two shots though. I'm seeing them just as you say, as vacation pictures, with all the sentimentality that includes.

In particular, the second shot is relatively mundane, except for the subject itself. The visible wall of ice is 250 feet at it's highest point, and extends another 100 feet underwater. It is a mile wide at the mouth and is 21 miles long. But I do agree that there's not much going on in the photo.

And while the first one might be a vacation snapshot, I think it's a very good example of one. Again, there is some sentimentality at play here, but the composition looks very good to me. The photo shows Margerie Glacier on the left and in the distance is the Grand Pacific Glacier. I like the way the mountains and reflections lead you to a point off to the right of the picture and the iceburg in the foreground really adds something as well. I thought this was one of my more lucky catches.

Oh I completely agree, they are not bad shots by far, and now that I know a little more about them I find it more interesting. I think it's maybe because I don't really know anything about the area or the I guess massivness? of it. That was kind of what I meant when I said that, I didn't mean they were bad I just meant that it looks like something that would mean something to the person that took it but without explanation I didn't really understand it. However the stillness of the water and the composition of the photo are beautiful.

Here's a crop of a similar shot. It might be a bit clearer.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikzen/9562110142/" title="Margerie Mtns 2 by erikzen, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7441/9562110142_951ca2f164_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Margerie Mtns 2"></a>

Welcome to the forums Erik. I like the shots, they do make me feel like I'm there. The bottoms two are very interesting w/ good action and composition. I think the bottom one tells me what's wrong with the others, though: you probably needed to be closer or zoomed in closer to emphasis something special, though I think # 1 and 3 could be used in a brochure or mag cover if there were text in the top parts of each. Common problem in photography, and for me... the background might be great but the scene's missing a foreground element, or the foreground might be real interesting but the background is plain. I've never found 'the' solution, but zooming in to the best part may help.

I also like the additional two images you posted, but the top one's too dark. if you have Nik plug-in, they have a graduated ND filter effect that may help you even things out a bit.

I don't see a problem with haze. Indeed I often find that it adds some mystery to a shot. I also don't see the grain you mention on my monitor.

Keep posting.

G

Oh... so great! I like it so much!