Tallest mountain in South Korea...!

[jhmaeng]

Hi Guys,

I finally decided to go through some photos I took during hiking the tallest mountain in the South Korean peninsula, called Seoraksan*. The tallest point (which I reached, btw!) is 1708m / 5600ft and just thinking about the pain of coming back down makes me want to cry

Anyway, so I have some photos that I've done a bit of work on each - only a few out of the 250 or so I took over the two-day trip. Enjoy!

 

[jhmaeng]

 

[jhmaeng]

PS. *Actually, the tallest mountain in Korea is called Hallasan but it's in an island off the main peninsula, so Seoraksan is the highest mountain in the actual peninsula itself. Thought I should own up to this technicality before anyone else points it out

 

[FranchiseJuan]

Some of these could be nice shots, but at the moment the lack focus. What are you showing? The mountains or the sky? If there are no interesting clouds in the sky then crop most of the sky out.

Also they mostly seem a little washed out, and you need some curves adjustments to get more shadow details (eg Pic number 2). This will also increase the saturation a little.

 

[PaulStat]

Hope you don't mind but I played with one of them, I kind of thought the main point of interest were the mountains, not the sky or the trees. So I cropped it down a bit

 

[FranchiseJuan]

Hope you don't mind but I played with one of them, I kind of thought the main point of interest were the mountains, not the sky or the trees. So I cropped it down a bit

I am sorry maybe I am missing something here, but if as you say the main point of interest is the mountains and not the sky, then why after the crop do you have more then half the picture consisting of the sky?

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

I quite like the shot in the valley. The others show just too much haze/smog. Not that there's much anyone can do about it apart from waiting for different weather.

 

[PaulStat]

I am sorry maybe I am missing something here, but if as you say the main point of interest is the mountains and not the sky, then why after the crop do you have more then half the picture consisting of the sky?

Because this doesn't look so good

And besides it's pretty much half and half mountains and sky, what with the hazy mountains on the horizon

 

[ste_bla]

Hi Guys,

I finally decided to go through some photos I took during hiking the tallest mountain in the South Korean peninsula, called Seoraksan*. The tallest point (which I reached, btw!) is 1708m / 5600ft and just thinking about the pain of coming back down makes me want to cry

Out of interest, did you go up with a guide or just on your own and how long did it take you?

 

[jhmaeng]

Thanks for the comments everyone - well, I'm not going back up anytime soon just to see whether I can get clearer weather As I said, the pain of coming back down from the mountain, I wouldn't wish on anyone! I didn't have too much time to spend on each of the pictures so I suppose there's still some work to be done such as cropping.

FranchiseJuan and PaulStat: Thanks for your advice. I'll bear it in mind when I work on these photos further. Paul - Your crop does look better... thanks!

Mr_Sukebe: It's haze, not smog! It's way too far away from Seoul to be covered in the usual layer of smog.

Out of interest, did you go up with a guide or just on your own and how long did it take you?

I went with my dad, who was a little more experienced than me (zero experience) It's a very popular mountain so you more or less follow a pre-established route to the top. Don't let that fool you into thinking it's just a gentle stroll on a hill, however!

It took 9 hours of climbing on the first day, then we stayed overnight in some lodge, and then took 10 hours to climb back down (through a longer, different route). I think I lost 2kg over the two days...! (probably all sweat, but it was the first time I became under 90kg!)