Hi Craig…
This is a very typical view of the Franz Josef Glacier, although you were lucky that it wasn't raining when you were there. When I took my wife there a few years ago it was pouring and just a week ago my sister took her children there too, and in all their photos it was raining. The place gets around five metres of rain a year. No wonder it always looks grey!
Anyway, as far as this image goes, my feeling is that it is rather flat looking. When we look at it the glacier itself it's quite soft while the hills in the distance are dark and featureless. What this image needs is some more contrast and definition. There are several ways you can achieve this but one of the simplest ways of getting some punch into a picture is to use a HDR processor.
There are several HDR processors on the market, and contrary to what some people think, you only need a single exposure to achieve creative results.
Up until recently I mostly used the HDR adjustment in Photoshop CS5, but of late I have also been trying out another option, HDR Efex Pro by Nik Software. What I like about this particular program is that you can look at over a dozen thumbnail presets to see what's possible and then simply click the one you like to get going. From there you can then tweak the global adjustments, add local adjustments and basically have a good play with the image. This is what I did with this image to achieve this result.
The difference you should notice in the sample image below is that I have added contrast and definition to the glacier… it has a lot more presence now. Then there are the mountains in the background – you can actually see what is happening up there now.
In truth, there are hundreds of different ways you can interpret an image and ultimately it comes down to what gives you satisfaction.
Cheers, Anthony
Franz Josef Glacier - Image Doctor's edited version
