Some Questions about landscape photography

[bullitt453]

Like Arch pointed out, you do have a few underexposure issues here and there. But, I must say that you have some incredibly breathe-taking images in your gallery. There are several images in there that I would hang on my wall without question. I believe I would question your seemingly jealous friend's critique. Here's an idea; take him on your next shoot and tell him to bring his camera along. Have him show you the finished product of what he is talking about. I'd be interested in the results.

 

[DWS]

some good shots.....some "friends" are best left alone

 

[Coldow91]

WOW! This shot is amazing. the composition is great, and so are the lighting and colors.....with a little pp, I almost want to buy this print right now.

I think that you friend is being way way way too harsh and needs to understand that not every part of every photo needs to be perfectly exposed, and infact dark or light areas help add to the photo

 

[KhronoS]

I'm very impressed by your photos. You'll have chances to sell your photos don't worry.
Although the photos aren't perfect (usually nothing is perfect ) you are on the right track. Don't trust you confidence in one friend, which might be a little jealous, trust in the others sayings.

Shoot, have fun, ask people what they think learn from it and adapt it to your style. If you want to improve look at the photographs of other photographers.
Good luck.

 

[andrew99]

Have you considered the fact that your friend may indeed be an asshole? I think your shots are fantastic, maybe he has a chip on his shoulder about digital or something, but I wouldn't take his opinions quite as seriously as you are.

 

[Marcopolo9442]

WOW! This shot is amazing. the composition is great, and so are the lighting and colors.....with a little pp, I almost want to buy this print right now.

I think that you friend is being way way way too harsh and needs to understand that not every part of every photo needs to be perfectly exposed, and infact dark or light areas help add to the photo

I like what you did to that photo. My guess is that you used the curves function in photoshop, but did a better job with it than I can currently do. DO you mind if I ask exactly what you did to give the photo more pop? I have photoshop CS2 and Capture NX to work with.

Here's an idea; take him on your next shoot and tell him to bring his camera along. Have him show you the finished product of what he is talking about. I'd be interested in the results.

Actually he challenged me to just that, he said when I visit him next to bring my camera (A Nikon D300), and he would take some photos and I would take some photos of the same subject (with my camera) and he would show me how it is done. It will be interesting to see. The above shot was taken with my old D50 fwiw.

 

[Coldow91]

EDIT: I didn't change anything, as stated below


Well just small adjustments in CS2 in levels, curves and brightness/contrast would do the trick. If you use adjustment layers you can hide layers and change opacity and see what combo works best. And you can also use masks if you want to preserve detail in some areas or something.....if you do this use a brush with hardness under 25 or blur(filter -> Gaussian blur...and choose radius, something in the middle is usually good) the mask a little bit to make it blend in with the rest of the photo.....


you gotta a lot of potential, just keep shooting

 

[Arch]

I like what you did to that photo. My guess is that you used the curves function in photoshop, but did a better job with it than I can currently do. DO you mind if I ask exactly what you did to give the photo more pop? I have photoshop CS2 and Capture NX to work with.

ummm... dude he just quoted your original photo.... but i can tell you what i did if you like?!

 

[Marcopolo9442]

that would be great, yes please tell me

 

[Arch]

It was just a few minor adjustments really.
Firstly bring up your levels. You will see on the histogram that the right side is clipped (highlights), so bring the slider on the right over to the left untill it reaches the end of the graph on the histogram.
Doing this to the entire image will start to blow highlights in the lighter areas like the clouds... so you need to apply a layer mask to the levels layer, then mask off the sky with a black brush.
Then all i did was add a quick curves layer creating a slight 's' shape making the image brighter still.

Just practice with levels, curves and layer masks.. the more you use them the quicker and easier it becomes.

 

[kundalini]

Two things you mentioned that piqued my interest were your ISO setting and Active D-Lighting. I purchased Thom Hogan's Guide for the D300 and have found it to be quite informative on the camera.

LO and HI ISO settings

The D300 allows user controllable ISO values from 200 to 3200, in as little as one-third stop steps (you can alter the settings to half or full stops using Custom Setting #B1 , but I'd suggest just leaving the camera at the default).



The D300 also has settings of LO 0.3, LO 0.7, and LO 1.0, HI 0.3, HI 0.7 and HI 1.0, which are approximately equivalent to ISO 100, 125, 160, 4000, 5000 and 6400 respectively. These last six values are not labeled with an ISO value because they have image quality limitations that the numbered ISO values do not. The non-numbered ISO values are a warning to you that some aspect of image quality will be compromised:

• LO values: the LO ISO values compromise highlights. What tends to happen is that highlight data gets "clipped" in high contrast scenes: (chart illustrating the effect)

Think of it like this: the image is overexposed at ISO100 by a stop, then data pulled back downwards to adjust for that. This has two primary effects: first, bright highlights that were near blowing out at ISO200 are now blown out; and second, noise is somewhat buried in the deep shadows. In my experience, LO values work okay for low contrast scenes, but are dangerous for high contrast scenes due to the loss of highlight information. Moreover, if you look closely on long exposures, you often see artifacts at LO values that you don't at ISO200.
HI values: the HI ISO values compromise overall camera dynamic range. As you move ISO values up, the camera dynamic range decreases. Eventually, that range becomes suspect and it gets difficult to reproduce a wide range of tones. Nikon marks that changeover point by stopping the use of numeric ISO values: (chart illustrating the effect)

Active D-Lighting:

Active D-Lighting also changes exposure. Specifically:

• Low – no exposure change is made. Flash, if active, is produced approximately 1/3 stop lower than normal.
• Normal – the exposure is lowered by 1/3 stop. Flash, if active, is produced approximately 2/3 stop lower than normal.
• High – the exposure is lowered by 2/3 stop. Flash, if active, is produced approximately 1 stop lower than normal.

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Active D-Lighting is really only useful for scenes that are near or exceed the camera’s dynamic range. {approximately 8 stops}

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My advice is to use the Active D-Lighting function sparingly, if at all. While it can produce out-of-camera usable pictures in high contrast scenes that are better than with it turned off, it is not a leave-it-on-all-the-time type of feature. You need to be shooting in JPEG or TIFF format and know that you’ve got highlight and shadow detail that might not show up visibly without the function. NEF shooters facing high contrast situations have better options for post processing (though you might want to dial down exposure slightly, just as Active D-Lighting does.)

Just thought you might like to know, if you didn't already. I'd say to take up the challenge with your friend.

 

[Marcopolo9442]

Active D dials down exposure? It seems that in PP when I reset and active D to higher it actually brings up the shadows more. Now that I post processed this NEF image, to my eyes it appears to help the highlights a little to. Here is an example, the first one does not have active D lighting applied, the second one I applied high active D lighting to in Capture NX post processing. Which one looks more highly exposed to you?

 

[mrodgers]

Have you considered the fact that your friend may indeed be an asshole?

After looking at your site, this was my thought exactly. I think your photos are stunning. I can't do that kind of stuff so I am in awe.

Tell him to take a hike next time he spouts his opinion. You have far more opposite opinions as well as true constructive criticism here in this thread.

 

[Joves]

Im thinking your friend is no friend and, he is bashing you to feel better about himself. I have known far too many people like that and, have learned to avoid them like the plague. Oh and I like to shoot landscapes anywhere from f/8-16 myself.