1st Landscape photo post Lk Tahoe

NancyMoranG · Jul 1, 2012

HI,Got my 1st DSLR almost 2 months ago- Nikon D7000. I don't know how much harsh critique I am ready for, but thoughts would be nice. I took the moon at ISO 320, F5, 1/6, 170mmThe waterfall over Lake Tahoe at F14, 1/30, 11mm, ISO100At this point I am still getting used to basic functions all manually. I don't have a tripod yet, or filters. I do think the waterfall has bright spot in the water, but this is SOOC. I HOPE this works....Thanks for looking, Nancy

dxqcanada · Jul 1, 2012

Were you trying to retail detail in the mountains ?
As you can see there is a big exposure difference between that and the moon ... so you lost detail in the moon.

The slight blur in the water is not enough ... a tripod would be best to get the smooth flow with a longer exposure.
Wider angle probably better.

brian_f2.8 · Jul 1, 2012

No offense but nothing stands out, they could be iPhone shots

AaronLLockhart · Jul 1, 2012

The composition of number one had a lot of potential. However, the failure to properly expose the entire photo completely ruins it for me. You would have been better off to take a single photograph using only the moon as the subject.

I agree with Brian. In fact, I wouldn't doubt it if they were taken from an iPhone using an app such as TopCamera or ProHDR.

If you took those from a dSLR, invest in a tripod.

joinebee · Jul 2, 2012

amazing

NancyMoranG · Jul 2, 2012

Thank you for looking and the replies. If this is the 'IPhone' photo, tell me how to get the 'Nikon' version. I was happy getting the 'moving' moon to look this good being handheld, and I balanced not to get my shadow in the waterfall while keeping horizon straight. I do see now that the moon needs its detail to be a good photo. How to do it is the question.Honestly, ' get a tripod' does NOT help me in any way. Ok, let's say, now I have a tripod , if I use same settings being a newbie, now what?Thanks again,nancy

WesternGuy · Jul 2, 2012

Just a question - have you heard about the inverse "rule" on exposure and shutter time. Basically, the limit for handheld images is 1/(focal length X sensor factor). For example, if you are shooting an image with a 100mm lens on an APS/C size sensor, then the minimum shutter speed for handheld is 1/160 second (1/(100 x 1.6)). This is why you need a tripod, because if I read your posting correctly, you shot the first image at 170mm at 1/6th of a second - this will give you some "camera shake" everytime, although you seem to have been able to compensate considerably. The second one should be okay, but my only comment is that it is very complex as an image. The real key in photography is simplicity. You really only want one subject in each capture. In your second one, you have the water at the front and the lake in the background, each of which is a suitable subject for one image - this leaves the viewer wondering which one is the more important.

As far as photographing the moon in landscape images, you will find hundreds of sites on the web that try and tell you how best to do this, try this one and see if it helps - Tips > Sky Related Photography > Moon Photography . Other suggestions include: 1) take two shots, one for the moon in the sky and one for the landscape and try and combine them in Photoshop, 2) try shooting at twilight when there may be a bit more light in the sky to help with the landscape. My 0.02¢ FWIW.
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WesternGuy

Artook · Jul 2, 2012

Nancy first the moon photograph does require a tripod plain and simple I do not know of anyone who has shot the moon handheld and received a perfect rendering. The second shot is good but your f/14 setting should have been f/22 or f/32 so you do not lose the first 4ft of the image to blur. Still a great " Story Telling" photograph you have here where you encompass the waterfall and background 1 brownie point for the try just bump up that f-stop.

NancyMoranG · Jul 2, 2012

Thank you. I will look into the info you provided. I was trying to use slower shutter speed to soften water (what a surprise), so will f 22+ still allow that? And the waterfall is seen below also. I was tryi g to have the eye follow it down thru photo, but you are right, toooo much for 1 photo.Thank you,Nancy

dxqcanada · Jul 2, 2012

You probably need a Neutral Density (ND) filter ... this reduces the amount of light entering the camera ... which will allow you to set lower shutter speeds.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/waterfalls.shtml

WesternGuy · Jul 2, 2012

NancyMoranG said:
Thank you. I will look into the info you provided. I was trying to use slower shutter speed to soften water (what a surprise), so will f 22+ still allow that? And the waterfall is seen below also. I was tryi g to have the eye follow it down thru photo, but you are right, toooo much for 1 photo.Thank you,Nancy

It is not the f-stop that will soften the water in the falls, it is the length of the exposure. You can use f22, but you will still need to get the time of the exposure down to somewhere below 1 second and you may have to experiment a bit, because the amount of softness you will get is also a function of how fast the water is flowing. I was out on the weekend and shot a waterfalls and I found that 1 sec was too long, some of my best shots were about 1/15 of a second. I suspect that is because there was a huge amount of water coming over the falls - a week of "off and on rain" with the seasonal mountain snow melt thrown in. Yes it is possible to "soften" the water too much with an exposure that is too long and then it all goes white and there is no "flow" detail in the water, but that is what I am hoping to capture when I shoot for the "softer" water" that you refer to. This whole business of f-stop and shutter speed is one reason that folks use neutral density (ND) filters when shooting water falls - allows you small f-stops=good DOF and a longer exposure=detail flow in the softer water. HTH.
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WesternGuy

JasonB · Jul 3, 2012

Nancy, I enjoyed your photos ..... A tripod would be very helpful.

charlie76 · Jul 3, 2012

avoid that harsh direct sunlight IMO

NancyMoranG · Jul 3, 2012

Thank you all again. WesternGuy, I read some of the links. I am taking my 'tray stand' out posing as a tripod to try the moon tonight. I am fortunate to be on a beautiful lake so going to try and get a nice shot worthy of a Nikon newbie.
And tomorrow will be the re-takes!
i also have a pair of eagles in the trees!! They're another topic altogether !
Nancy