2 Landscape C&C and a question.

[Michael Leal]

I went for a short drive after I got done with some morning activities today and was absolutely stunned by the insane fall colors here up in north east Arkansas. I used to live on the southern Arkansas boarder so I'm not used to seeing colors like this. Now to the pics.



(One question on this first picture, I love this shot but I HATE the sky. Its totally blown out. How do I go about avoiding this exposure problem?) thx

 

[Sim]

Some great colours there... I'll leave the critique to others but to answer your question you can look into getting a graduated neutral density filter or you can take bracketed exposures and combine them into a single exposure in post.

 

[pugnacious33]

The fence shot is very creative, I like it.

The first shot is nice. I think I see a power pole and power line in the shot. That is something I always try to keep out of my shots. Just a quirk of mine, though i'm sure others feel the same. As for the blown out sky, first try to avoid shooting at midday when the light is so harsh. And like the other poster said, a filter might help.

The second shot has the potential of being the best, but I see two problems. One, the shadows in the foreground are distracting. I also think you should have followed the "thirds rule" and avoided placing the horizon in the center. If you would have placed it higher in the frame and perhaps put something in the foreground, like the fence or some foliage, it would improve greatly.

Overall, nice job on the exposures and some great color. Hope that helps.

 

[misia]

I like the first one.

 

[DReali]

I also will leave the C&C to more expert photographers but I'll try answer your question... A graduated neutral density filter could be helpful, but in situations like #1 where the sky has an uneven border/horizon a GND would also darken the surrounding folliage. I would suggest, as Sim said, to use bracketed exposures, however this may prove to be difficult (if not impossible) if you aren't equiped with a tripod.
My best advice would be to shoot in RAW format. If you have a decent program for editing RAW files such as Adobe RAW or any software that came with your camera you can easily change the exposure of your pictures. You can then combine 2 exposures of the same image. If you want any further help with this private message me and i can send you some examples or instructions.

 

[cherry30]

I love the second one more. The fence looks spectacular.

 

[El2]

#1 has potential for a great composition but the sun glare on the road is really bothersome. #2 is a nice shot, I would have liked it better at a different angle so that it leads to somewhere?

#3, doesn't really do anything for me.

 

[Brutus]

Nice colors, I like the fence shot. The sky is quite blown out in the first one, if you have the RAW file I would strongly suggest an HDR of it. Personally, I would go to that same location again on a day with an equally bright sky but some clouds and get a few good exposures for an HDR composite.