exposure problems

[skipisland]

I recently purchased a Canon 5D Mark ii. It takes great photos with the exception of when I shoot landscapes--especially ones with trees. Especially the trees in the distance.

I’m take them in color then convert to black and white in Silver Efex Pro 2.


The problem as you can see in the attached pics is the trees look as if there was a recent ice storm. There was not.


Originally I thought it had something to do with long time exposures but after experimenting with times of 1/60 and 1/125 there is the same result.


I’m thinking there is a problem with focus. When I use the Silver Efex Pro 2 loupe, very few things appear sharp. The problem there however, is the image looks perfectly sharp in the camera (both viewfinder and LCD screen), and I’m shooting at f/22. There was no wind when I took these photos. At least no perceptible wind.


I edited brightness and highlights in Silver Efex with some improvement but not much. The two attached photos are the result of editing in that software.

I suppose it all goes back to the focus issue. Again, I can’t figure that one out either.


If anyone can take a look and offer some help I would appreciate it.


camera and lens for both:
Canon 5D Mark ii
EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L
both were taken on a tripod using a Leica shutter release cable S


photo 1: waterfall
filter: UV
shutter: .8
aperature: f/22
focal length: 43mm
iso: 100


photo 2: railroad trestle
shutter: 1.6
aperature: f/23
focal length: 24mm
iso: 100

 

[480sparky]

Focus and exposure are two entirely separate animals. Being out-of-focus / dead-on focus will not affect exposure.

 

[Braineack]

These look like issues with the conversion, not the exposure and/or focus. What do the originals look like?

 

[Ysarex]

1. The 5DmkII has a multi-point focus system that basically locks on to whatever is closest to you. Looks like your focus is on the near foreground. Set the camera to single-point focus and choose your focus point.

2. f/22 is going to start showing some sharpness deterioration due to defraction. In these photos I'd try and move the focus point farther into the scene and then consider shooting at f/16.

Joe

 

[skipisland]

Focus and exposure are two entirely separate animals. Being out-of-focus / dead-on focus will not affect exposure.

Thank you for the reply. Yes, I understand that. I meant each as a separate issue. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[skipisland]

Thank you for the reply. I've attached the originals.

 

[skipisland]

Thanks Joe! I'm going out in a few hours and try that.

 

[limr]

These look like issues with the conversion, not the exposure and/or focus. What do the originals look like?

This.

Why not take them in b&w to begin with?

 

[480sparky]

These look like issues with the conversion, not the exposure and/or focus. What do the originals look like?

This.

Why not take them in b&w to begin with?

Because you only have ONE option.... and that's the way some nameless, faceless software engineer on the other side of the globe wrote the firmware in the camera to do the conversion, and this engineer has NO idea what YOU want the image to look like.

By doing the conversion in post, you can get the image to come out the way YOU want it to.

 

[Braineack]

Why not take them in b&w to begin with?

silver efex pro 2 is pretty awesome for converting to B&W.

 

[skipisland]

These look like issues with the conversion, not the exposure and/or focus. What do the originals look like?

Because you only have ONE option.... and that's the way some nameless, faceless software engineer on the other side of the globe wrote the firmware in the camera to do the conversion, and this engineer has NO idea what YOU want the image to look like.

By doing the conversion in post, you can get the image to come out the way YOU want it to.

I can buy that although my post-conversion images are far from coming out the way I want them to.

 

[480sparky]

I can buy that although my post-conversion images are far from coming out the way I want them to.

Then you just need to learn your software better.

 

[limr]

These look like issues with the conversion, not the exposure and/or focus. What do the originals look like?

This.

Why not take them in b&w to begin with?

Because you only have ONE option.... and that's the way some nameless, faceless software engineer on the other side of the globe wrote the firmware in the camera to do the conversion, and this engineer has NO idea what YOU want the image to look like.

By doing the conversion in post, you can get the image to come out the way YOU want it to.

Okay, but if it starts out in b&w, would it be easier to then tweak in post rather than convert and then tweak? Is it not worth it to even try the shot in b&w first and see if it comes out better than the conversion? I mean, what the hell is the point of having the function on the camera if it's so useless?

 

[Dao]

It is not useless, for those who like Canon/Nikon/Sony etc engineers to do the photo processing based on their preset settings, it is quite helpful. But some of us prefer let the camera capture all the information it can and then process the photo ourselves.

 

[KmH]

Why not take them in b&w to begin with?

Because DSLR in camera conversion is crude and pretty much kills contrast and deliver what is essentially a de-saturated JPEG file.
Raw files are always color files, and have more bit depth for editing headroom.

Using B&W film is a different story.

We also have much more control if we edit to black and white by controlling a range of colors rather than a range of all gray tones.

• skipisland - Please choose a profile edit preference - My Photos Are NOT OK to Edit - OR - My Photos Are OK to Edit

Using a 43 mm lens on a 5D MK II, a point of focus (PoF) distance that is 20 feet into the scene, @ f/9.5 the far limit of the DoF is about 305 feet which should be sufficient for the waterfall shot.
Using a 24 mm lens, 20 foot PoV, and f/9.5 - the near DoF limit becomes 5 feet and the far limit is infinity
http://dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

IMO neither scene has enough contrast to work well as a B&W image.