Red Rocks of Sedona

[rajjai]

I am a n00b, just got my first SLR (Nikon D40 kit). I do not have fancy editing software either, just some basic stuff like paint.net and PictureProject. Attached is a picture from my first outing with the camera (before and after crop and some minor enhancements). Please share your opinion about the crop. Also, what should I have done to avoid such bright distracting clouds. Please feel free to edit.
Exif: 40mm, f/10, 1/250 sec, ISO-250
Before Edit

After Edit

Thanks

 

[rajjai]

28 views but not a single comment.. must be pretty unimprassive pictuer to other's eyes..

 

[Jeff Canes]

The colors are better in #2 but IMO it’s crop to tight. I would think edited software that can with camera would let you adjust the Levels and contrast. I think tweaking those would help a lot.

 

[Boden]

The edit has better color. The sky is totally blown out which you did mention, and I'm not sure that anything can be done about that at this point. The jpeg compression isn't doing much to help, but the focus doesn't look very sharp, especially on the shadowed portion on the left.

Also the lighting and composition overall are not terribly interesting. It's a beautiful scene but the photo itself just feels like a snapshot.

 

[Mike_E]

Next time try using your spot meter to expose for the darkest part of the clouds, if there are any that are fairly dark underneath. Look up the zone system and 18% grey. You'll be glad you did!

mike

 

[rajjai]

Mike, I got your point of "spot meter to expose for the darkest part of the clouds". I guess I can figure out how to do it from manual but I lost you on "Look up the zone system and 18% grey". I will read the manual again tonight.

Boden, I uploaded compressed image due to file size restrictions specified in forum FAQ, I can provide a link to uncompressed original.

 

[Mike_E]

Hi Rajji, the zone system was presented by Ansel Adams and is a tool to help photographers visualize exposure values. It's a lot easier than it sounds and is invaluable if you want to progress in your photography.

18% grey is the exposure value that your (any) meter tries to achieve. In other words if you are shooting sunlit snow and you expose just as you meter says, the snow will be a dingy grey. If you are metering a dark shadow then following the meter will cause the shadow to be too bright and every thing else to be over exposed.

Start here to see about 18% grey http://www.photography.ca/phototips/meter.html

I just saw this so you might want to check this out as well
http://www.bythom.com/graycards.htm

the exact percent of grey doesn't matter to how you go about metering for it.

For a quick intro on the zone system see here...
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/zone.htm

mike