What's wrong with this pic?

[MacBraun]

I had such high hopes for this pic. It's not often that this reservoir is calm and I found a morning that it was. Then the images come out looking hazy. Anyone got any ideas about how to fix this?

 

[photo28]

More contrast maybe?

 

[bigtwinky]

It might have been hazy, who knows.

The focus seems to be on the bush in front.
Why did you shoot at ISO 400? Did you have a tripod? If not, then why an aperture of f/27? Try and stick to f/11-f/16.

Here is a quick levels adjustment, very slight saturation, all done in Photoshop. I hope you dont mind.

 

[tomhooper]

I agree that the aperture was way too small. I'm not familiar with Pentax equipment but f/11 or even f/8 would have probably been better. Again I agree that the ISO might have been a little high especially for a landscape type shot. If it was hand-held, 1/60 is really pushing your luck. You can hand-hold at that speed with a 50mm, but your margin of error is thin. Opening up the aperture and increasing the shutter speed will give you a better chance for a good shot. Keep on shooting.

 

[EleanorW]

I had that happen to me last week and was told it was atmospheric haze. The day I'd taken the pictures was very sunny and clear and I was surprised when I got home to see it hazy.

 

[SrBiscuit]

UV filter? (a good one)

 

[MacBraun]

Thank you to everyone who has offered ideas on this pic. This post seems representative of the questions asked of me so I will answer them now.

It might have been hazy, who knows.

The focus seems to be on the bush in front.

Why did you shoot at ISO 400?

I thought I had it set to ISO 100 and that is surprising.

Did you have a tripod?

I do have one but I forgot it that day.

If not, then why an aperture of f/27?

I was going for the highest DOF I could get. I wanted the mountains in focus and as much else as possible. The ugly little plant in the FG caught my eye, probably because it was ugly, and I decided to try using it as FG interest. Probably didn't work.

I will be going back to try again and hopefully I get better results. I will try all of these suggestions and anything else that strikes me that day. I will also try to get closer to the reservoir so i can get more mountain reflection.

My question to SrBiscuit, and anyone else who cares to answer, is what would be considered a good UV filter?

 

[KmH]

At f/27 you're losing focus sharpness to diffraction. Plus, with your exposure having to be so long, the atmosphere is moving during the exposure. That is a possible cause for the 'haze'.

What did you use to steady the camera, since the tripod was left behind?

Your image looks underexposed and I think compositionally it would work better if you were much closer to the water.

 

[bigtwinky]

Look at the Hoya or B&G brands of filters. Pretty much of all my lenses have UV filters on them 100% of the time. Look for ones that are "Super Multicoated" and such. With Hoya filters, their Pro 1 line is pretty nice.

Remember that you get what you pay for. I'm not one to get top of the line with my filters, but I do get something middle of the road as I've seen a big difference between a $10 filter and a $70 filter.

Hoya | 58 mm Ultraviolet (UV) Pro 1 Digital | XD58UV | B&H Photo

If you are going to be spending $800 on a lens, what is an extra $70 for good, quality protection.

 

[MacBraun]

At f/27 you're losing focus sharpness to diffraction. Plus, with your exposure having to be so long, the atmosphere is moving during the exposure. That is a possible cause for the 'haze'.

What did you use to steady the camera, since the tripod was left behind?

Your image looks underexposed and I think compositionally it would work better if you were much closer to the water.

Hmm, I never thought about that. To steady the camera I used my not-so-steady hands. I thought that since it was bright sunny day that I would be good to go.

I appreciate all the comments, guys, and I will be taking them into account when I return to retake and in my future of photography. I do have UV filters but I probably went a little cheap on them since I was buying them more for lens protection than actual filtering. I will address my filters again.

 

[bigtwinky]

Random writings :

If you are looking at getting a longer shutter speed on a bright day, look into ND filters. I always have a polarizer in my bag for my wide angle lens, while not as dark as the NDs, it will allow me a somewhat slower shutter speed without borking the exposure too much

 

[MacBraun]

I was actually using a CPL on that pic and I had NDs in my bag. I wasn't going for a longer shutter speed, just a nice looking image. I think I may have to return to my filters and get some higher quality ones after reading the replies on this thread.

 

[blakejd]

Unless I'm mistaken thats Pikes peak from somewhere SE of Colorado Springs. One thing I've noticed about this area is that although the air pollution is low the dry area and winds tend to kick up a lot of dust in the area. Even on a non windy day a shot like that will likely be effected. Hell if you've been in town long your sure to have noticed the haze that has traveled all the was here from some fire in Cali. When I shoot shots of the peak my best tend to be just after a rain or even better a couple afternoons of rain. It seems to clean the air and hold down the dust. Just my 2 cents.

 

[MacBraun]

Unless I'm mistaken thats Pikes peak from somewhere SE of Colorado Springs. One thing I've noticed about this area is that although the air pollution is low the dry area and winds tend to kick up a lot of dust in the area. Even on a non windy day a shot like that will likely be effected. Hell if you've been in town long your sure to have noticed the haze that has traveled all the was here from some fire in Cali. When I shoot shots of the peak my best tend to be just after a rain or even better a couple afternoons of rain. It seems to clean the air and hold down the dust. Just my 2 cents.

Yes, it is Pikes Peak, taken from Powers Blvd just east of the Big Johnson Reservoir. Every time I drive by the thing, at least twice daily, I want to get a good pic from across it. That's some good info to have, thank you. I'm also assuming that, if this is the problem with my pic, even the best UV filter wouldn't help. I'll have to make a couple of different attempts from this area and see what I get. Thank you for the input.

 

[gsgary]

Taken at the wrong time of the day, and it is a bit boring nothing much to it more like a snap shot " look where ive been today"