Morning Hike

[OldSchool]

Hi all,
Interested in your thoughts on this one. Many thanks in advance.
Tim

[LeeIs]

love how you've captured the light rays! It feels like a ray of hope almost like the kid was in a dark forest for ages and is just coming out and is experiencing his first light. Good job!

[gahspidy]

A fine image, Tim. Wise of you to place the sun behind the tree so as to have its rays eveident and expose the rest of the scene. The composition is very good. Good shot. I read your reply to another thread regarding what you called CCD bloom. I'm still shooting film so am not familiar with this. Are you saying this occured here by the edge of the tree that is blocking the sun? It does not hurt the image at all, in this shot and there is no way of really knowing that the tree is not shaped this way at that point ( for those of us only viewing the image) One thing I do notice with digital is that it tends to burn out highlights rather easily, as evident in the bits of highlight along the brush near the path. But, I still believe that digital has surpassed film and I'm eager to make the transition once all things allow.

[OldSchool]

Hi Gary and Lee,
Thanks for the reply. I always appreciate your comments.

Gary, as for digital, yes.... There is less exposure latitude between neutral and over as that typically found with film. To protect from blown highlights, one technique is to under-expose a little and then bring up levels in PP. However, some DSLRs actually allow one to down load custom tone curves to do things such as bring-up mid-tones and attenuate highlights (or simulate film such as velvia (sp??)), etc.

So with digital there are different things to keep track of, but I found it to be incredibly liberating. I can fire off 150 shots before I've filled my card (and then I can go to the next card). One really can just experiment with the shot changing all kinds of things about the capture.

A caveat though... I think every professional photographer (that rely on their cameras for food) that I've talked to have both digital and film bodies. They use digital for work, but prefer film for their art....

If/when you go digital, I'd just move over to a body that accepts your current lenses. Don't worry about waiting for the next version (digital cameras are obsolete shortly after purchased). Ask questions here. You'll come up to speed in no time.

Best regards,
Tim

[julsoph]

This is such a great photo. I love the rays of light coming in through the trees, and illuminating the path and edges of the bushes and trees. Beautiful.
Emily

[Old Timer]

Hi all,
Interested in your thoughts on this one. Many thanks in advance.
Tim

Beautiful capture Tim. Classic theme well executed. You have held good shadow detail without losing a great deal in the highlight areas. Well done.

[Themage]

The image looks pretty good to me. With the women in the shot it makes the scene seem to have a scale to it. Only thing i can point out is that i can see a bit of the sun on right side of the tree. Without seeing the sun it just appears as good looking light and wondering where it came from like a fantasy setting.

Also where was the shot taken if you would like to tell.

[Tuna]

Wow. Truly a remarkable capture. Mood, framing/composition, decisive moment, exposure, etc., etc. - all top notch.

Nice work.

Tuna

[CLKunst]

Yummy! Beautiful moody capture. Love the way you've put just enough of the sun behind the trees to make it work out best for the rays. This looks almost exactly like a painting I once saw.
Cheers!

[OldSchool]

Thanks all for taking the time to reply. I appreciate it.

Mage, this was shot in an old growth forest along the Oregon Coast (Oswald West State Park). There was a fine mist lingering from the ocean that just lit-up. Also, the person is my son.

BR,
Tim

[mdmc]

Great exposure Tim! I love the starburst effect of the sunrays and the mist. The curving path through the undergrowth is nice, and you're son pulls it all together.
Mark.
P.S.
RE the sun eating into the tree, ccd bloom? I cant distinguish this from film, but as Gary mentioned the highlights in the undergrowth give it away.
Lauren may have a quick cure for this using noise ninja. He fixed one of my pics once and explained how, but I didn't understand it.
Mark.

[mdmc]

Cool! I just looked at the second shot after I posted! Very nice portrait!
Did you use SB 800 for fill?
Some of the bg details look too smoothe, but as it is a portrait and draws attention to the subject its ok.
Mark.

[OldSchool]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the comments. As for the 2nd shot, I did not use a flash. I think I brought out the highlights with DeeLighting from Nikon Capture. I think there was noise in the shadows and I then used Paintshop Pro's digital camera noise filter (works well). This would explain the smoothness (including the skin texture).
BR,
Tim

[racingpinarello]

Hi all,
Interested in your thoughts on this one. Many thanks in advance.
Tim

I don't think you could do anything different that would make the photograph better. I like it because of the serene feeling that is portrayed.

Well done....

Loren