A couple more Landscape's

[Canyon Hiker]

I took these at Duncans Peak. Close to home so its good practice. Let me have it..and thanks again.





Darin

[tayl0124]

I love the color and exposure of the sky in both. The shadows on the trees to the left in the first picture is a distraction to me. Would have liked to see the foreground all lit up. In the second the foreground to me needs to be sharper. I feel shots like these are difficult to take, It is obvious that your subject in both photos is the sky. I myself find it hard to try find the balance between foreground and the sky. Because without the foreground the sky would look cool, but somewhat boring. And sometimes when you try to get more foreground in the pic it takes away from the sky. This is something I still have not figured out.

[Frog]

They look over saturated to me.

[Grandpaw]

Darin, take a look in your shooting menu on the camera and see if you have ACTIVE D LIGHTING turned on and if you do, turn it OFF and try shooting a few of these scenes and see how it looks, Jeff

[EOSThree]

I think there is potential here. I find both to be lacking in a real subject. My eyes just wander around looking for something to grab onto. The sky could be the subject, I guess, but it needs a strong foreground object, a lake, a river, a big interesting rock, an interesting tree, etc to start your eye into the frame and take it to the subject. Or these things may be the subject with the trees and sky being the canvas for that subject.

These would have been a lot more interesting if you would have waited a little longer for the sun to go down or nearly down. The clouds could have lit up with interesting colors, the sky would have a deeper hue making for a much more interesting scene.

From what you say this is in your backyard and you can go back easily. Landscape photographers go back to the same place over and over trying to capture better light, a better composition, the right circumstances. Dawn is great for light, Sunset is great for light, 20 minutes later it's gone, and time to pack up and wait for better light. I look all of the time for potential subjects, I won't necessarily take a photo at the time, but I will look around, figure out where the sun will be either early in the morning or late in the evening. Then I will return and check sunrise and sunset when I do. I'll get to the spot an hour before dawn or an hour before sunset and then set up and wait. I'll watch the light and start shooting and bracketing. Watching the light at these times is wonderful: The subtle color changes, the clouds lighting up in different layers, it's a wonderful experience even if you come away with nothing but the memory of the moment.

[Canyon Hiker]

Thanks guys for your honest opinion. I personally liked this picture but I knew something was off. I want my pictures to be seen by others as I saw them when I took the shot. After processing the shot from Raw I don't want to have to sit in photoshop and try and enhance the shot to what I remember it as. I think a good photographer doesn't have to do that. Maybe I'm wrong. I spent many hours in my Dad's darkroom as a kid helping him develop film, I wish I would have stuck with it back then. I do know that all the pictures I have taken with my DSLR have led me into spending way too much time in PS trying to get the picture on print the way I saw it when I shot it. That being said I know I am doing things wrong. So I really appreciate all of your critiques and helpful info.
In the last year photography has turned into a true passion..or maybe a addiction for me. Either way I just want to thank you for the help. I have never been beat by anyone or anything in life, and one way or another I'm going to get this right.

Grandpa..I don't see anything in the menu that says Active D Lighting. I'm shooting with a Canon 450D now.

Frog you are probrabbly right. The hours spent trying to enhance the pictures I'm sure is killing them and over saturating them.

Tay..My thoughts exactly, but I know it can get better with experience.

EOS..Thanks a ton. Great info there. I plan on spending a lot more time out there. This spot is a fire overlook for the Tahoe National Forest and can only be accessed 24-7 by the personnel with CDF...good thing the Captain is my neighbor. I have full clearance to be out there 24-7. I'm going to be sure to take advantage of it...

Thanks again

Darin

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[readingr]

All good landscapes are manipulated because the camera cannot capture the large variation in lighting. Ansell Adams did quite a bit of manipulation in the darkroom.

However, saying that if you capture in RAW it only takes less than 20 minutes to get an excellent landscape.

The secret is to create two or three images from the RAW and then comine them in photoshop.

1st - get the sky right - watching out for details in the clouds
2nd - get the shadows right
3rd if required - get the midtones right

In PS/PSE/PSP - merge the photos in separate levels using masks taking the best of each layer.

Flatten the image in a new layer and then sort out the levels/contrast/saturation. Save the image. Then sort out sharpness and print or convert to JPG or whatever you want.

Wallah - one excellent landscape - after 10 minutes you can normally tell if its going to work or whether to give up.

Roger R.

[EOSThree]

After processing the shot from Raw I don't want to have to sit in photoshop and try and enhance the shot to what I remember it as. I think a good photographer doesn't have to do that. Maybe I'm wrong.
.

You are wrong. One of Ansel Adams quotes is: "The negative is the score, the print is the performance." Ansel was a darkroom master. He would spend hours dodging, burning, and enhancing the original negative.

A camera, digital or not cannot capture nearly the dynamic range that our eyes can. The newest DSLRs capture about 8-10 stops of light, film about 6-8 stops, our eyes, about 14. To re-create what our eyes see a lot of post processing is necessary.

The idea is to capture the most information in your camera as possible, that may involve two or three exposures, it all depends on the scene. Then you utilize all of that information to "print", or in the case with digital, "display" that photograph. The idea is not to fix mistakes, but the enhance the information that is captured correctly.

Check out my thread "mountain sunset" and the different variations using post processing.