Sunset over Oreti River

[Mr Cory]

Hi everyone, ive been lurking for a awhile so i thought i'd post a photo i take yesterday to see what everyone thought...

[kemekal_d300]

thats a beautiful picture you got yourself. The only thing i'd like more is if the front shrubs/plant life was out of the way of the water. Other than that -- hmm... looks great! See all the ripples, very sharp detail in the trees, great work.
Them darn bushes though!! But none the less, its a keeper!

[Mr Cory]

much appreciated! Now that you mention it i should have taken it from a little higher up, hind sights a wonderful thing
How about this one? No shrubs :thumbsup: But i didnt like it as much as the first one

[nirvana84]

i like the shubs in the way, gives you a sense that you are there walking next to the river, maybe a little over exposed, it seems a little too bright in the top left. im with you i like the top one more than the second but both really nice sunsets. best part of the day for me, im sure sunrises are just as beautiful but im never awake to see them ;)

[kemekal_d300]

This is also a nice picture. Like the both of you, i like the top one more. Although seeing the water is a plus in the 2nd one. Sun is kinda bright, but i think its fine. Maybe even slightly burning it so that its a more orange shine instead of bright yellowish?? i dont know - i do my sunsets different all the time, and sometimes it gives it a nice effect

nice shots tho!

[Mr Cory]

Thank you both. Maybe if i could back the white off a little and try turning it a little more orange.

Nirvana i know exactly what you mean, i keep telling myself that this weekend im gunna get up early to catch the sunrise... never happens

[Frog]

I like the composition of the first including the plants. There's just too much contrast or too little range. The plants should still be visible in front of the bg trees and then the bright left where the sun is just too too.
Very tricky light conditions and I'm not expert enough to know what you could have done about it. Looks like too much wind motion in trees and shrubs for an hdr.

[Mr Cory]

Yeah too much wind for HDR especialy for the water. The first one was the darkest one i took, the others were terribly white and over exposed. But its a learning curve and i think in the same situation i might be able to walk away with better results

[gahspidy]

Welcome to the forum. i agree with the comments on the first shot. It's very nice except for the large mass of blurry fg foliage. The second image is very good, but does not have that deep color and cloud of the first. It can be helped though. You can crop alot of the sky out and also crop from the right side so you have more of a close up like the first image. Then add some more warmth to the sky and I think it would build this up alot.
As for HDR on a windy day. . . if you are shooting RAW, you can take one correct exposure and then later on in LightRoom export three different tiff files of the same image, one way underexposed for the sky, the correct middle exposure, and the third one over exposed for the shadows. With the RAW file, you can go down two or more stops and up as well, so one file can export three or more different versions of exposure for an HDR blend. The benefit is since it is from one shot, there is no issue with movement of foliage , etc.
Looking forward to more . . .

[Mr Cory]

Thanks Gary i might give that a go one. not sure ive got the knack of HDR, most of the time i can make the mid exposure look better than the HDR result. I like you idea of the crop for the second one will have a play around with it at some stage.
Looking forward to posting more :thumbsup: