Todays River

[Canyon Hiker]

Hello to all. This is my first post so please bare with me. I have been reading and drooling over some of the spectacular photos I have seen on this forum. I figured it was time to stop being a lurker and post something up. I took this today. I am fairly new to digital photography and have a lot to learn. But the addiction has a hold of me and I can't get enough of it. All critiques, comment..what I should have done, anything to help my now nothing skills would me much appreciated. Thanks!!

[OldClicker]

It's a beautiful setting that looks like it will have great all-year potential. I would love to live in that house! My biggest problem with the photo is the green sky. White balance problem??? Also, leaving the EXIF attached would help a lot. - TF

[Frog]

Welcome, again!
I'd head back to this spot when the light is more favorable if you get the chance.
The composition is pretty good with the river leading the eye toward the house.
That sky is funky though and maybe a circular polarizer would have helped there.
Are you shooting in raw format?

[Canyon Hiker]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it. I am having problems in understanding how to save a file and keep the best quality for this board. I converted it from Raw to JPEG. I have no idea what I should set the resolution too, or how much compression to use or what type (RLE or LZ77)or what my DPI should be. I just started shooting Raw and I am using Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2. I also have Digital Photo Professional that came with the camera. Another problem is that when I save a image from Digital Professional and open it on Corel it looks completely different, much darker. I need to do more reading on color management I suppose. Below is the image after I tried to enhance it on Corel. The image after that is just converted from Raw to JPEG without any editing. They should have the EXIF data now.Thanks again!!

[GB1]

First of all, welcome to the forums, and I think this is a great first shot to post.

This one has so many nice things about it - the water is interesting, the house gives it scale, and the greenery is sweeeeeet. We don't see a lot of green down here in S. Cali. It's quite sharp, except for the stump in the foreground (right side) that really should be sharp.

Turning on my critical eye, I would say that this shot seems to be a tad bit off in color or that something is up with the highlights, like they are blown out just a tad. I am finding that this often happens with digital, at least w/ my Nikon D-200 (I have heard that the newer Nikons have much better latitude). The end result is a slightly unreal look with the green grass bunches .. They almost seem alive or on fire (something like that anyway). I am also not sure about the amount of sky showing at the top - seems OK on the far right but 'chopped' on the left. I think this calls for a wider angle shot to get more in, then cropping. This would result in a non-standard aspect ratio, maybe 2/1 or 5/2 or so instead of a 3/2. But unless you print it, that doesn't matter. There's also a small issue of where to look. Pix w/o obvious subjects make my eyes dance around looking for something, even if w/ some shots the entire scene is the subject.

Anyway - This pic would make a nice calendar shot. You may also be able to adjust that burning look in post processing,

G

[Don Schaeffer]

Welcoem to the forum, Hiker.

I was struck by the beautiful color in the woods and creek bed in the original shot. I think that color is worth everything, even a slightly greenish sky. Maybe you can try cropping more of the sky out for the die-hars. Whhen you increased the contrast or lowered bets, the beauty of the color was gone.

[Canyon Hiker]

Thanks again for the ideas and help. I finally had some time to sit down and go through the pictures I took for that scene, 180 for 1/4 mile stretch of the river. I narrowed them down to these three, but I'm still second guessing myself thinking that maybe one of the other shots was better :idea: . I plan on going back in the early morning and trying again. I'm thinking maybe with the sun at my back I will have a better background in the sky..Thanks again guys..

[Len J]

It's a nice composition and has some great possibilities for shots.

The problem is that the dynamic range of the shot is wider than your camera can handle....to expose the cabin, you blow out the sky,....expose for the sky and the house is in dark shadows. To compensate you may want to try a 2 or 3 stop graduated ND filter or circular polorizer on the sky which will allow you to expose for the cabin without blowing the sky out.

I think your color problems are coming from trying to recover the sky.

Len