A few Maui sunsets. (first attempt at using cokin filters)

[zerodog]

I am not much of a landscape guy. But every time I am shooting them I feel the need to control the light from the sky. And I almost always use graduated filters in LR. So I figured I should do the graduated filters first and this will leave more room for adjustment later.

Both of these were shot with a combination of a Sing-Ray Reverse grad and a Cokin graduated filter.
What do you guys think? The biggest issue I see is the flare I got while using these. Is there a good approach to limiting lens flare when stacking filters?

Our first sunset of the trip


Our last sunset of the trip. I love the dogs playing on the beach here.

[llewpics]

I really want to like these, but the sun is so overwhelming in both of them, that it does draw my eye there, and I cannot really enjoy the overall scene. Love the dogs in the 2nd. I would suggest you try waiting until the sun is just about set or right after it has set, or draw the filter lower down to cover the sun more...and perhaps try HDR with -2, 0 and +2 exposures ...take a look at one of my shots from Lake Michigan ...it's not perfect, but I think it supports my line of thinking.

500px / Photo "Sunrise Over Lake Michigan" by Stevan Tontich

Finally - I wish I was in Maui just about now. :-)

[GB1]

Not sure how you can rid yourself of the flare when using filters, or taking shots into the sun for that matter, besides the old trick of not using a small aperture. That is, shoot at something like f4.0, 5.6 or maybe 8 rather than 11 or 16.

As far as the shots go, they're very colorful. Both need post processing but overall I think you have enjoyable images. I would consider doing the following to the bottom image (which I like best because of the dogs):

- play with decreasing contrast.
- Clone or magic wand out that sun flare on the bottom middle rock area.
- Straighten the horizon.
- Correct the lens distortion on the image (evident on the horizon).
- Consider lightening up the shadows just a little.
- Maybe crop out the sun,, leaving just a little area above the horizon (water).

Also, if you're fast enough and don't have a lot of movement in the scene (no running dogs), you could try an HDR. Say about 5 shots with 2 f-stops between each since you have extreme differences here. The waves will move, but who knows... it may look pretty neat.

G

[JudyKay]

Hi, I'm new here, and please understand my critique as it comes from a newbie. I like the drama of your pictures, the dark water, the heavy clouds, the bright greens and fresh sand. However, it's a little too dark for me, the blacks could be lightened, and I wonder if you had waited a little while longer and caught the clouds as they pickup the oranges from the setting sun.

Also, I'm not sure why, but there seems to be different blotches of color on the water as you look at the horizon left to right. It feels a little too messy or busy.

Overall, I like how dramatic it is and I like the dogs playing. If you think about the fact that it's the last sunset before leaving the emotions express that. I wonder how it would look in black and white?

[EOSThree]

These have potential. I think I would have waited a little longer for the sun to be a little lower, right now it's just too bright and even with the use of filters it's still dominating the frame. Waiting a little longer probably would have had more color under the clouds, and definitely would have evened the light out some. Something is just not quite right to me in both of these, I don't know if it's the white balance or that they are a tad dark. or maybe something else.

Watch your horizons, #1 is tilting to the left and #2 is tilting to the right. I could have almost told you that Cokins were used here before you said they were. Cokins have a tendency to impart a magenta hue, and to my eye it looks like they have here. I think you'd have been better off just using the Singh-Ray reverse ND filter. I think using the extra filter darkened the sky too much, maybe that's what I am seeing that's "off" here.

[zerodog]

Thanks for the comments guys. I am not much of a landscape guy. But they can be fun to do. I did try lower in the sky each night I shot these. And they are ok and have a different quaility to them. The thing I liked about this time of the night was the light on the foreground. So golden. It only lasted for a few minutes then would loose it's dynamic color.

Here is one a bit lower. This is a moment before I lost that sweet light on the bushes.


And here is another that is lower that I like too. This one is part of a timelapse movie I tried.


Here is the timelapse. Looking at it again I probably could have used more deflicker.


I could do HDR, but, I try to avoid using HDR. This is why I have gone the route of the filters. I shoot mostly action type sports so HDR is not usually a good option. I am hoping to be able to use these graduated filters for more dynamic shots. Next up with them is snowboarding.

[armando_m]

Pleasant images

When I use GND filters I always struggle to find the right placement

I get the same effect as you did with the water getting to dark near the horizon

and I also stay a a little longer after the sun has gone down, most of my shots with the sun on the frame usually are not the best

[daq7]

The second one is stunning.