Frustrated with my skills..

Hi guys, I've taken the feedback on board and have done some work in post-processing to make the shot look a little half-decent. Would you say this is any kind of an improvement, and where else could I go with this? Yes, I've removed the water as (taking in Phil's feedback) I wouldn't get decent reflections anyway.

Thoughts?



Through forest glades I wander... by teambeecham, on Flickr
 
Pookeyhead said:
Of course you can. You can get a reflection in water under many lighting conditions. What you actually need is still water.
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Ok, but clean directional light is required for the picture in the OPs mind, I'm trying to help him understand it's the conditions not the gear.

Of course overcast light will still give a reflection but it won't have the 'wow' effect a clear blue sky a bright sunlit scene will.
 
Mikebeecham - that's good progress. Yes, there is no focal point but imagine that kind of processing with some foreground interest. I think that would be interesting...
 
mikebeecham said:
maybe I just won't be able to do a location like this justice with a fixed 50mm lens.
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Of course you can. You just need the right conditions and something of interest in the foreground.

You might need to go there a few times until it all works out though.

Have a look at Ernesto's photo posted earlier. The light has done two things. It has created contrast which makes fine detail in things like foliage stand out and it has warmed up the scene. If this was taken on a miserable, overcast day, it would be quite uninteresting.


Steve.
 
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No foreground interest a empty expanse of water and a cluttered tree line so straight away no depth to the image, this is recipe for a uninteresting landscape even in good weather and equipment is not going to make any difference I'm afraid.

This image was one of only two taken after spending five hours at a location in Wales. Anyone that knows Wales will tell you that a grey day can last all day there. But you can usually find something to make a interesting composition even on a grey day like this and a little PP can then make it little bit more interesting.


Celtic Light by The Craftysnapper, on Flickr
 
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I was going to add more to the thread but really Hoppy and others have covered it...flat lighting and an scene with no obvious focal point or foreground interest (lacks depth) aren't going to "knock your socks off" ;)

There's a really excellent book by Michael Freeman that's well worth a read, I dig it out every now and again just to give me a few reminders:thumbs:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Photographers-Eye-Composition-Design-Digital/dp/1905814046

Simon
 
Actually, after seeing a few of Mike's threads I'd seriously recommend 'The Photographers Eye' too!

The iPad version is said to be one of the few books that actually takes advantage of the technology and drags the 'book' into the 21st century. If Mike has no iPad - I'd still recommend the book.
 
Phil V said:
Actually, after seeing a few of Mike's threads I'd seriously recommend 'The Photographers Eye' too!

The iPad version is said to be one of the few books that actually takes advantage of the technology and drags the 'book' into the 21st century. If Mike has no iPad - I'd still recommend the book.
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Thanks Phil! Sadly, an occupational hazard is that I've got far too much tech around my house, which includes an iPad, so I'll take a look at this and use it for some good reference.

Cheers!
 
Phil V said:
Actually, after seeing a few of Mike's threads I'd seriously recommend 'The Photographers Eye' too!

The iPad version is said to be one of the few books that actually takes advantage of the technology and drags the 'book' into the 21st century. If Mike has no iPad - I'd still recommend the book.
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I also love the way Phil delicately inferred my photos were crap :)
 
Phil V said:
I never, honest!
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Meh! ;)

Watched the video earlier on and really enjoyed it! Might watch it again soon. Also bought the book from Amazon, so hopefully will turn up in the next couple of days.
 
Phil V said:
Actually, after seeing a few of Mike's threads I'd seriously recommend 'The Photographers Eye' too!

The iPad version is said to be one of the few books that actually takes advantage of the technology and drags the 'book' into the 21st century. If Mike has no iPad - I'd still recommend the book.
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+1. Really is a cracking book and helped me a lot.

Cheers and keep with it.
 
Waiting for the book to arrive (should be today), but after watching a video by Scott Kelby, it all kinda clicked for me about getting the interest into the shot (yes, a treeline along wont cut it!).

So, in an effort to do something decent, I got out at 5:30 this morning with a mate, and took some shots. A lot of them were pretty useless, but 5 or 6 kinda stood out for me. This is one of them, and I wonder what your thoughts might be...is this an improvement on my stuff to date? I'm taking more things on board and trying to get a feel for the composition (I say this, looking at Phil who will give me the most honest feedback!)

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=5437265#post5437265

Cheers!
 
A little bit of Lightroom can sometimes go a long way. This isn't great by any means, but is a quick fix on a holiday snap from a few years back. Possibly the rescue is a little overdone, but it's an example of the potential on offer.

Before :
20071124_154135_1472_LR.jpg


After :
20071124_154135_1472_LR-2.jpg
 
This thread, along with another similar one by Bleddyn, are two of the most interesting threads I've read for a long time. I think it's because they highlight what was, for me, the most important lesson in "making" nice pictures: PP and good gear can make a good picture better but essentially the photographer's eye is key. You cannot as I used to think, for example, simply walk up to a lake, take a picture and turn it into an Ansel Adams-esque masterpiece afterwards. Learning to see a good picture before pressing the button is the most important thing - tonal range, contrast, light/shade, composition etc are all ingredients that can make a picture interesting and become our tools as we develop as photographers.

(I should add that for me this was a fairly recent realisation and I suspect it's where the real learning begins. Bring it on! :) )
 
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mikebeecham said:
Hi guys, maybe this is just a rant, or maybe you can help pinpoint some areas of improvement...

I took myself off and spent the afternoon in a lovely location and, whilst the light wasn't THAT great, thought I could take some decent shots with my 50mm prime.

I set my iso to 100, on Av and used different apertures between 4 and 8. I set my exposure to around 2 stops down.

When I got back I found that most of my shots were all washed out, lacking colour richness, looking a little misty (there was no most around). I can mess with some of that in Lightroom anyway but I'm frustrated that the photos didn't seem to have any really depth or contrast to them.

Is it just a case of practice, practice, practice or do these results ring any alarms bells with you?

Cheers guys!
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It is a case of learning from each time you take a image, which then allows you to know what to avoid in the future.

The image you have posted is not going to sing, as the conditions were not in your favour. On a dull day, with flat light, the colours are always going to provide a muted look.

A lesson to take away from this experience are the limitations on the dynamic range of a camera. The human eye can see almost 24 stops vs 12 stops of a camera. Therefore, for certain scenes, you always get blown highlights or very dark shadows.

The technique here is capture an image in a way that allows you to highlights and keep some detail in the shadow. This is not always possible, hence the need for exposure blending on occasions. (Avoid HDR software)

For the image you have attached, I would question why have you underexposed by 2 stops? This has removed any details from the trees and dark areas.

Personally I would exposed to give more detail in the trees, and the use the histogram to make sure the highlights are not clipped.

Before discussing the PP side, as an overall general approach to landscapes and wildlife photography is to remember the following;

- Light illuminates and shadow defines

(Something I constantly teach on Africa Workshops)

Early morning and late afternoon, when the sun is close the horizon creates these situations. It increases the natural tonal range and contrast within in image, giving more of a wow.

Post Processing:

If you are going to get into landscapes, editing becomes about developing tonal relationships across an image, and thinking beyond the 3:2 image format. Some of the pano reposts are closer to the mark.

I would highly recommend editing in Photoshop and understanding luminosity masks. If you can download the Tony Kuyper actions, and watch the new videos, it will be the best $80 you have spent.

A good grasp of PP allows you to push your camera in the field, as you know what you get away with when capturing the image. For example, exposing to the right and bringingback sky detail with a graduated filter.

PS The image you posted is in Adobe RGB, which will always look muted on the web. Web images should be converted to sRGB.
 
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