Capturing nature vs. capturing nature well

noced

Maybe I'm too critical of my own shots vs. others, but I'd like get an opinion or two of how to take pictures similar to those below better in the future. I might just need some post processing (I have Canon DPP and Lightroom), but I'm not sure where to start. They just don't seem to be as nice as they were in person.

All were shot in RAW with a Canon Rebel XTi and either a 24-70 2.8L or a 70-200 2.8L IS.

1. ISO 100, 1/60, f 8.0


2. ISO 100, 1/60, f 8.0


3. ISO 100, 1/200, f 5.0


4. ISO 200, 1/100, f. 8.0


5. ISO 100, 1/400, f. 7.1


6. ISO 400, 1/80, f. 4.5


Much appreciated...

mrlassiter

noced wrote:

Maybe I'm too critical of my own shots vs. others, but I'd like get an opinion or two of how to take pictures similar to those below better in the future. I might just need some post processing (I have Canon DPP and Lightroom), but I'm not sure where to start. They just don't seem to be as nice as they were in person.

All were shot in RAW with a Canon Rebel XTi and either a 24-70 2.8L or a 70-200 2.8L IS.
Much appreciated...

I'll take a shot even though I've yet to post my own (I promise I will post a few soon...)

Two filters would help out dramatically. One, a ND (neutral density) filter can be (somewhat) faked in PP, the other, a polarizer, can't so well be faked. These two filters will help to balance out the exposure differences in the sky vs the rest of the photo. read up a bit on 'em and experiment a lot.

The other tip I found helpful is simply time of day, and even here a ND filter can sometimes help a lot. Try to capture the lighting of the "golden hour", half hour before to a half hour after sunrise or sunset. If not try a really heavy ND filter (some companies make them a full 20 stops!) In simple terms, a ND filter will help to lengthen your exposure times during mid day, (if you find you must shoot then) without changing the colors. Waterfalls become like cotton candy, etc. Polarizers (you'll need a circular polarizer for autofocus lens) will deepen the blue of the sky and reduce reflections from water, or leaves or car windows etc. A simple way to get an idea of what they will do is try on a pair of polarized sunglasses at a local drugstore, turn in different directions, as the best effect comes when at a 45 to 90 degree angle from the sun vs with the sun directly behind or in front of you. The pix with the bluish cast of atmosphere partially obscuring your mountains, for example, will become clearer as the cause of it is the sun reflecting off the moisture in the haze...

My explanations are perhaps a bit shy of the mark, but
I think you get the idea, and, the internet will supply a more indepth tuutorial, just Google it.

hope that helps. Otherwise I like your photos!
Good job!

Keep shooting!

mrlassiter

Hikin' Mike

I would say lighting is the key. Looks like you took these in the middle of the day. I would take these at either morning or late afternoon.

Composition. What's the focus here? It's more than just taken a pretty picture. Some of these look pretty un-inspiring. Lighting could help on some of those, but others just don't do it for me.

If you don't have a GND, you can blend two or more exposures in Photoshop. That's what I do for my landscape shots. This is an example, I used 3 different exposures and hand-blended them in CS2:

noced

Thanks for the input. I'll have to put ND filters on my shopping list. Anyone have any good links for reading about using ND filters? I already have a circular polarizer for my 24-70. Some of those shots were with a rented 70-200 so my polarizer didn't fit. The wide shots with my 24-70 I just forgot about the polarizer. Live and learn, I guess.

Emmanuel Coupe

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Emmanuel

scole

I will largely echo the previous suggestions. From my experiences, streams & waterfalls just photograph better during rainy or overcast conditions. Also, as you've seen in the other photos above, experiment with a longer exposure to give the water a softer look. I feel that freezing water's movement is best for high volume displays (a large, turbulent river) and small streams & waterfalls are best as soft flow.

Definately use the Circular Polarizer!