Dancing with the Clouds [Warning: 9 colorful images]

lenscape · June 21, 2005

After three weeks of heavy rainfall we got the nice weather on Sunday and I took the opportunity to go out and snap some shots.
I was a half hour late getting there, as a result I missed the magical moment. I still did some shooting and brought these.
For the next time: “Be there early and bring a 3 stop ND grade filter”
Until now that’s all I have got to share......

And the rest are here:
http://lenscapephoto.smugmug.com/gallery/548192
Your comments are appreciated.
Thanks

Dee · June 21, 2005

Huh????

lenscape wrote:

After three weeks of heavy rainfall we got the nice weather on Sunday and I took the opportunity to go out and snap some shots.
I was a half hour late getting there, as a result I missed the magical moment. I still did some shooting and brought these.
For the next time: “Be there early and bring a 3 stop ND grade filter”
Until now that’s all I have got to share......

You're joshin' me, right? These are flat out gorgeous!!!!!

SeeMoon · June 21, 2005

Wow! These are great! I cannot even pick a favourite! Like them all very much..interesting subjects, warm colours, great looking clouds and something in the foreground to get a sense of space..Great!

A pleasure to watch.

Seamus · June 21, 2005

:jawdrop Now them's landscapes. I looked at your site, amazing pics.

Shay.

MuskyDude · June 21, 2005

Breathtaking shots my friend. Sure dig your work, Shahed.

AJ

gpgold · June 21, 2005

lenscape wrote:

After three weeks of heavy rainfall we got the nice weather on Sunday and I took the opportunity to go out and snap some shots.
I was a half hour late getting there, as a result I missed the magical moment. I still did some shooting and brought these.
For the next time: “Be there early and bring a 3 stop ND grade filter”
Until now that’s all I have got to share......

And the rest are here:
http://lenscapephoto.smugmug.com/gallery/548192
Your comments are appreciated.
Thanks

These are the kind of landscapes I hope to be able to capture someday. Beautiful! BTW - where were you and what lens do you use to get the shots with the close in foreground?

regards.

Gary

Skippy · June 21, 2005

WOW and WOW

lenscape wrote:

After three weeks of heavy rainfall we got the nice weather on Sunday and I took the opportunity to go out and snap some shots.
I was a half hour late getting there, as a result I missed the magical moment. I still did some shooting and brought these.
For the next time: “Be there early and bring a 3 stop ND grade filter”
Until now that’s all I have got to share......

And the rest are here:
http://lenscapephoto.smugmug.com/gallery/548192
Your comments are appreciated.
Thanks

Stunning.....just stunning....and beautiful......and tranquil......and yes they have plenty of Wow factor that's for sure ...... where were these shot??
Thank you for sharing these beautiful images.....they are just beautiful.
Skippy (Australia)

TristanP · June 21, 2005

Wow - I'll echo everyone else's comments in saying great job. I think this is my favorite:

What setup did you use and where was this?

ehughes · June 21, 2005

Excellent shots....

Ed

REQ · June 21, 2005

wow
all i can say is wow wow

Zygote · June 21, 2005

Fantastic pictures! Looks almost like paintings. Beautiful scenery!

jeff lapoint · June 21, 2005

inspirational

this is why we get up early...

bochie · June 21, 2005

Wow, this is all you got to share ?
I can't imagine what the pictures that you consider the best would look like.
Simply gorgeous !

clap

lenscape · June 22, 2005

gpgold wrote:

These are the kind of landscapes I hope to be able to capture someday. Beautiful! BTW - where were you and what lens do you use to get the shots with the close in foreground?

regards.

Gary

Thanks Gary. I took them in Kananaskis Country, Alberta, before the sunset. Taken with Nikon D70 and Nikon 12-24.

lenscape · June 22, 2005

Skippy wrote:

Stunning.....just stunning....and beautiful......and tranquil......and yes they have plenty of Wow factor that's for sure ...... where were these shot??
Thank you for sharing these beautiful images.....they are just beautiful.
Skippy (Australia)

Thanks Skippy. These were taken in Kananaskis Country, Alberta. 300km round trip from home.

Nir · June 22, 2005

lenscape wrote:

I was a half hour late getting there, as a result I missed the magical moment.

Missed the magical moment?! Are you kidding? You CREATE magical moments!!
Fantastic shots!

lenscape · June 22, 2005

TristanP wrote:

Wow - I'll echo everyone else's comments in saying great job. I think this is my favorite:

What setup did you use and where was this?

This one was taken with Nikon 18-70 (Kit lens). I didn't put much effort to this, all I did was expose lock from the cloud to save from blown out. At post-process I fixed the foreground expose. I had B+W CPol filter on.
Thanks.

ian408 · June 22, 2005

These are really nice. You're lucky to have such cooperative subjects

I think the third is my favorite.

Ian

Mitchell · June 22, 2005

I'm speechless (a rare occurrence for me)!!!

These are some of the most beautiful landscape pictures I have ever seen. I have the same camera and lens, but I have never had pictures approach the beauty and clarity of these images. Bittersweet for me to see these wondering why I can't do the same!!!

mitch

ginger_55 · June 22, 2005

how do you get them so sharp? OK, probably lots of DOF on a tripod, but what do you do in post?

Those ARE gorgeous, wonderful. But how do you do that, with the contrast and sharpness. I am going to go work on one of mine to see if I can get a better effect. Your gorgeous photos have inspired me, then I am going to sleep.

ginger

I did that, worked on one of mine...............no go, didn't work.

What are you doing? How do you get this effect?

Reminds me of Dixie's work...........when I knew Dixie.

He disappeared! Be careful, come back and tell us how to get those results.

ginger

Khaos · June 22, 2005

Fantastic!

I like the post work you've done on these. You made some very beautiful shots pop off the page.

USAIR · June 22, 2005

lenscape
Awesome shooting all just great

Thanks
Fred

grimace · June 22, 2005

Unbelievable work!! Love your website!!

-Adam
www.adamstravelphotography.com

lenscape · June 28, 2005

ginger_55 wrote:

how do you get them so sharp? OK, probably lots of DOF on a tripod, but what do you do in post?

Those ARE gorgeous, wonderful. But how do you do that, with the contrast and sharpness. I am going to go work on one of mine to see if I can get a better effect. Your gorgeous photos have inspired me, then I am going to sleep.

ginger

I did that, worked on one of mine...............no go, didn't work.

What are you doing? How do you get this effect?

Reminds me of Dixie's work...........when I knew Dixie.

He disappeared! Be careful, come back and tell us how to get those results.

ginger

Hi Ginger,
Sorry it took me a long time to reply as I was very busy at work for the last several days. I have used a smaller aperture to get more DOF. Here is one of the Exif Data:
Nikon D70 Focal Length: 19mm Optimize Image: Custom Color Mode: Mode Ia (sRGB) Long Exposure NR: Off 2005/06/19 20:34:16.9 Exposure Mode: Manual White Balance: Auto -2 Tone Comp.: User-Defined Custom Curve Compressed RAW (12-bit) Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern AF Mode: Manual Hue Adjustment: 0° Image Size: Large (3008 x 2000) 1/5 sec - F/22 Flash Sync Mode: Not Attached Saturation: Normal Exposure Comp.: 0 EV Sharpening: Normal Lens: 12-24mm F/4 G Sensitivity: ISO 200 Image

I wrote this for someone else before, for what to do to get a picture like this, and here it is.
My tips are very simple and are here as follows:

1. The lighting is a very important factor; I take advantage of the natural light during the morning and evening. Try to have the light come in from the sides for landscapes (90 degrees from your camera).

2. Composition- when I frame the picture in my mind, I maintain the mentality of not having to crop my picture in post-process. Most of the time I aim for a sense of serenity and tranquility and avoid clumsiness by keeping it simple and low key and using the natural environment to only accessorize one key point.

3. I like all my landscape photography to be saturated and vividly contrasting and in order to do that I use the following pointers: I use a custom-curve (i.e. EV4, sReala version 2) not to get the correct expose, but rather to reduce noise (expose to the right) 99% of the time I lock my expose from a highlight/midtone. It may sound odd, but I get my expose right @ post-process (I always shoot RAW)

4. I choose my location in advance and I go there more than once to allow myself to be able to frame those scenes prior to shooting, and I shoot a lot of the same scenes from different angles and also I expose those in many different shades (i.e. highlights and midtone) and when selecting a designated area, I consider such things as whether it is a place that would be more effective shot during the morning or evening.

5. Post-process- my post-process starts with Nikon Capture. I already have a pre-set mode (for advanced RAW alter the following: SHAREPENING-low, TONE COMP-normal(most of the time I bring it to normal to get a higher contrast picture, with a few exceptions in which I use custom curve) COLOR MODE- IIIa, SATURATION- enhanced, HUE- -3) By this point I get a little under exposed picture. I also change the color booster to nature, then I click auto, and if that doesn't do anything, I add 2 or 3 points. Then I click on the color balance button and add 2 points to the red channel. Then next, I click on the curves button and bring the slider close to the pyramid and compare it with the results of the automatic to analyze which is better. Then on D-lighting, I use better quality to bring up the shadow detail in which the amount varies in each picture. By now, I have an almost accurately exposed picture at which time I export the picture to Photoshop CS.

6. Photoshop CS- here I do very minor adjustments. First check the level and then again use shadow/ highlight to bring up the shadow level to +5 (varies) and also the midtone contrast to +10-12. Finally, add a bit (+5) saturation. At this point I save my picture (16bit Tiff) unless I add an S-curve on a separate layer, then I save my picture in PSD 16bit format, and last I put USM and add my frame, resize for web presentation.

Shahed:D

ajgauthier · June 29, 2005

LOVE THIS ONE! the symmetry between the real and the reflected is really relaxing to look at, plus some great color and shape in the clouds.

Adrienne

And the rest are here:
http://lenscapephoto.smugmug.com/gallery/548192
Your comments are appreciated.
Thanks

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johno · June 29, 2005

Geee, I feel puny again. :cry

Great shots... I went your home page and love the big horn sheep.

Do you do this for a living? I think you could.

peace.
johno~

Dancing with the Clouds [Warning: 9 colorful images]

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