Ano Nuevo Island

SeaSurfnBird · November 11, 2010

:fishI was fortunate enough to visit <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Ano</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Nuevo</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Island</st1:PlaceType> at the State Reserve on the southern coast of <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San Mateo</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType> in central <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place> on Monday, November the 8th, 2010. I was volunteering to restore habitat for Auklets by planting vegetations in the middle part of the island http://www.oikonos.org/projects/ano.htm. I was allowed to bring my camera and tripod over to take some photos and was so excited I messed up on about half of my shots but some of them did come out quite nice. I am still not absolutely happy about all of them because of the look of the clouds, so any advice on Lightroom 3 adjustments would be welcome. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
I shot with my Nikon D90 with mostly my 15mm EXDG FISHEYE lens with auto bracketing on aperture priority plus and minus 2 stops and then used Photomatix Pro to generate the High Dynamic Range Images. I try not to adjust anything in Photomatix but just do slight adjustments in LR3. Up Recovery, up Clarity, down -10 Vibrance, Tone Curve-> Point Curve: Medium Contrast, up detail a little, Lens Corrections: Distortion +100 to correct the Fisheye. <o:p></o:p>
I did do some spot removal to fix flying birds or wave splash that got a weird exposure and found that I could adjust some of the HSL Luminance in Aqua or Blue to get rid of the blue flare in some of the clouds. Last time I had a dirty sensor so spots all over the sky, but I think I cleaned that up ok. More photos to come, but my Hueges Satellite will only let me download from 11pm to 4am and the complete download failed 3/4 the way through. I got a few zoom photos to add. <o:p></o:p>
Please give me some advice so I can perfect my technique. Most of the shots are f/11 to f/19 but most are around f/13. I can’t use UV filters or polarizer on the fisheye. <o:p></o:p>
Thanks everyone!!!

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Jeff

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eoren1 · November 11, 2010

Hi Jeff
I really like the composition of the last one but the HDR could use a bit of work.
For your gray clouds, one of the tricks is to push the highlight smoothness way up (to 100% sometimes)
Also, I have settled on a much wider bracket for my HDR shots - I typically shoot -2, -1, 0, +1, +2, +3. The gradation is important - I see a difference with this compared to -2, 0,+2. Also, getting up to +3 (or even higher) would have opened up the shadow detail in the 3rd shot as well as preserving some blown clouds (by getting to -2 or lower).
The sky in the 4th is a bit saturated for my taste
Hope that helps
E

SeaSurfnBird · November 11, 2010

eoren1 wrote: »

Hi Jeff
I really like the composition of the last one but the HDR could use a bit of work.
For your gray clouds, one of the tricks is to push the highlight smoothness way up (to 100% sometimes)
Also, I have settled on a much wider bracket for my HDR shots - I typically shoot -2, -1, 0, +1, +2, +3. The gradation is important - I see a difference with this compared to -2, 0,+2. Also, getting up to +3 (or even higher) would have opened up the shadow detail in the 3rd shot as well as preserving some blown clouds (by getting to -2 or lower).
The sky in the 4th is a bit saturated for my taste
Hope that helps
E

Thanks E! I can't figure out how to change "highlight smoothness" in LR3. My Nikon D90 doesn't seem to do more than 3 shots of autobracket. I can change the amount in menu down to 1 stop or 1/3 stop and then change the EV up or down in separate shots. I wish it was easier. I only tried more than 3 one other time, but now I will try it again.
Thanks for your help!

eoren1 · November 11, 2010

Not in LR3...it's a Photomatix setting
What I do is, in Aperture Priority, dial down to -1 EC and shoot a +/1 1 bracket then dial up to +2 and shoot another bracket

senorjax · November 11, 2010

+1 to what Eyal said about bracketing, that's exactly what you'd want to do. And good luck with the clouds, they are usually my least favorite part of HDR images. It's sooo hard to keep them from looking like giant balls of dirt and smudge. I like the composition of the last one quite a bit as well, although you may try to eliminate some of the sky to allow the foreground subjects to stand out more. The skyline cuts all these images in half, which isn't usually the most visually appealing proportion. It can be even more pronounced with a wide angle shot or a pano because it's easy to end up with a lot of 'little' subjects scattered around the frame. Crop out some sky and see if you don't think that the old building and the pod of sea lions grab your eye more.

schmoo · November 12, 2010

Hi Jeff, what a great opportunity! I am not familiar with the island but it looks like a very neat place with some cool artifacts that most people don't get to see.

You have some great advice here, so we hope you have more great chances like this and keep shooting them.

Doug Solis · November 12, 2010

I really like your last image. It has a great flow from left to right, love the curves of the land and the sky has drama too. Echo the above comments, try to rework the image to a more natural look and I think you would have a beautiful wall hanger. If you were trying to get a bit of the grunge look to your HDR then I'd say you did a great job.

a110p0 · November 13, 2010

I didn't think anyone was allowed out there. What a great opportunity
that you had to visit, work and shoot.

Nice work on your photos.

Alvin

SeaSurfnBird · November 20, 2010

Here is a close up of the Keepers Quarters

Ano Nuevo Island

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