technical questions on this landscape...

Tessa HD · March 6, 2008

Do you think the composition could be better if I had not cut off the lower 'jut'?

The focus is on the grassy snowy area in the foreground, would it be more pleasing to have had the entire scene in focus?

Any other input is appreciated. Thanks!

edknight · March 6, 2008

Nice setting and I think the focus is good. I often miss foreground focus in my landscapes and that mistake is a big problem to me.

In your photo, I would, however, have preferred to see continuous water from the bottom. Seems like my eye starts with the water at the bottom of the frame and, oops! Just personal preference, but I've scrapped lots of pics of water and sandfor that reason.

Antonio Correia · March 6, 2008

Tessa. Good afternoon.

My appreciation is as follow:

I would like to have all the scene in focus. For that you should use the DoF, HD etc. and I hope you know these things.
I would like to see a little more on the right, more field, more area.
BUT, more area mainly to the sides, not up and down.

If you want to incorporate all the stream (water flowing) this position is obviously not good, but in your picture I would clone the area from the stream appearing at the bottom right.
Like if the stream would flow towards the outside of the rectangle/composition.

This kind of opinion is always relative. One may like it the way it is and another one may hate it, which is not at ll my case anyway.:D

Remember Tessa, that I am only an addicted and concerned amateur.:D

Tessa. I just remembered: If you can go to the location again - I am sure it is not like it was when you shot - and shoot 10 to 15 pictures under different points of view.
Try to choose one, I mean ONE picture which pleases you.

Can we see that one please ?

Shoot on your knees, up above 3 meters if you can from a tree - don't fall down or you would brack yourself and, the most important, the camera with you

wink

- shoot in many different positions.

Will you do that, please ? And show us.

Tessa HD · March 6, 2008

edknight wrote:

In your photo, I would, however, have preferred to see continuous water from the bottom. Seems like my eye starts with the water at the bottom of the frame and, oops!

Thank you for you comments. Hopefully the weather will get like this again and I can try to reshoot. What drew me to the scene was all the curves, and I'm bummed I cut off an important one.

Tessa HD · March 6, 2008

Antonio Correia wrote:

Tessa. I just remembered: If you can go to the location again - I am sure it is not like it was when you shot - and shoot 10 to 15 pictures under different points of view.
Try to choose one, I mean ONE picture which pleases you.

Can we see that one please ?

Shoot on your knees, up above 3 meters if you can from a tree - don't fall down or you would brack yourself and, the most important, the camera with you wink - shoot in many different positions.

Will you do that, please ? And show us.

Thank you for your comments Antonio. I'm actually not familiar with HD - I should be they're my middle initials.

I will go back and reshoot, and repost. I'll try to get the whole scene in more focus and better composition hopefully!

Tessa HD

Antonio Correia · March 6, 2008

Tessa. A link.

CatOne · March 6, 2008

Tessa HD wrote:

Do you think the composition could be better if I had not cut off the lower 'jut'?

The focus is on the grassy snowy area in the foreground, would it be more pleasing to have had the entire scene in focus?

Any other input is appreciated. Thanks!

The thing in the lower right corner bugs me. In general, triangles in corners are bad and indicate you didn't zoom in tight enough (or crop enough). I might also clone out the single blade of grass in the middle of the snow.

Focus, etc., look okay to me -- the picture is small enough here for me to not really notice.

Tessa HD · March 7, 2008

CatOne wrote:

The thing in the lower right corner bugs me. In general, triangles in corners are bad and indicate you didn't zoom in tight enough (or crop enough). I might also clone out the single blade of grass in the middle of the snow.

Focus, etc., look okay to me -- the picture is small enough here for me to not really notice.

Thank you for your input! Agreed.

Marc Muench · March 7, 2008

Whenever I see images that just dont work, the very first concept I use is "simplify". Usually the image is too busy, not highlighting any subject nor mood. I believe this is happening in your shot and therefore giving all of us on this forum too many things to complain about:D

Great setting though, I agree with Antonio, go back and shoot diff angles.

Antonio Correia · March 7, 2008

Today - our mind never stops - I thought you could go and shoot from inside the water, very low, at water level.

The water is fresh and quiet so, no spills...

How about this ?

wink

schmoo · March 7, 2008

Marc Muench wrote:

Whenever I see images that just dont work, the very first concept I use is "simplify". Usually the image is too busy, not highlighting any subject nor mood. I believe this is happening in your shot and therefore giving all of us on this forum too many things to complain about:D

Thank you for all of these nuggets of wisdom, Marc!

Glenn NK · March 7, 2008

Tessa:

I'm not an expert on landscapes; just a wannabe, so I'll quote from what I consider to be a very good book on landscapes:

In his book Audubon Society Guide to Landscape Photography, Tim Fitzharris states;

"The image will be most arresting if it displays sharply from front to back (is in focus). This can be accomplished by shooting at the smallest aperture to maximize depth of field, and by focusing about one third of the way into the picture space to center the in-focus zone over the framed area. Use your cameras' depth-of-field preview feature to check results in the viewfinder".

Elsewhere in the book, he says;

"Use the depth of field preview to view the scene at shooting aperture. Make sure the viewfinder is well hooded, give your eyes a few moments to adjust to the dimness and examine the scene carefully. Start with focus at infinity and back off until the most distant features begin to lose sharpness. Reverse focus a smidge and then examine the foremost picture elements for adequate detail. If they are not sharp, adjust to a smaller aperture, or move the tripod back from the foreground features and repeat the procedure".

He also covers the topic of diffraction resolution:

"To attain the best combination of image resolution and depth of field, you need to determine the sharpest aperture for the lens. Use this setting whenever it provides adequate DOF for your purposes. Sometimes the highest resolving power is only marginally better than an aperture two or three stops smaller. In such cases, opt for the lower resolution/greater depth of field aperture if it furthers you compositional goals."

On this last topic (diffraction resolution), one can easily obatin the sharpest aperture for any lens by looking at the MTF charts for the lens. I suggest the simplest way to do this is here:

http://www.photozone.de/Reviews/overview

Pick your lens from the listing, and then look under "Article Index", and select Analysis, and scroll down to MTF (resolution), where the best f/stops will be clearly obvious.

The following link is for my favourite lens, and you can tell why by looking at the MTF charts; it's rated Excellent from f/2.8 to f/8 for all focal lengths.

http://www.photozone.de/Reviews/Canon%20EOS%20Lens%20Tests/178-canon-ef-s-17-55mm-f28-usm-is-test-report--review?start=1

Tessa HD · March 8, 2008

Marc Muench wrote:

Whenever I see images that just dont work, the very first concept I use is "simplify". Usually the image is too busy, not highlighting any subject nor mood. I believe this is happening in your shot and therefore giving all of us on this forum too many things to complain about:D

Great setting though, I agree with Antonio, go back and shoot diff angles.

Nice observation, good advice. I need to go back and make the focus on the thing that drew me, and simplify it, and increase my dof. We're getting a lot of fresh snow this weekend. I'll have to revisit this. Hopefully I'll have something to post later! Thank you Marc.

Tessa HD · March 8, 2008

Antonio Correia wrote:

Today - our mind never stops - I thought you could go and shoot from inside the water, very low, at water level.

The water is fresh and quiet so, no spills...

How about this ?wink

Well, I'd need to purchase some waders, the water is probably up to my hips at the edge there. We'll see. We getting a big snow storm, I'll recheck things this weekend and hopefully have a better post soon! Thanks!

Tessa HD · March 8, 2008

Glenn -thank you for taking the time to share the good quotes. I definitely want to improve my landscape skills. This has been a good educational thread for me. I'm shooting with a Sony R-1, which is fixed lens, obviously somewhat limiting, but I need to learn better how to make it work where possible. Thanks for the links too.

Antonio Correia · March 8, 2008

Tessa HD wrote:

...I'm shooting with a Sony R-1, which is fixed lens, obviously somewhat limiting ...

Insist with that lens. Don't get a zoom, at least not yet.

Use that lens and try to look and see with your camera as with your own eyes.

Do I make myself understand ?

When you look at a scene you should have an idea of what you get using the camera with that lens.
I should say that you would have the lens and it's crop area in the eyes and with this you can very quickly place yourself on the right position, or not far from it.

OK ?

Marc Muench · March 8, 2008

Antonio Correia wrote:

Insist with that lens. Don't get a zoom, at last yet.

Use that lens and try to look and see with your camera gives only with your eyes.

Do I make myself understand ?

When you look at a scene you should have an idea of what you get using the camera with that lens. I should say that you would have the lens and it's crop area in the eyes and with this you can very quickly place yourself on the right position, or not far from it.

OK ?

Antonio,
You make a good point

I used three primary lenses with my large format 4x5 camera system for 15 years. For the last decade I was able to walk up to a scene and determine what lens I needed way before I set the camera up. I have explained in previous posts that often when I began fumbling with diff lenses, there was no photo in the first place. I believe we have great first reads, it just takes us years to trust ourselves.

samsplace · March 9, 2008

Hi Tessa

I do not an expert on landscapes, but I Keep going for the best shot. A book that appears to help or that gave me some ideas was "The Photographer's Eye By Michael Freeman". It has some good ideas to try, But for the most part I used it for ideas.

I hope this helps you

Gil

Tessa HD · March 10, 2008

Antonio Correia wrote:

Insist with that lens. Don't get a zoom, at least not yet./quote]

Antonio - I went back to the location yesterday because I thought conditions would be similar to when I first shot the picture, and you know what, it was so different it was as if the scene wasn't there anymore. I took some other photos there that are still in my camera. I'm sorry I was unable to reshoot and repost. Many times we only get one chance! Thank you for you kind words and taking the time to help me.

Tessa

Tessa HD · March 10, 2008

samsplace wrote:

"The Photographer's Eye By Michael Freeman". It has some good ideas to try, But for the most part I used it for ideas.

I hope this helps you

Gil

Thanks Gil, I'll check it out!

Antonio Correia · March 10, 2008

Tessa HD wrote:

Antonio Correia wrote:

Insist with that lens. Don't get a zoom, at least not yet./quote]

Antonio - I went back to the location yesterday because I thought conditions would be similar to when I first shot the picture, and you know what, it was so different it was as if the scene wasn't there anymore. I took some other photos there that are still in my camera. I'm sorry I was unable to reshoot and repost. Many times we only get one chance! Thank you for you kind words and taking the time to help me.

Tessa

My pleasure. Next time you do it to me.

Tessa HD · March 11, 2008

my re-shoot was better than expected!!! I simplified and it helped!

Antonio Correia · March 11, 2008

See Tessa ? I think it worked and you got nice pictures, now.

That's good.

I like the first one very much.

but not so much the second one... :cry

For me the composition is poor, too straight, too many lines, almost no curves ...

thumb

Tessa HD · March 11, 2008

Antonio Correia wrote:

See Tessa ? I think it worked and you got nice pictures, now.
That's good.
I like the first one very much.
but not so much the second one... :cry

For me the composition is poor, too straight, too many lines, almost no curves ...

thumb

Thanks Antonio! I prefer the first one too. But what I liked about the second one is it reminded me of an abstract painting where the artist piles a bunch of paint at the top and lets it run down.

Antonio Correia · March 11, 2008

Tessa HD wrote:

Thanks Antonio! I prefer the first one too. But what I liked about the second one is it reminded me of an abstract painting where the artist piles a bunch of paint at the top and lets it run down.

OK It is very personal then.:D
By the way: I do one thing that I have never seen argued and that is the format of a picture.

I have read something about this in Luminous Landscape some time ago but I - as long as I can remember - didn't agree with Michael at the time.
In fact, I always use the same size for my pictures. Mania may be.

Today I was printing a lesson from Alain Briot and he was in fact using many different formats.

Of course if we are shooting a landscape/panorama we can't have the same format as a portrait, but within certain limits...

D

Mark: what do you say to this format question ?
Sorry Tessa if I am hijacking ...

Tessa HD · March 12, 2008

Antonio Correia wrote:

Of course if we are shooting a landscape/panorama we can't have the same format as a portrait, but within certain limits..

Mark: what do you say to this format question ?
Sorry Tessa if I am hijacking ...

Antonio, I'd say there is no argument. I don't force all of my pictures into a fixed size, unless I'm taking someone's portrait for a specific purpose. Anything else, I crop it so that's it's most appealing. Just like an oil painter, they sketch their painting and choose a canvas that fits it, and there are numerous size canvases.

Antonio Correia · March 12, 2008

Tessa HD wrote:

Antonio, I'd say there is no argument. I don't force all of my pictures into a fixed size, unless I'm taking someone's portrait for a specific purpose. Anything else, I crop it so that's it's most appealing. Just like an oil painter, they sketch their painting and choose a canvas that fits it, and there are numerous size canvases.

technical questions on this landscape...

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