Photo/Photographer thread.

[Taps]

Vivek, am looking at getting a couple of ND grads (literally, a couple, expensive things. I would like to get a set of each, but I'd also like to drive a McLaren Mercedes. Not going to happen). I can;t decide on soft or hard grads. Looking at my photo collections soft grads would probably be most useful, although many photos have an almost horizontal horizon. What have you found most useful?

Thanks

 

Paul

[Tankman]

it takes some time to get the hang of things. at first, shooting was easy for me but the processing was a huge challenge. Your shot in good, you just need to lift the exposure on the foreground.

 

with "golden hour" shots, we always going to have a scene where the foreground is a few stops darker than the sky. Without the use of Grad ND filters its impossible to get it right in camera so you will have to shoot in bracketing, -1, 1, +1, if the FG is much darker then you would sometimes need to shoot +2 to get the colour and detail in.

 

Thereafter you will need to merge or blend photo's. Photoshop CS6 would be a good tool to manually blend selected parts of the images to achieve a well balanced final product.

 

If you want to work on single images, then you can use the grad filter or adjustment brush tool in Lightroom to edit specific areas.

 

These guys are some of the best landscapers in SA. Check out their blogs and tutorials for some tips.

 

Hougaard Malan

http://www.hougaardmalan.com/

 

Mark Dumbleton

http://www.markdumbleton.com/

Thanks for that!

 

Yea the shooting is easy but you can quikly loose days editing!

 

Photoshop is on my wishlist. Been messing around with Lightroom but have not tried the layering tip yet!

 

Let me see if I understand. In essence, you take the same shot a couple of times, focusing on different areas, layer them on top of each other, then you tell photoshop which areas to use in you final photo?

 

There goes more days!

[Escapee..]

Thanks for that!

 

Yea the shooting is easy but you can quikly loose days editing!

 

Photoshop is on my wishlist. Been messing around with Lightroom but have not tried the layering tip yet!

 

Let me see if I understand. In essence, you take the same shot a couple of times, focusing on different areas, layer them on top of each other, then you tell photoshop which areas to use in you final photo?

 

There goes more days!

 

No not focus, just upping the exposure via shutter speed  (from fast to get all the nice detail in the sky, too a longer shutter speed to get all the detail in the darker areas) or like Vivek said with bracketing

[Veebee]

Vivek, am looking at getting a couple of ND grads (literally, a couple, expensive things. I would like to get a set of each, but I'd also like to drive a McLaren Mercedes. Not going to happen). I can;t decide on soft or hard grads. Looking at my photo collections soft grads would probably be most useful, although many photos have an almost horizontal horizon. What have you found most useful?

Thanks

 

Paul

 

Yes for some reason we get sucked into all these damn expensive hobbies.

If you shooting scene's where the horizon is not obstructed by anything then a hard grad will be the clear choice. But when you add mountains, tree's etc you will clearly see the transition lines.

 

My opinion, don't buy sets as you will have almost no need for a 0.3 grad from either. Rather get a 0.6 & 0.9 HG and a 0.9 SG. The transition on a 0.6 soft grad is quite soft with majority of it actually being close to 0.3 - 0.45 so this does not serve much purpose.

 

And you could also use the HG's as Full ND's if you shooting a lens with front element between 72-77mm.

Edited August 20, 2015 by Vivek B

[Veebee]

Thanks for that!

 

Yea the shooting is easy but you can quikly loose days editing!

 

Photoshop is on my wishlist. Been messing around with Lightroom but have not tried the layering tip yet!

 

Let me see if I understand. In essence, you take the same shot a couple of times, focusing on different areas, layer them on top of each other, then you tell photoshop which areas to use in you final photo?

 

There goes more days!

^^^

what Bland said.

 

Remember you need a good, sturdy tripod for this. also get yourself a cable release remote to reduce any camera vibrations when you clicking away.

[Taps]

Yes for some reason we get sucked into all these damn expensive hobbies.

If you shooting scene's where the horizon is not obstructed by anything then a hard grad will be the clear choice. But when you add mountains, tree's etc you will clearly see the transition lines.

 

My opinion, don't buy sets as you will have almost no need for a 0.3 grad from either. Rather get a 0.6 & 0.9 HG and a 0.9 SG. The transition on a 0.6 soft grad is quite soft with majority of it actually being close to 0.3 - 0.45 so this does not serve much purpose.

 

And you could also use the HG's as Full ND's if you shooting a lens with front element between 72-77mm.

Thanks for that. I was considering a 0.9 SG and a 0.6HG later. I'll take your advice.

[Veebee]

an old image that I processed recently. Blyde River Canyon.

 

[Tankman]

Pump Track at the XCO Nationals in Coetzenburg a few weeks ago.

 

Shot with the GoPro, so I dont know if it counts for this thread!

 

 

[Frosty]

I have a query for the knowledgeable folk out there.

 

I have a Canon 450D with a Sigma ext. Flash. I remember being able to take photos using the 2nd curtain flash settings. In fact a number of 24-hour contestants wanted to moer me because I was trying to take light trail photos in the dark forest sections which would blind them for the next sections of single track.

 

Roll on a few years, and I'm trying to use those settings again and it doesn't work. The curtain settings are greyed out.

 

Is it the compatibility between Canon and Sigma or me?

Edited August 20, 2015 by geraldm24

[JXV]

My first DSLR is not even a month old yet so dont be too harsh ... pointers welcome though!

 

Still getting to grips with all the fancy settings but I thoroughly enjoy learning and researching the how's and why's.

 

untitled-0675.jpg

This pic lacks a compelling main subject or area of interest. Those mountain peaks in layers of haze on the left centre look interesting so it would help to zoom in on those a bit. leaving some of the sky and some of the foreground yellow flowers. you can throw most of the right hand third of the pic away....and the dark strip at the bottom.

 

modern dslrs have so many pixels that you can probably just crop the existing image to emphasize the area of interest and still have enough pixels for a decent quality image.

 

Try the rule of thirds with horizons next time. Choose to shoot for the sky or the foreground and position your horizon lower or higher in the pic - just not dead centre - this way it tends to look more attractive to the average person.

 

Of course rules of thumb are made to be broken and typically when shooting landscapes with foreground reflections on water (e.g. over a mirror calm lake) then central horizon can be useful 'cos it adds symmettry.

Edited August 20, 2015 by JXV

[Veebee]

sorry Gerald. Cant help with that. I don't and have never shot with a flash so have no knowledge whatsoever. But assume it has something to do with your shutter speeds vs flash duration speed. try shooting with a longer shutter speed and a short flash speed.

 

and is the camera picking up the flash ? maybe a quick clean of the pins are needed as they sometimes get sticky when not in use.

[JXV]

Retina shot

eish - that's a whole R200k of camera and lens he is clowning with there! Edited August 20, 2015 by JXV

[JXV]

Thanks for that!

 

Yea the shooting is easy but you can quikly loose days editing!

 

Photoshop is on my wishlist. Been messing around with Lightroom but have not tried the layering tip yet!

 

Let me see if I understand. In essence, you take the same shot a couple of times, focusing on different areas, layer them on top of each other, then you tell photoshop which areas to use in you final photo?

 

There goes more days!

Lightroom has just about all you'll need for photo editing. No need to go the extra mile for full PS

[JXV]

I have a query for the knowledgeable folk out there.

 

I have a Canon 450D with a Sigma ext. Flash. I remember being able to take photos using the 2nd curtain flash settings. In fact a number of 24-hour contestants wanted to moer me because I was trying to take light trail photos in the dark forest sections which would blind them for the next sections of single track.

 

Roll on a few years, and I'm trying to use those settings again and it doesn't work. The curtain settings are greyed out.

 

Is it the compatibility between Canon and Sigma or me?

I'm a Nikon guy so my Canon advice is dubious. To get light trails with flash usually you set trailing shutter flash control and use ambient light to generate a blurred image leading to the sharp (flash lit) image at the end. This needs longish shutter speeds and fixed ISO. The camera calculates the light received during initial exposure so it knows how much flash to add at end. In some exposure modes this may not work.

 

If you have Auto ISO or red-eye reduction enabled it may deselect the trailing shutter flash option. Read the manual regarding trailing shutter flash....it will outline any restrictions. I don't think it is a Canon/Sigma issue but it could be.

[Silverman]

JXV, can one blend different exposures in Lightroom?

[Robrider]

JXV, can one blend different exposures in Lightroom?

 

+1 on the question.

 

I'm using lightroom. As far as you know you can't blend. I have tried plugin HDR programs, but they lack control (or else I am just not using them right) and often come out looking either artificial or else it doesn't add the extra levels of exposure rangerequired.