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Me and two friends headed up to the Blue mountains today and were met by fog, rain and chilly weather, but we persevered and got some images. Here are a few that I would like to get some feedback on...(PS I shot using the S5 Pro in F2 - slide film mode - for most of the day hence the colours are rather saturated and bright)

Contrast - I like the colours but am uncertain about the composition


I will have to reshoot this next time I get the chance but what do you think of the concept...I think it may be a bit soft


The 180mm Sigma got a bit of a work out with this being one of my favourites from that lens today


5 shot HDR using Photomattix3 - any tips as to how to get rid of the grey patch of sky and the burnt our upper cascades?

Re: the HDR, Did you feel that you had enough sky detail captured in the least exposed shot on your series? If so, you could take that image and blend it the HDR image in PS. Use a luminosity mask based on the HDR image...

Other option is to add fog and mild amout of blur to those areas. Radically (also would be telling the truth in this situation) you could make the sky gods angry and make it rain...alot...thus obliterating the sky.

I really like the leaf with the background waterfall...lovely contrasting colours.

Just had a play with PS now...I have never been able to produce HDR that I like with it....and this time it was no different... Where do I find a luminosity mask?? I am using CS2

Cheers
Cameron

Dude, the luminosity mask is one that you create from one of the channels so that you don't have to do the delicate tracing etc with the pen tool. Also it does the gradients for you almost automatically. What I meant was, that you could use the lighter (gray) areas of the image in the channels and make a mask to bring out the detail in the sky area only. This may or may not work however because the colours may not match up.

Also do a search for advanced masking on the web if you are not sure. If you are still not sure, I am happy to have a go.

surenj wrote:Dude, the luminosity mask is one that you create from one of the channels so that you don't have to do the delicate tracing etc with the pen tool. Also it does the gradients for you almost automatically. What I meant was, that you could use the lighter (gray) areas of the image in the channels and make a mask to bring out the detail in the sky area only. This may or may not work however because the colours may not match up.

Also do a search for advanced masking on the web if you are not sure. If you are still not sure, I am happy to have a go.

I think it is a bit too much for my tired brain to handle atm...your welcome to have a go if you want as I am interested to see what you can get out of it...I think I can use colour control points to do something similar in Capture NX2

Contrast - I like the colours but am uncertain about the composition

rotate it around so the stems are pointing upwards - makes a world of difference imo. In this orientation I feel like I am looking with my head between my legs.

That second one has great potential as a shot imo - as you mentioned, the main subject, the leaf is OOF but compositionally (not really a word but hey) its quite nice.

The 180mm Sigma got a bit of a work out

nice colours, but needs more dof and a touch of increased contrast good to see some shots coming out of this lens Cam.

5 shot HDR using Photomattix3

I had a quick bash in NX2 last night (late) and if you use the colour control point (control+shift+A) and adjust size to about a 1" diameter on the screen, tweak the brightness, saturation and 'blue' colours it removes that grey and gets it to a more natural white, albeit a bit blown...

Bugger, I thought I knew how to take photographs- these are GREAT

Of the four, the last one is maybe a little post-cardy for me (it's really nice, just sort of 'what you'd expect' shot). The others, all the others I absolutely love. Number two with the blurred water looks great. Being really picky, if possible some pruning of the dead leaves would have made it even better. The focal point on number one just leaps off the page and the tight depth of field in three works really well. Nice work.

Looking at it sideways, I think I like the first one better in landscape.

Blue mountains today and were met by fog, rain and chilly weather,

In other words, you experienced a normal (perfect!) day up here
#1 I like as is. Yes it is a little unsettling, but that just makes me take notice of what might otherwise be an ordinary picture.
#2 as commented elsewhere has promise, but either nail the leaves, OR the waterfall. Both blurry leaves me wondering what the point of the photo is.
#3 Doesn't do anything for me. Either more DOF so I can see the picture, or less so I can see the abstract colour painting
#4 In addition to other suggestions, you could perhaps clone some of the foliage over the offending patch of sky. As for the blown water, surely with a 5 shot HDR you got one image with detail in the water?

The second is the pick, although others have indicated the need for more focus on the leaves. I would also consider cropping a touch from the right. Maybe a square format? Get ye a 'blad, Mamiya 6, or Bronica SQ and get back out there.

Hi Cameron

#1 I'd be inclined to crop in from the bottom and make the lower leaves darker.
#2 The leaves need to be sharper. I wonder if they might be better further over to the left if that was a possible viewpoint.
#3 Doesn't work for me either. Not enough colour contrast and probably too little depth of focus. Perhaps a candidate for combining multiple exposures to get more of it in focus.
#4 Did you really need an HDR anyway. It's amazing what you can do with RAW images these days. Another possible way to improve it in Photoshop might be to use the blending options so that the brightest parts go through to a non-HDR layer and you might be able to use the Select Colour option for the sky. Maybe it means you didn't get the bracketing right though.

Regards,
Murray

Dude you should have told me you were up.
I like the concept of #2. I may just theive that.
I think the whole of the pink frond in #1 should be in focus for a better impact. jmo
I agree that #3 should have a little more or less depth to it.
For #4 you could always go drastic and crop down and in to just the bottom set of falls.

Regards Colin

Thanks for all the comments...

Sorry Colin, I should have let you know but we had not intended to head up there yesterday (Thursday) we were intending to on Wednesday but pulled out as one of our friends had work. BUT feel free to have another shot of #2

I must apologise for the bad quality of shots as I was in the company of two friends who were a little less enthusiastic (esp for #2 where we were all tired and hungry after a non-stop day, and #2 where we were trying to get back to the car to beat the fog for some landscapes) so I had a limited time frame for some of these.

Interestingly enough #1 was actually shot with the viewfinder in landscape and not portrait...the S5 Pro must have auto rotated it for me...I'll fix that repost it soon.

#2 and #3 are a bit of a lost cause until the next time I take similar shots but I will keep all the suggestions in mind...maybe I'll have to bump up the ISO to get a smaller aperture and more DOF for that 180mm.

As for #4 I think I will consign it to the 'learn from' pile. It was good to have another go at it (this was a fair bit better than my last attempt) but next time I will improve again...the fact that it is very cliche in a way makes me want to avoid spending too much time processing it. I had a look at the HDR bracket and there is nothing in even the -2 shot for those higher cascades and patch of sky but I will have a look at the RAW to see if there is anything to be retrieved. The HDR really brings out the greens though...hence my decision to go this way.

THANKS EVERYONE!!!

I had a look at the HDR bracket and there is nothing in even the -2 shot

I think you are being stingy with your bracketing Cameron.
Since you can change your RAW exposure +-2 in computer using CaptureNX and/or ViewNX, you are not really achieving anything by only going this far. Try stretching it out to +-5 or 7 so you can really take advantage of the dynamic range. On my D200 you can set the FUNC button to do a high speed bracketing burst. This makes it very easy to drop a bracket among other shots.I assume your camera can do the same.
Mind you, this advice from someone who has never even attempted HDR.

Mr Darcy wrote:I think you are being stingy with your bracketing Cameron.....Try stretching it out to +-5 or 7 so you can really take advantage of the dynamic range. On my D200 you can set the FUNC button to do a high speed bracketing burst. This makes it very easy to drop a bracket among other shots.I assume your camera can do the same.
Mind you, this advice from someone who has never even attempted HDR.

I stopped doing 9-frame brackets (-4 >> +4) when I was using CS2 do to HDR...now that I have more storage space and Photomattix I should revert to larger brackets to see if I can get more out of them. Yep the D300 (and the S5 Pro) have the ability to set the FUNC to do a high speed bracket burst...and they are actually set to do this on my cameras.

It doesnt matter that you have not attempted a HDR..it is a valid suggestion and one that I will try next time.
Greg!!