Sunday Arvo Photos - Decision assistance required!

[darb]

went for a sunday arvo drive and took some snaps.

Took 4 tree photos that I liked in particular, I want to decide on TWO to keep ... but cant, let me know your fave of these four ;

(Circ Polariser + Cokin Graduated ND Tobacco.)

http://darb.net/assorted-personal/DSC_3820?full=1


http://darb.net/assorted-personal/DSC_3825?full=1


http://darb.net/assorted-personal/DSC_3827?full=1


http://darb.net/assorted-personal/DSC_3829?full=1



Two others from today;

http://darb.net/assorted-personal/DSC_3831?full=1


http://darb.net/assorted-personal/DSC_3811?full=1

[phillipb]

Question: Why can't you keep the lot?

[MHD]

I like the third one... It obeys two general guidelines: Rule of thirds and stong diagonals

And I like the tones in this one better than the others, it seems more saturated and less "muddy" than the others...

Nice shot mate... Nice and characteristic... seems to tell a story, "old man tree"

[darb]

self restraint! haha ... i like to only keep my best / faves ... just wanted some opinion on those 4 final candidates.

[Onyx]

Third one could go. The grass in the foreground seems blown.

Those grad ND tobacco make for a funky effect!

[darb]

yeh and the polariser helped (tahts quite a few Fstops ripped out of the sky!)

very exxagerated, but then i always exxagerate my photos

first play with my Cokin gear so ill probably tone it back a bit next time. or not !

[kipper]

How much did the initial cokin setup cost you plus say a reasonable peice of filter glass?

[darb]

P series holder, a 67mm adapter ring, a Grad ND gray filter, and a tabacco ND grad filter cost me around $130 all up i think it was

the filters are about $35 each

try http://www.vanbar.com.au

[Dargan]

I actually like the effect of the third one and would keep it and the fourth. The others don't hold my interest but I think in PP you could do some more with both 3 and 4.

[ajo43]

speaking of great shots. Look at this guys work - taken with the kit lens no less (and he's and aussie).

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=11243287

[birddog114]

Ajo43,
That's a great shot and very nice pics from that guy.
To make it simple just a CPL filter will do 99% of the job people want to do! Cokin Filter System or Range of other special effect filters won't do justice all, we can manage them in PS and PP.
Basic rules are applied!

[pl55]

Awsome Shots from Marli.
May be now I have to get the CPL filter too. BTW, I have download the PS action for that frame http://members.westnet.com.au/vanv/matt-frame.zip but I cannot get the same result as him. Can anyone help !!! I really like those frames. or post the new action for it.

Cheers

[kipper]

True birdy. The only thing I was looking for in the cokin range was the Graduated ND filter. I've got CPL and a +2 ND, was going to look at an IR filter and I think that's all I need as most other effects can be done in PS. Even Graduated NDs aren't really required anymore as you can take two shots different exposures and merge in PS.

[darb]

true, PS can do some of the thigns that cokin filters can do ... but usually at a bit of a cost.

the pics i made yesterday were a CPL backed onto a cokin tabacco grad ND ... i love it, tis fun

and yeh that pic you posted frmo dpreview ... i have posted in that thread many days ago .. clearly though my pics in this thread werent intended to be "natural"

[birddog114]

true, PS can do some of the thigns that cokin filters can do ... but usually at a bit of a cost.

the pics i made yesterday were a CPL backed onto a cokin tabacco grad ND ... i love it, tis fun

and yeh that pic you posted frmo dpreview ... i have posted in that thread many days ago .. clearly though my pics in this thread werent intended to be "natural"

Yes, of course, everything is cost today, but once you're invested in PS or PSCS then you can do more with everything you want, even if you invested in filter systems, you still have to need to PP anyway, but with filters only, it's restricted.

[darb]

i didnt mean fiscal cost i meant image quality cost

ive got CS with a huge array of fred miranda tools, and a FULL range of cokin emulating tools (nikon colour effects pro actions) for applying a cokin grad ND to your images, in CS ... however it wont help you if the problem is a blown sky to begin with etc .. so i use CS AND cokin filters depending what i want to do etc ... i try to minimise my CS work ... so with the photos i made this example i only had to deal with levels, noise, sharpening in CS ... didnt add my filter effects in CS, they came from the CPL and cokin stuff.

At the end of the day i just have fun with the real thing and love fiddling with stuff in the field


Im kinda unsure what we're discussing here.