New Zealand

[dervish16]

I visited New Zealand about two months ago and thought I might put some of my images up as I haven't uploaded anything for a while. Spent three weeks there and saw both north and south island. I took 50gb of images haha so was hard to pick some to upload. Would love to here your opinions on the photos and any improvements.


Taken at Akaroa and is a HDR


Milford Sounds (CPL filter used)


Abel Tasman National Park


Took an 8 hour walk on the The Tongariro Alpine Crossing Track to be able to see these Three active volcano's



Thanks
Chris

[Reschsmooth]

Nice images, but general forum rules stipulate not more than 4 per post - it's up there in the lovely pink box and is designed to make it easier for people to critique photos.

[dervish16]

Nice images, but general forum rules stipulate not more than 4 per post - it's up there in the lovely pink box and is designed to make it easier for people to critique photos.

Haha sorry mate didn't read it. I deleted 4 of them.

[Remorhaz]

I'm feeling the second but I'm not sure about that flower on the left - I think it's too much of a distraction (especially since it intrudes on that nice mountain on the left). I reckon that dark mountain on the right could probably have gone as well.

The stream in the third I really quite like - the leaves in the bottom left might be a little hot but thats probably very minor.

[colin_12]

I like the volcano shot Chris. It is nice to effort put in to get a shot.
Looks like you had great weather as well.

[Peanut]

Cows are a bit hazy in the HDR... was it a composite? Didn't any of the single ones work?
I love the volcanoes... you can almost smell the clear air!
The flower is a bit distracting, I agree...
Some reason the waterfall doesn't do it for me... but I'm not really a woody waterfall person

[dervish16]

I'm feeling the second but I'm not sure about that flower on the left - I think it's too much of a distraction (especially since it intrudes on that nice mountain on the left). I reckon that dark mountain on the right could probably have gone as well.

The stream in the third I really quite like - the leaves in the bottom left might be a little hot but thats probably very minor.

Yeah I agree with you that the flower is intrusive but I actually cropped it so it was a panorama and got rid of the left side a bit more and it made a big difference. Printed it on a 40"x20" canvas print and i'm happy with it. I actually like the black mountain on the right side but in the print as it raps around the side it isn't as bold so works better.

This is what I'm talking about

Do you think it's better?

Yeah there is something about that stream shoot I like too. It just feels so calm and peaceful but really it's nothing amazing.

I like the volcano shot Chris. It is nice to effort put in to get a shot.
Looks like you had great weather as well.

Thanks Colin. Yeah had the most amazing weather for the whole three weeks haha. For that shoot I actually walked off the main track up another volcano but was definitely worth the trek.

Cows are a bit hazy in the HDR... was it a composite? Didn't any of the single ones work?
I love the volcanoes... you can almost smell the clear air!
The flower is a bit distracting, I agree...
Some reason the waterfall doesn't do it for me... but I'm not really a woody waterfall person

What is a composite HDR? The only reason why I did a HDR was because it was so bright and the sky was washed out and I didn't have any ND grad filters. So the HDR kept the sky blue and the cows were still correctly exposed. I was using a cpl filter too but that didn't do much. Might be hazy because these are just from Facebook and not high quality. It was heaps sunny and I just bracketed three different exposes and the cows were pretty still so in the end there wasn't much movement in the image when combined in photomatix. But one thing I don't understand is when I process it in photomatix the image looks super sharp and then when I save it as a tiff it gets heaps blurred. Do you know why this happens?

[Peanut]

What is a composite HDR? The only reason why I did a HDR was because it was so bright and the sky was washed out and I didn't have any ND grad filters. So the HDR kept the sky blue and the cows were still correctly exposed. I was using a cpl filter too but that didn't do much. Might be hazy because these are just from Facebook and not high quality. It was heaps sunny and I just bracketed three different exposes and the cows were pretty still so in the end there wasn't much movement in the image when combined in photomatix. But one thing I don't understand is when I process it in photomatix the image looks super sharp and then when I save it as a tiff it gets heaps blurred. Do you know why this happens?

By composite, I meant exactly what you did: take a few bracketed shots and combine them. The alternative is to use one raw file and over/under expose the jpeg output and then go from there - you get less range but it's the same image so it works for moving objects. It is of course cheating a bit because you could probably do the same thing by hand, but with more effort.
I'm not familiar with photomatix (I use the LR->Photoshop HDR tool), but maybe there is an option to remove ghosting in it (like the one in the Photoshop tool)?

[biggerry]

I like teh Milford Sounds shot - it also looks good on the wall there too. With an image like that I would have considered trying to clone the flower out, if not all of it at least some of it, that way it would minimise the attention that it draws. At the moment my eye goes straight to teh flower then to the vista behind it. Given that most of the area is sky it would be a pretty easy clone.

[surenj]

#4 looks slightly under exposed. perhaps lift the shadows a little?

[dervish16]

I'm not familiar with photomatix (I use the LR->Photoshop HDR tool), but maybe there is an option to remove ghosting in it (like the one in the Photoshop tool)?

Yeah there is and I used it.

I like teh Milford Sounds shot - it also looks good on the wall there too. With an image like that I would have considered trying to clone the flower out, if not all of it at least some of it, that way it would minimise the attention that it draws. At the moment my eye goes straight to teh flower then to the vista behind it. Given that most of the area is sky it would be a pretty easy clone.

I thought it intruded in the image but my mum liked it so I left it haha.
Here is what it looks like without it:

#4 looks slightly under exposed. perhaps lift the shadows a little?

Thats the thing on two of my monitors it looks perfect but when I printed the photo it was underexposed? Thats the same with the Milford Sounds photo too the sky's became heaps blue but it still looks ok.
What could this be? Are my monitors too bright?

[gstark]

What could this be? Are my monitors too bright?

Are they calibrated?

[dervish16]

What could this be? Are my monitors too bright?

Are they calibrated?

No they aren't as I didn't want to spend money for a monitor calibrator but seems that I need to now.
Any cheap ones you recommend? Does it work for laptop monitors too?

[gstark]

What could this be? Are my monitors too bright?

Are they calibrated?

No they aren't

This would be my next stop. I understand your reticence in buying one; it can be difficult to justify the expense.

Until you realise that, like your lenses and camera body, it's an essential part of a photographic toolset.

[Peanut]

What could this be? Are my monitors too bright?

Are they calibrated?

No they aren't as I didn't want to spend money for a monitor calibrator but seems that I need to now.
Any cheap ones you recommend? Does it work for laptop monitors too?

I got a huey pro for about $85 including shipping from ebay and it works for more than one monitor (I have my laptop and external LCD calibrated with it), unilke the plain old huey... It takes about 15 minutes from start to finish and then about an hour for your eyes to adjust to the new settings... It is totally worth it and I can't belive I waited this long!
(You might have to download a few bits and pieces for things to work though - I still use XP and had to download a colour power toy and a whole new set of drivers and a control panel for Nvidia, but it all comes together and works like a charm! Best of all: no more nagging from photoshop about profiles!)

[surenj]

Thats the thing on two of my monitors it looks perfect but when I printed the photo it was underexposed? Thats the same with the Milford Sounds photo too the sky's became heaps blue but it still looks ok.
What could this be? Are my monitors too bright?

Why don't you turn down the brightness on the monitors and do some more test prints. Sounds like you don't really have a color problem?

[biggerry]

I thought it intruded in the image but my mum liked it so I left it haha.
Here is what it looks like without it:

I like this better, just straighten that horizon (its only a fraction off) and I reckon thats the best it can be! nice one and good clonage!