Storm in a Bogey Hole

[pippin88]

Stubbsy and other Novacastrian's probably know this spot.

I swung by here on Thursday morning where there was a bit of a storm brewing.

Here are 3 shots from the morning. I've slightly PPed each. Keep in mind this is really my first time PPing and first time using raw. The last one is probably a bit blown out, might try with less compensation / enhancement next time.

Changes are (Using NC4.2): WB altered to 5500K and Enhance Dark tones on. About +15 to +20 in Photoeffects in brightness? (Is it brightness? What would you call that bar with the Auto button?)















Comments appreciated.

[stubbsy]

Nick

Great shots. I'd though of doing something similar given the big seas, but never followed through. These show just how powerful nature can be.

For the non Novocastrians, the Bogey Hole is a swimming pool about 1.5 m deep fashioned out of a natural depression in the the rocks at the shoreline. The spikes you can see in these shots are part of a chain fence about 1 metre high around the seaward edge of the pool to stop people falling off the edge or being swept out into the ocean.

Nick, these are well PP'd and I think using Raw was wise since it would have given you more flexibility with these especially given the huge brightness range in a shot like this. You're right about the last shot, the highlights are blown. No amount of PP will get them back, but you've done a credible job. In a case like this I'd have adjusted the EV a little (-0.5 say) to guard against this.

Should an opportunity like this pop up again I'd also suggest trying a faster shutter speed to see what you get.

I'd be proud to have got shots like this at any time, let alone as a first attempt at Raw + PP. With time & practice you'll find it gets easier & Raw gives you HEAPS more latitude.

I don't know the PhotoEffects program, so can't answer your question. I'm sure someone else will chime in.

Cheers

[pippin88]

Thanks for the comments Peter. With the -0.5 EV, this stops the highlights being blown and lets you adjust the exposure up later, (And you obviously can't fix the exposure of a blown highlight, as the detail is gone) right?

I have a rather nice shot that looks like the sea is being held back by the chain fence, however it's only in Basic Jpg as I was stuffing the final shots I could into the card

EDIT: No fiddling with this one:



Sorry, should have been clearer, I meant the Photo Effects tab in Nikon Capture 4.2.

I find that it's hard to actually impart just how powerful and large seas are in photography, the medium (probably as it's 2D, and only vision) just seems to flatten and damp the true nature.

[pippin88]

And for something different, but still in the sea theme:

[stubbsy]

With the -0.5 EV, this stops the highlights being blown and lets you adjust the exposure up later, (And you obviously can't fix the exposure of a blown highlight, as the detail is gone) right?

Exactly. You can adjust the EV, look at the histogram to see how things are going and experiment. Then in PP recover until just before you have blown highlights.

I have a rather nice shot that looks like the sea is being held back by the chain fence, however it's only in Basic Jpg as I was stuffing the final shots I could into the card

BUY ANOTHER CARD. This is the best shot of the ones here!

Sorry, should have been clearer, I meant the Photo Effects tab in Nikon Capture 4.2

Ahh.. I rarely use it, hence no name recognition. Generally I use the curves tab to adjust the shading in the image (you generally want a slightly flattened italic S shape curve). This is much finer than the Photo Effects tab.

The Auto button in the Photo Effects tab guesses the amount of enhancement needed for the dark and light parts of the image. It's not brightness (that's in the Color Balance tab). Word of caution. Brightness affects the entire light spectrum in your image and so is less precise than curves which changes different bits of the spectrum in different ways. To oversimplify - truning up brightness makes the blacks and the whites brighter, whereas you can adjust the curves so only the blacks are brighter. The slider in Photo Effects is slightly better in that it adjusts dark and light in a balanced way, but still not as well as curves.

Re: the seagull shot, this is a little soft - the ones you posted a while back were better. Is this a different lens, or was it just bad luck

One other thing - I'm going to birddog's meet on 9/4 and am happy to give you a lift down and back if you want (maybe to buy a new CF card )

[pippin88]

BUY ANOTHER CARD. This is the best shot of the ones here!

Sorry, should have been clearer, I meant the Photo Effects tab in Nikon Capture 4.2

Ahh.. I rarely use it, hence no name recognition. Generally I use the curves tab to adjust the shading in the image (you generally want a slightly flattened italic S shape curve). This is much finer than the Photo Effects tab.

The Auto button in the Photo Effects tab guesses the amount of enhancement needed for the dark and light parts of the image. It's not brightness (that's in the Color Balance tab). Word of caution. Brightness affects the entire light spectrum in your image and so is less precise than curves which changes different bits of the spectrum in different ways. To oversimplify - truning up brightness makes the blacks and the whites brighter, whereas you can adjust the curves so only the blacks are brighter. The slider in Photo Effects is slightly better in that it adjusts dark and light in a balanced way, but still not as well as curves.

Re: the seagull shot, this is a little soft - the ones you posted a while back were better. Is this a different lens, or was it just bad luck

One other thing - I'm going to birddog's meet on 9/4 and am happy to give you a lift down and back if you want (maybe to buy a new CF card )

Buying another card is on the cards.

I plan to have a play with curves soon (need a bit more spare time).

I agree with the seagull shot being a bit soft, but a lot of this is from being beaten about with Jpg compression. Would probably come up alsirhgt with some USM (It has none applied). Taken with the kit lens like my last ones. I have a few sharper ones, but the wing shape on this one I rather liked.

As for a lift, thanks for the offer, but no need. I go back to Sydney virtually every weekend, and from the 9/4 I have two weeks holiday. I'll likely be at one of the coming mini meets, as I'll have my macro gear to collect.