A beginner needing your expert tips!

[nat]

Here goes.....my first post!

I have a very limited background to photography, being self taught using the trial and error technique, although mostly error.

I took this photo with my recently traded Nikon Coolpix 995. (I am now a proud D70s owner ). I am heading up to the Flinders again soon and was looking for any tips that will help me get a good capture with my new hardware. (My arsenal is limited to D70s, Nikkor 18-70 kit lens & Nikkor AFG 70-300)

Thanks in anticipation...

[sirhc55]

I see nothing wrong with this shot, in fact I like it a lot

[Matt. K]

Meerkat
That is a classical Australian landscape and a very fine photograph. It is beautiful and the composition is finely crafted to lead the eye. Well done! If this is your first post then I am looking forward to seeing your future work.

[BBJ]

Welcome fellow sth ozzy, meercat i think that pic looks ok. You have come to the right place and there will be lots of landscape people here that could help you with some pointers in that field.
Anyhow welcome to the forum, enjoy your stay and lots to read and learn and most of all we are all a happy bunch so jump right in.
Cheers
John
BBJ

[mudder]

G'day Meerket,
Welcome and wow what a first post... Beautifully framed, well composed and well spotted. Colour is rich, nice light, good example of a country landscape, looking forward to more...

Cheers.

[Onyx]

What a great way to enter our forums. First post and you're posting stunning images already! Welcome meerkat, hope to see more great works from you.

[chris1968]

great shot meerket - when i first opened it there was an odd 'watercolour' effect on there which looked abit odd but on revisiting this is great - top way to join the forum!

[nat]

Thanks for the welcome and the words of encouragement. One of my frustrations when shooting in the Flinders in bright sunshine is that I often end up with poor colour intensity. Is this a situation where playing around with white balance would help? What about exposure compensation? Or is it a case for spot/centre weighted metering rather than matrix? I have never played around with these before. I was looking for an example of a photo like this, but must have deleted them all as a result of not being happy with them.
Any thoughts?


Nat

[pippin88]

I believe a circular polarizer will help restore colour intensity and contrast.

[nat]

Thanks Nick - I'll have to get one.

Nat

[Raskill]

Or maybe some PP to reduce the brightness and enhance the colours. Just a bees dick though, love the shot.

My other advice is:

1. don't talk to crazy women at lookouts during sunrises. They are distracting and cant be trusted.

2. make sure your backpack is done up when you throw it on your shoulder (even Kata packs don't defying gravity), it will save your 2x TC and SB600 falling into the sand.

3. Check and double check your gear before heading off. I recently made the trip to the Glasshouse Mountains in Qld (some 1500 km) for some sunrise/sunset pics, only to find I had forgotten my tripod foot, so it really limited my options. I had to use a bag of rice.

4. Learn the area you want to photograph as much as you can before going, in so far as doing a recce the day before. I missed a morning of great sunrises by not doing this, and it's a morning I wont get back. Try to get a decent 1:25000 or 1:50000 topographic map, it's easier to find the high ground.

5. (last and not least) by all means concentrate on getting that great shot, but don't forget to concentrate on your surroundings. I got a great shot of Mt Tibbogargan only to find myself kneeling in a bull ants nest (much to my better halves amusement). I sure dance funny holding a D70 with ants in my pants.

Good luck on your trip, look forward to more of your posts!!

[Rick]

Meerkat,

Very nice first post, great light & composition, a photo I can sit & look at & feel I am being led into the scene.

As mentioned before a CP filter will help give more dramatic results, I use one most times for landscapes.

A small tip when driving & looking for subjects, keep one eye on the rear view mirrors, you will be surprised how often something that looks ho- hum as you approach it will look terrific from the opposite direction, keep looking over your shoulder.

Keep posting.

Rick.

[mudder]

...One of my frustrations when shooting in the Flinders in bright sunshine is that I often end up with poor colour intensity. Is this a situation where playing around with white balance would help? What about exposure compensation? Or is it a case for spot/centre weighted metering rather than matrix? I have never played around with these before. I was looking for an example of a photo like this, but must have deleted them all as a result of not being happy with them.
Any thoughts? Nat

G'day Nat,
Just logged in for a tick so thought I'd try and help... The WB will adjust the "hue" of the colours, for the extra colour saturation the circ pol will help heaps and will also improve contrast (lose at least a stop of light though), clouds seem to almost "pop" out of the sky. Your image looks as though the colour sat has been increased in some way already though as the colours are very rich, either in a camera setting or PP. Do you shoot raw or jpeg? Exposure compensation might be useful when you need to reduce below or increase over the meter reading (like maybe snow scenes?).

With bright spots in clouds (or highlights in waterfalls etc.), if you want to preserve cloud detail you could spot meter for the highlights to avoid blowing them but it's a balance between keeping highlights and the depth of the shadows. If you're using a tripod you can always take multiple shots and merge them to handle the dynamic range of the light in processing if you want to...

Cheers.

[nat]

Thanks for the tips Raskill - I too have learned the hard way by forgetting my tripod!

Thanks also Rick. I'll keep one eye one the mirror, one eye to the left, one to the right and wtach the road! Nah......too hard. I'll sit in the passenger seat and get my wife to drive!

Andrew, I've checked the exif data on the original (it was captured as a tif ) to try to see if the camera had done anything to the image. It was taken in Aperture priority mode F3.9, ISO 100. Exposure time 10/1336. I have note done any PP except to resize it to post. I think I'll try out the bracketing feature to look at the differences that that can make, but it sounds like a CP is definately worth investing in.

Thanks

[nito]

man you guys are fussy! I see nothing wrong with the shot. I like it

[DanielA]

I agree. Very nice.

Daniel

[christiand]

Hi,

what an amazing photo !
Colour, light, composition: wow !
Can't say any more.

Cheers,
CD

[KerryPierce]

Beautiful subject, well composed. I like this shot a great deal.