7/4/2010 weekly landscape show & tell

Ben_Egbert said:

Hi Rick, don't remember you showing much work from the Canon 35f1.4. One of my favorites and you did a great job with it here as well as the 50 F1.2 image.

Click to expand...

I am in an AF phase right now. Handheld. No tripods, maybe my Lee filter system occasionally but relying on shutter speed for stability. Somewhere earlier in this trip I suddenly got fed up with the setup and breakdown of the tripod, all of the checkpoints required when using manual focus & Live View and a filter system. I just wanted to walk and shoot. I didn't even have a hood attached when I shot these. So, instead of the Zeiss 35 f2 ZF or the Leica R 35, you'll see more of the 35L until Nikon releases an affordable hi-res FF cam to which I can attach my ZFs or if I find the deal of the century on a D3x.

Ben_Egbert said:

Rick Knepper said:

All embedded images were resized by Flickr

The Western Escarpment

Click to expand...

I think this is my favorite, great color and clarity here and I like that the cactus is not covering the mountain as it does in the next.

Click to expand...

Ben_Egbert said:

Also great other than the comments I made above. In some ways I like the more compressed view, but wish it were taken from a higher view so the mountain was shown to better advantage.

Click to expand...

I think I was squatting in the same place when I decided to mount the 50L in order to zoom in. I thought the cactus might be a problem in this image and your comments confirm that.

Ben_Egbert said:

This scene has less interest than the others. I suppose the scene itself is less dramatic.

Click to expand...

I showed this scene several years ago but shot with the Zeiss 21mm. It is more impressive in person. It is all looking toward lower elevation but I find it very difficult to capture the "gentler downhill" slopes and produce an accurate representation. I like shooting from sheer drop offs instead which are much more dramatic.

Ben_Egbert said:

Ben_Egbert said:

8 May 2010 Saturday, Canon 5D mkII, EF 35mm f/1.4L USM, 35mm, AF, f13, 1/125, EC=-1/3, ISO 200

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Ben_Egbert said:

I like this one a lot too. Very colorful mountains. The partial bush at the right distracts. I would prefer it either all in or all out.

Click to expand...

I shot this about tweny times while squatting close to the ground. My full concentration was on staying steady while shooting and getting the scraggly bush on the left in the frame. Even in PPing, I missed this and I have mentioned this type of cropping on other folks' images so I should have known better.

Ben_Egbert said:

Ben_Egbert said:

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Sadja Herzog said:

Nice shots, Rick. I think I'm with Ben and his remarks. On the 1st 2 I might have tried stepping to the R of the catci to use them as framing devices on the L.

Click to expand...

I am going to check my images again because I may have that angle. Thanks.

SeaScout851 said:

Hey Rick,

The framing of that first shot simply rocks!

Click to expand...

Thanks. You know what they say about blind hogs.

Thanks for the comments.

I have to agree the image is to sharp and LR3 does do a great job without having to sharpen it any more.

It was a 'snapshot' on the day which captured the overall area fairly well. I had never seen that Lighthouse before.........I stay in Edinburgh which is a long way from Peterhead.

As has been pointed out, the scene is worthy of much more effort, a bit of scrambling down the hill and getting a nicer composition with a tripod - probably next visit up there?

Cheers

Richard.

--
Richard Lawrence
Web: http://www.lawrencephotographic.com/
Articles: http://www.lawrencephotographic.com/articles.htm

Just got back from a great trip to Glacier. Busy downloading files and culling. I will try to make a few late comments later today. I had no outside contact the whole week.

If you are going anywhere, be aware that the amount of road construction boggles the mind and I have been doing summertime vacations for almost 70 years and can remember the last 60.

--
When you can't focus, nothing else matters
Once you can, everything else does.

http://ben-egbert.smugmug.com/

Ben

Ben - to my eye not overly bright but I'm no expert. Just a question for you from a novice who is just about to try her hand at landscapes - or should I should improve my hand at landscapes. Was there a particular reason you chose to put the lighthouse centre frame in the last shot? From all my reading on landscape photography I have been trying to place points of interest on rule of thirds line - obviously this isn't always possible, and FWIW I love the last image - just interested to hear your thoughts.
--
Jayboo

Beautiful images but I have to say (sure its the light not the cam) I just love the last shot best.
--
Jayboo

What can be said - other than Wow - I would love to visit Iceland one day - couldn't possibly capture images such as these but seeing in reality would be enough.
--
Jayboo

For me its about the warmth of the timber and stone - surrounded by beautiful greenery - beautiful place, lovely shots.
--
Jayboo

jayboo said:

Ben - to my eye not overly bright but I'm no expert. Just a question for you from a novice who is just about to try her hand at landscapes - or should I should improve my hand at landscapes. Was there a particular reason you chose to put the lighthouse centre frame in the last shot? From all my reading on landscape photography I have been trying to place points of interest on rule of thirds line - obviously this isn't always possible, and FWIW I love the last image - just interested to hear your thoughts.
--
Jayboo

Click to expand...

Just a maverick. The non centering rule totally escapes me. I even think about it when I compose, but I almost always work to include all the elements in the scene I like. I shoot primes and have favored lenses, a 24, 35 and 50. Longer than 50 and I use a 70-200 as I did here.

The lighthouse was so far away I was not going to get a frame filing shot, and the rock it sets on is sort of boring from a distance. I wanted to include the nice inlet in front of it.

My other lighthouse shots are also centered. I see these as more or less formal shots of a structure, and usually one of the few subjects I do vertically. I see no point in putting them off center. I could crop is I choose, but can't see a reason.

Be aware that I have zero natural eye for composition. I sometimes do what the books suggest, but usually never see the improvement.

So anyway, don't use my images as composition guides.

--
When you can't focus, nothing else matters
Once you can, everything else does.

http://ben-egbert.smugmug.com/

Ben

Rick Knepper said:

I prefer to see an image that somewhat matches the conditions it was shot in even if that meant leaving some glare in the PPing. The three images in this series have a brightness level I would consider consistant with midday light minus the glare I sometimes leave behind.

Click to expand...

You are right, I typically do lighthouses on my way up and down the coast mid day. Only Haceta Head seems worth using up one of my golden light slots, and it is actually best late afternoon in my opinion. The west coast is not much of a morning location, and sunsets worth the name are about 1 per every 4 trips.

Neat thing about being on the east side of a high mountain like I was at Glacier, is that most mornings produce that red glow.

I suspect I am calibrated a bit darker and don't see much brightness here other than time of day.

Ben

You got some great light, I never thought about the extended sunsets at that high latitude.
--
When you can't focus, nothing else matters
Once you can, everything else does.

http://ben-egbert.smugmug.com/

Ben

Very nice exposure and composition.

jlynch said:

Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on Aperture (Av) priority using an EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens tripod mounted. The exposure was taken at 19mm, f/16 for 1/60th of a second at ISO 200 with a Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer and 3-Stop Graduated Neutral Density Filter. Post capture processing was done in Adobe’s Lightroom 3.

--
Jeff Lynch
Serious Amateur Photography
http://blog.jefflynchphoto.com

Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jefflynchphoto

Texas Hill Country Video: http://wp.me/pfgz1-27n

Click to expand...

--
When you can't focus, nothing else matters
Once you can, everything else does.

http://ben-egbert.smugmug.com/

Ben

SeaScout851 said:

That I find so interesting. But here's a few taken around 6:30 AM last week. The only processing being light cropping and sharpening.
40D with 15-85
ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/6 sec
Aperture: 9.0
Focal Length: 35mm

I must have taken over 100 shots from this location over the past couple of years.

Click to expand...

I do this too with local places. Practice helps and sometimes I even get something I really like as you should with this series.

I like this comp, only nit is the edge shadows. Could be brightened up with some layer masks and brush work. The face of the barn could use some contrast.

SeaScout851 said:

ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/20 sec
Aperture: 13.0
Focal Length: 29mm

Click to expand...

I really like this. One time when close focus of the flower trumps sharpness on background. You kept the background sharp enough that it looks natural.

SeaScout851 said:

ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/8 sec
Aperture: 9.0
Focal Length: 31mm

Click to expand...

I like this one a lot. I wonder if you might have been able to get just a bit lower to include the porch roof under the branch?

SeaScout851 said:

Andy
--

Click to expand...

--
When you can't focus, nothing else matters
Once you can, everything else does.

http://ben-egbert.smugmug.com/

Ben

I like the redo on an already good image.
--
When you can't focus, nothing else matters
Once you can, everything else does.

http://ben-egbert.smugmug.com/

Ben

full blog post at http://newyorkpanorama.com/2010/06/09/astoria-pool/
C&C welcome

--
Joergen Geerds
http://luminous-newyork.com
http://joergengeerds.com
http://newyorkpanorama.com

A lot of dollars going to road construction funded by the Recovery Act and Obama's Stimulous Plan. Eventually good for our driving pleasure - 5 years from now.

I-40 a main artery for me getting West really sucks right now. Best to get out on the road by 4:30-5:00 AM.

Ben_Egbert said:

If you are going anywhere, be aware that the amount of road construction boggles the mind and I have been doing summertime vacations for almost 70 years and can remember the last 60.

--
When you can't focus, nothing else matters
Once you can, everything else does.

http://ben-egbert.smugmug.com/

Ben

Click to expand...

I was about to say good job getting this image with one frame until I went to your blog to find the lens used and saw the name of your website - New York Panorama. So, me having barely avoided foot in mouth syndrome, would you mind telling me a little bit about how the the image was captured?

By the way, in my little burg of Fort Worth, Tejas the City has closed all publc pools for this season.

Joergen Geerds said:

full blog post at http://newyorkpanorama.com/2010/06/09/astoria-pool/
C&C welcome

--
Joergen Geerds
http://luminous-newyork.com
http://joergengeerds.com
http://newyorkpanorama.com

Click to expand...

Rick Knepper said:

I was about to say good job getting this image with one frame until I went to your blog to find the lens used and saw the name of your website - New York Panorama. So, me having barely avoided foot in mouth syndrome, would you mind telling me a little bit about how the the image was captured?

Click to expand...

Thanks for your comment. This is a 11x4 tile panorama (each tile shot with a 5Dm2 and a Olympus 35-70mm f3.6 @50mm and f11, ISO5000, 5 brackets from 1/10 to 10s, about 850 MPx, good enough for my standard printing size of 8x4ft). the panorama head was mounted to a surfboard mount attached to the ballustrade (to bring the camera "over the edge").

I thought it would be interesting to post something in the landscape thread for a start, since almost anything I do qualifies mostly as "landscape".

Rick Knepper said:

By the way, in my little burg of Fort Worth, Tejas the City has closed all publc pools for this season.

Click to expand...

public pools are probably the first "luxury" that get scrapped when it comes to budget cuts, with social services next. The last thing that would get cut is the street cleaning and park services in affluent neighborhoods, they never seem to be affected by budget cuts.

--
Joergen Geerds
http://luminous-newyork.com
http://joergengeerds.com
http://newyorkpanorama.com

What do you guys think of this picture? It was sunset and i thought i'd go take pictures, and came out with a bunch, this being my favorite.Taken at iso 100, f4.8 and 1/30 of a second.