Yosemite photos, feedback welcome, FZ35 and ZS3

Hello. Here are a few photos from our recent trip to Yosemite. Feedback welcome on the cameras, settings, composition, and anything I can do to improve even more. Thanks!
Here are 2 I took with the ZS3





Here are 2 I took with the FZ35

Fine shots, LorenKy... IMHO the compositions are good on all photos, the shots taken with ZS3 appear a touch "pale" on my monitor and those taken with FZ35 are just notch (a small notch ) overdone. If you could maneuver your settings on cameras in this gap (a touch to the FZ35 side) you would be well off... thanks for sharing...

Best regards...
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Bruno

Thanks for that feedback. Which of the following(if any) would you enlarge to a horizontal 8 x 10?

All very beautiful shots, really hard to pick favorites, but if I had to, second to last, then the last one for printing, IMHO. Nice job.

Beautiful set Loren, wonderful subjects and photography.
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Thanks for the feedback all. You know, I noticed about halfway shooting with the ZS3 that I had left the forced flash on. Could that have made the difference in the ZS3 photo being a bit too light? I didn't think it would make a difference with landscapes like that, but maybe it did?

I would probably go for the fist one provided that no people are included in scene... second best IMHO is the last shot, a very tranquil scenery in contrast to powers of huge waterfall - very impressive...

Best regards..
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Bruno

I just got Photoshop essentials for Christmas. Do you think I can get rid of the tiny people in the foreground of the first photo using that?

Lovely set. On your 8 x10 - I'd go for the second one IMO it has the best contrast. Your set takes me back to our visit in 2004, bought a Canon S1 IS specially for the trip.

LorenKy said:

I just got Photoshop essentials for Christmas. Do you think I can get rid of the tiny people in the foreground of the first photo using that?

Click to expand...

These are tiny "imaginary" people, right? Like leprechauns, or hobbits, something like that? Sorry, I just don't see 'em!

If they were there, then yes you could probably use an image editor to "clone" them out.
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Panas0n!c Lum!x FZ-38

in_focus said:

Fine shots, LorenKy... IMHO the compositions are good on all photos, the shots taken with ZS3 appear a touch "pale" on my monitor and those taken with FZ35 are just notch (a small notch ) overdone. If you could maneuver your settings on cameras in this gap (a touch to the FZ35 side) you would be well off... thanks for sharing...

Click to expand...

I agree with Bruno, except the FZ35 shots look perfectly exposed on my screen. No, I don't think the flash would have made any difference, it may be you just need to use the -EV on that camera (1/3 or 2/3 stop).

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Panas0n!c Lum!x FZ-38

You're funny, tiny imaginary people. I didn't notice either until someone else pointed them out. They are near the trees in the front of this photo.



As for the EV on the ZS3, I already had it set to -2/3, as I did the FZ35, that's why I surprised it was lighter than the FZ35.

Nice shot of Glacier Point, Windmillgolfer. I think that's my favorite area in Yosemite, one of the best panoramic views in the world.

I second this suggestion! The last two shots give me the strongest impression of "nature", and that does seem to be the main subject here

Nice set of an impressive piece of landscape. It might be fun to play with the image you decide to print a bit more in Elements too? They're fine pictures as they are, but perhaps you can find a little more "depth" in the colours that could look very good too.

Johan
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/jhnal/

LorenKy said:

You're funny, tiny imaginary people. I didn't notice either until someone else pointed them out. They are near the trees in the front of this photo.

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Right LorenKy, the tiny imaginary people are driving tiny imaginary campers and cars and all this is parked under the trees ... and yes, as Cris said it all could be cloned away with Elements.

Best regards from "someone"

LorenKy said:

As for the EV on the ZS3, I already had it set to -2/3, as I did the FZ35, that's why I surprised it was lighter than the FZ35.

Click to expand...

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Bruno

LOL, sorry for the "someone" quote. I had started the post and didn't want to lose it by paging back to find out who I was quoting. No offense meant.

The ZS3 pics definitely don't look as they should. I see you mentioned the forced flash being on, and that really shouldn't cause the overexposure. I tried a quick shot with my ZS3 with and without forced flash, and they looked identical.

Then I thought maybe you were using spot metering, but the EXIF doesn't show that you were. And, with exposure bias at -2/3 stop, they just look too light. The photo of the falls from the swinging bridge (I think) with the large expanse of water and dark trees middle and bottom, maybe we could figure the camera was fooled and tried to lighten up those dark areas, but the ZS3 pics are consistently overexposed.

I looked at a similar shot of mine (Yosemite Falls from across the meadow) from roughly the same time, and the exposure was ISO80, f/5.6 at 1/500. Yours was ISO100, f/4.5 at 1/500, which makes it about 1 stop overexposed, which looks about right. But I don't understand why. The ZS3 normally exposes pretty well. Perhaps if you reset the camera in the menu, it might get rid of some obscure setting causing this, but I'd say it's definitely not exposing the photos as it should. I think you can do a significant amount of repair on them with a bit of levels or curves adjustment in a photo editor, but if you have backups made with the FZ35, there's no need.

But Yosemite looks great, and your FZ35 pix really bring out the richness and color...you picked a great time to visit.
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Gary
Photo albums: http://www.pbase.com/roberthouse

LorenKy said:

LOL, sorry for the "someone" quote. I had started the post and didn't want to lose it by paging back to find out who I was quoting. No offense meant.

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No hard feelings, Loren ... have you managed to chase away the little imaginary people an vehicles?

Best regards...
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Bruno

Well, I have the Photoshop software downloaded in my computer but haven't really played with it at all. So it will take me a while to figure out how to use it. Then I'll try to chase away the little people and do some other PP. If I even need to. They are so small perhaps they wouldn't really hurt the photo, I'll take a look when I get the 4x6 prints. Thanks again.

LorenKy- yes, agree, Glacier Point provides a panoromic feast for the eyes. We may be back there next year, not sure, as there are so many places we've yet to see and it's a big trek from the UK. Thanks