[Pic] Tonight's sunet...

Hi everyone,

Ok, I promise that this is my last post for today But I just had to share this unbelievable sunset with all of you. This was taken tonight from Carkeek Park in Northwest Seattle.

S2 with 20 mm 2.8 Nikkor lens. Hand-held. 1/125 sec. F8. ISO 200. Shot in RAW then to 16 bit tiff then to 8 bit tiff then to JPEG and then resized for the web. On this particular shot, I made 2 conversions from the RAW file, one exposed for the sky and the second exposed for the water and then combined the two images. This works particularly well for sunset shots where the forground can get lost due to the high shutter speed necessary to properly expose the setting sun. But here comes RAW to the rescue. The thing to remember is that your original shot should be taken in such a way as to preserve the proper exposure of the sun (so your highlights don't get blown out) and then bring out the shadow detail by making a second conversion from the orginal RAW file with some positive exposure compensation (1 to 2 stops, depending on the situation). On this shot, I also adjusted the color curves and the levels to get proper contrast and color balance. I think I may even print this one out and hang it. What do you guys think?

Mahesh



--


A picture is worth a thousand words...but a great picture is indescribable.

--Mahesh Thapa

Outstanding color Mahesh. That is a cool technique to pull out the detail!

Don

Mahesh Thapa said:

Hi everyone,

Ok, I promise that this is my last post for today But I just
had to share this unbelievable sunset with all of you. This was
taken tonight from Carkeek Park in Northwest Seattle.

S2 with 20 mm 2.8 Nikkor lens. Hand-held. 1/125 sec. F8. ISO
200. Shot in RAW then to 16 bit tiff then to 8 bit tiff then to
JPEG and then resized for the web. On this particular shot, I
made 2 conversions from the RAW file, one exposed for the sky and
the second exposed for the water and then combined the two images.
This works particularly well for sunset shots where the forground
can get lost due to the high shutter speed necessary to properly
expose the setting sun. But here comes RAW to the rescue. The
thing to remember is that your original shot should be taken in
such a way as to preserve the proper exposure of the sun (so your
highlights don't get blown out) and then bring out the shadow
detail by making a second conversion from the orginal RAW file with
some positive exposure compensation (1 to 2 stops, depending on the
situation). On this shot, I also adjusted the color curves and the
levels to get proper contrast and color balance. I think I may
even print this one out and hang it. What do you guys think?

Mahesh



--


A picture is worth a thousand words...but a great picture is
indescribable.

--Mahesh Thapa

Click to expand...

Thanks Don! I think I'm going to be using this technique a lot. Thank God for linear conversion RAW!

Don Henderson said:

Outstanding color Mahesh. That is a cool technique to pull out the
detail!

Don

Click to expand...

--


A picture is worth a thousand words...but a great picture is indescribable.

--Mahesh Thapa

Darn it! I was sitting in my office looking out the window about 4:30 and the sky looked really cool....First thought in my head was "bet Mahesh is setting up right now!" No Joke!!

Excellent work buddy!

Teski

Mahesh Thapa said:

Hi everyone,

Ok, I promise that this is my last post for today But I just
had to share this unbelievable sunset with all of you. This was
taken tonight from Carkeek Park in Northwest Seattle.

S2 with 20 mm 2.8 Nikkor lens. Hand-held. 1/125 sec. F8. ISO
200. Shot in RAW then to 16 bit tiff then to 8 bit tiff then to
JPEG and then resized for the web. On this particular shot, I
made 2 conversions from the RAW file, one exposed for the sky and
the second exposed for the water and then combined the two images.
This works particularly well for sunset shots where the forground
can get lost due to the high shutter speed necessary to properly
expose the setting sun. But here comes RAW to the rescue. The
thing to remember is that your original shot should be taken in
such a way as to preserve the proper exposure of the sun (so your
highlights don't get blown out) and then bring out the shadow
detail by making a second conversion from the orginal RAW file with
some positive exposure compensation (1 to 2 stops, depending on the
situation). On this shot, I also adjusted the color curves and the
levels to get proper contrast and color balance. I think I may
even print this one out and hang it. What do you guys think?

Mahesh



--


A picture is worth a thousand words...but a great picture is
indescribable.

--Mahesh Thapa

Click to expand...

teski said:

Darn it! I was sitting in my office looking out the window about
4:30 and the sky looked really cool....First thought in my head was
"bet Mahesh is setting up right now!" No Joke!!

Excellent work buddy!

Teski

Click to expand...

Thanks, bud.

LOL! Were you really thinking that? Because I was wondering if you got out early to do some sunset shooting...that's sooo funny! Great minds think alike, and so do yours and mine. Hehe! All we need now is for Dioni to post something to the same effect.

--


A picture is worth a thousand words...but a great picture is indescribable.

--Mahesh Thapa

Mahesh said:

teski said:

Darn it! I was sitting in my office looking out the window about
4:30 and the sky looked really cool....First thought in my head was
"bet Mahesh is setting up right now!" No Joke!!

Excellent work buddy!

Teski

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

No only that, I went over to the other side to try to catch the light show sunset on the mountains too with my 80-200 and turned around and saw the real one this evening.. I missed them both!.
Ok, Mahesh gets the credits again!

MH

Ok, Mahesh....now you have my curiousity dancing..

I have yet to leave the Fine/jpg mode simply because of all the extra work involved with RAW conversion - not to mention the larger files sizes.

Now I am wondering if I am truly losing something or missing out here.

From your earlier posts, it seemed as though you were doing the same as I am doing now - staying in .jpg mode. However, you seem to be taking a lot more pic in RAW mode. I am familiar with the "lossless picture information" in RAW, but is it really that more advantageous over Fine/.jpg?

Would I do myself a favor working in RAW and what kind of shots work best in that mode?

I very much enjoy everyone who posts here and love the information and criticism I receive here (with the exception of one person, but I will not go there.)

Thank you so much,

Ayrow

Mahesh Thapa said:

teski said:

Darn it! I was sitting in my office looking out the window about
4:30 and the sky looked really cool....First thought in my head was
"bet Mahesh is setting up right now!" No Joke!!

Excellent work buddy!

Teski

Click to expand...

Thanks, bud.

LOL! Were you really thinking that? Because I was wondering
if you got out early to do some sunset shooting...that's sooo
funny! Great minds think alike, and so do yours and mine.
Hehe! All we need now is for Dioni to post something to the
same effect.

--


A picture is worth a thousand words...but a great picture is
indescribable.

--Mahesh Thapa

Click to expand...

--
http://www.ayrow.com

Ayrow said:

Ok, Mahesh....now you have my curiousity dancing..

I have yet to leave the Fine/jpg mode simply because of all the
extra work involved with RAW conversion - not to mention the larger
files sizes.

Now I am wondering if I am truly losing something or missing out here.
From your earlier posts, it seemed as though you were doing the
same as I am doing now - staying in .jpg mode. However, you seem
to be taking a lot more pic in RAW mode. I am familiar with the
"lossless picture information" in RAW, but is it really that more
advantageous over Fine/.jpg?

Would I do myself a favor working in RAW and what kind of shots
work best in that mode?

I very much enjoy everyone who posts here and love the information
and criticism I receive here (with the exception of one person, but
I will not go there.)

Thank you so much,

Ayrow

http://www.ayrow.com

Click to expand...

Hi Ayrow,

I still shoot mostly in JPEG mode but certain shots I do go over to RAW. It all depends, really. For example, if I'm going somewhere to shoot for the entire day and know I'll be taking a lot of shots (eg, the zoo), then I go with Fing JPEG. However, if I know I won't be taking a lot of picts then I go ahead and shoot RAW. I'm still learning with RAW and the more I shoot with it, the better I get at manipulating it to the way I want. Also if there is a great shot that presents itself, then I go over to RAW. It's just a question of how much manipulation a picture can stand. With a "must have" picture I try to give myself all the room to maneuver and that means I have to shoot that shot in RAW. It's not to say fine JPEG is bad. In fact, I can't tell the difference between RAW and a JPEG image that's nearly perfectly shot (by that I mean, exposure and shaprness). But if you have to do some manipulation then it's much better to do it on a RAW file that has been converted to 16 bit TIFF. I don't know if what I've said makes a lot of sense, but that's my rule of thumb about when to and when not to shoot in RAW. What ever the case, I encourage you to shoot more often in RAW just to get familiar with it. Then you can decide for yourself if the payoff is worth the effort. The more you use RAW the more comfortable you will become with it and the more you'll get a sense of when it's appropriate and when you can do without it. There are no shortcuts to this, Ayrow...you just gotta put the time in and experiment.

Mahesh

--


A picture is worth a thousand words...but a great picture is indescribable.

--Mahesh Thapa

M. Haner said:

MVH said:

teski said:

Darn it! I was sitting in my office looking out the window about
4:30 and the sky looked really cool....First thought in my head was
"bet Mahesh is setting up right now!" No Joke!!

Excellent work buddy!

Teski

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

No only that, I went over to the other side to try to catch the
light show sunset on the mountains too with my 80-200 and turned
around and saw the real one this evening.. I missed them both!.
Ok, Mahesh gets the credits again!

MH

Click to expand...

Thanks, MH. Sorry you missed both oppertunities. But you have plenty of other great shots to more than make up for the ones you missed tonight.

--


A picture is worth a thousand words...but a great picture is indescribable.

--Mahesh Thapa

Yup, I was really thinking that! I was thinking I should bail early, but I didn't have my tripod so I figured there wasn't too much of a point. But I knew you would have my back on catching that one!

Teski

Mahesh Thapa said:

teski said:

Darn it! I was sitting in my office looking out the window about
4:30 and the sky looked really cool....First thought in my head was
"bet Mahesh is setting up right now!" No Joke!!

Excellent work buddy!

Teski

Click to expand...

Thanks, bud.

LOL! Were you really thinking that? Because I was wondering
if you got out early to do some sunset shooting...that's sooo
funny! Great minds think alike, and so do yours and mine.
Hehe! All we need now is for Dioni to post something to the
same effect.

--


A picture is worth a thousand words...but a great picture is
indescribable.

--Mahesh Thapa

Click to expand...

Another spectacular pic Mahesh I was looking across the Narrows and thought there might be some good light in a half hour, got my stuff out on the deck to cool down, then went back to work and missed it Ah well, it ain't like it's the last one or anything. That's a great technique for increasing tonality, and with raw you dont' have to take multiple shots.
Paul.

Mahesh said:

A picture is worth a thousand words...but a great picture is
indescribable.

Click to expand...

Mahesh said:

--Mahesh Thapa

Click to expand...

incredible reds - especially the reflections. I thought that should work - converting a file twice and combining, I must try it soon. thanks for posting.
--
Leonard

Its a pretty picture in terms of color but you have taken much better shots that are more desireably printable.

This pic is all too common. Have you heard of the expression, "Beauty is only skin deep?" Its just surface beauty.

Mahesh Thapa said:

Hi everyone,

Ok, I promise that this is my last post for today But I just
had to share this unbelievable sunset with all of you. This was
taken tonight from Carkeek Park in Northwest Seattle.

S2 with 20 mm 2.8 Nikkor lens. Hand-held. 1/125 sec. F8. ISO
200. Shot in RAW then to 16 bit tiff then to 8 bit tiff then to
JPEG and then resized for the web. On this particular shot, I
made 2 conversions from the RAW file, one exposed for the sky and
the second exposed for the water and then combined the two images.
This works particularly well for sunset shots where the forground
can get lost due to the high shutter speed necessary to properly
expose the setting sun. But here comes RAW to the rescue. The
thing to remember is that your original shot should be taken in
such a way as to preserve the proper exposure of the sun (so your
highlights don't get blown out) and then bring out the shadow
detail by making a second conversion from the orginal RAW file with
some positive exposure compensation (1 to 2 stops, depending on the
situation). On this shot, I also adjusted the color curves and the
levels to get proper contrast and color balance. I think I may
even print this one out and hang it. What do you guys think?

Mahesh



--


A picture is worth a thousand words...but a great picture is
indescribable.

--Mahesh Thapa

Click to expand...

--
Have a good day!

Paul N said:

Another spectacular pic Mahesh I was looking across the Narrows
and thought there might be some good light in a half hour, got my
stuff out on the deck to cool down, then went back to work and
missed it Ah well, it ain't like it's the last one or anything.
That's a great technique for increasing tonality, and with raw you
dont' have to take multiple shots.
Paul.

Click to expand...

Thanks, bud. Sorry about your missing the oppertunity, but as you said, it's not like this is the last sunset. Ya, RAW is simply awesome for increasing tonality. Take care.

--


A picture is worth a thousand words...but a great picture is indescribable.

--Mahesh Thapa

leonard callow said:

leonard callow said:

A picture is worth a thousand words...but a great picture is
indescribable.

Click to expand...

leonard callow said:

--Mahesh Thapa

Click to expand...

incredible reds - especially the reflections. I thought that should
work - converting a file twice and combining, I must try it soon.
thanks for posting.
--
Leonard

Click to expand...

Thanks, Leonard. Ya, try the double conversion and combining technique. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised to see how many pictures are tatally salvagable.

--


A picture is worth a thousand words...but a great picture is indescribable.

--Mahesh Thapa

SongMi said:

Its a pretty picture in terms of color but you have taken much
better shots that are more desireably printable.

This pic is all too common. Have you heard of the expression,
"Beauty is only skin deep?" Its just surface beauty.

--
Have a good day!

Click to expand...

Hi SongMi,

As always, I appreciate your candor. Maybe it's me, but I just love sunset pictures, even though they may be a dime a dozen. You're right when you say that beauty is only skin deep, but I'll refer you to another "beauty" cliche: "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Take care, SongMi and please keep posting any criticisms you may have for my work...it's good to get as many differing opinions as posible.

--


A picture is worth a thousand words...but a great picture is indescribable.

--Mahesh Thapa

teski said:

Teski

Teski said:

--


A picture is worth a thousand words...but a great picture is
indescribable.

--Mahesh Thapa

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Hi bud,

For sunset shots, you don't really need a tripod because you should be exposing for the sun which will increase your shutter speed. So no more excuses for you to not leave work early!

--


A picture is worth a thousand words...but a great picture is indescribable.

--Mahesh Thapa

Now, I know why you did not respond to my email )

Emails you can put off, but sunset like this does not happen everyday.

Eventhough 'some people' think it's only 'skin beauti', it worth the good ink for me.

Print it!
The'

It's the uniqueness of this shot that makes it what it is, rather than just another sunset shot. Sunsets are a dime a dozen, but not many to measure up to this one. If I were you, I would certainly frame it!!!

Robert Clark

Mahesh Thapa said:

Hi everyone,

Ok, I promise that this is my last post for today But I just
had to share this unbelievable sunset with all of you. This was
taken tonight from Carkeek Park in Northwest Seattle.

Click to expand...

Dear All,

First of all, as always: Mahesh, great picture. And yes, you know it, we all know it and many admire your skills...

But, to the point:

It is becoming somewhat of a bore, seeing the same line of messages from all the same people again and again...

I thought sites like pbase are intended for showing off our work, and the ranting and raving that goes along with it. Feathers in the hat or up the butt and all that. Fine. But do we have to be pseudo-modest twice each day sending our latest shots in and wait for the obligatory compliments on a forum site ?

I am sorry to say this, but I am starting to wish I had a filter option on dpreview forums. I really can't see what these constant picture posts contribute to the forum, unless a picture is shown to demonstrate a specific feature or fault in the camera or when it is so exclusive the world can't go without having seen it...

Please let's stick to exchanging experiences, tell about the problems we face using the Fuji digital SLR's and asking questions we need the answers to.

Just my opinion.

Mahesh Thapa said:

Hi everyone,

Ok, I promise that this is my last post for today But I just
had to share this unbelievable sunset with all of you. This was
taken tonight from Carkeek Park in Northwest Seattle.

S2 with 20 mm 2.8 Nikkor lens. Hand-held. 1/125 sec. F8. ISO
200. Shot in RAW then to 16 bit tiff then to 8 bit tiff then to
JPEG and then resized for the web. On this particular shot, I
made 2 conversions from the RAW file, one exposed for the sky and
the second exposed for the water and then combined the two images.
This works particularly well for sunset shots where the forground
can get lost due to the high shutter speed necessary to properly
expose the setting sun. But here comes RAW to the rescue. The
thing to remember is that your original shot should be taken in
such a way as to preserve the proper exposure of the sun (so your
highlights don't get blown out) and then bring out the shadow
detail by making a second conversion from the orginal RAW file with
some positive exposure compensation (1 to 2 stops, depending on the
situation). On this shot, I also adjusted the color curves and the
levels to get proper contrast and color balance. I think I may
even print this one out and hang it. What do you guys think?

Mahesh



--


A picture is worth a thousand words...but a great picture is
indescribable.

--Mahesh Thapa

Click to expand...

--
http://www.pbase.com/suredeath
Olympus CL1400 & FinePix S2Pro,
Nikkor AF 35-80/1:4.5-5.6,
Nikkor 75-300/1:4.5-5.6,
Tamron SP AF90mm/1:2.8D MACRO
Sigma AF18-35/1:3.4-4.5D Asf
Sigma Ef430ST Flash