out walking today..c+c appreciated!

[webby]

We were out walking up Rivington today and I took a few shots, all in aperture priority mode as I am learning the basics and working through the beginners techniques from one of the magazines out! I have had a play with them but only adjusted brightness, contrast and levels (although with the levels I am still unsure as what to do so just played until I thought it looked OK). It was windy and cloudy up there and I wondered what you would all do to these photos especially the sky - or do you leave it as it is? Here goes:

1.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/1604/DSC_0282adj.jpg

2.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/1604/DSC_0286adj.jpg


3.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/1604/DSC_0304adj.jpg

4.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/1604/DSC_0318adj.jpg

5.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/1604/DSC_0298adj.jpg

6.
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/1604/305adj.jpg

Any tips appreciated!

[hypnotic]

The weather has not helped your shots here.

Some of the horizons are a little out.

I think that all could benefit from a little sharpen and increase the saturation a tad.

#5 is the best imo ....

[Wookie]

you're definately struggling with the sky there!

I have a lot of similar problems, but slowly getting to grips with it.

a few things to check:

- did you use a lens hood? No. 4 looks like it was shooting close to direct into the sun and its blownout a lot of the sky in the left side. A hood will help to reduce the stray light bouncing around your lens and washing out the colours.
- what metering system were you set to? sorry but I dont know the options on your camera so others will have to chip in, but looks like you were taking the metering off the foreground, the bright sky then overwhelms the sensor and it maxs out. Your alternative would be a more average metering system.
- Do you use the histogram when you are shooting to check your exposure? the histogram will allow you to adjust the exposure so its within the sensor's limits
- do you shoot raw or Jpeg? raw has a bigger range so its possible to extract more from the picture in post processing, by tweaking the curves, selectively adjusting areas or using HDR.

whatever you do the difference in exposure for skies and foreground always seem to be a problem (its not just you), unless you are doing HDR processing (combining multiple exposures), and so you may want to do a search of the forum on the benefits of a circular polarizing filter (CPL) and graduated neutral density filters (ND grads) which can be used to stack the odds better in your favour.

[webby]

Wookie, no I didn't use a lens hood, I am just getting used to the camera and am new to DSLR's I have now put that on my A list of what to buy next. Its advice like that which I am after - you never know what are the essential buys. I have been looking up filters etc recently and they look like a very useful tool.
As for metering I have been so focused on the apertures that I have not even looked at metering at all so its whatever the camera was set at!! Will have to look at that as I haven't a clue where to start. I have a Nikon D40 so any help from anyone is much appreciated.

I have shot these in JPEG but will change to shooting in RAW, I have done so on a few shots and tweaked them using the Nikon software but just wanted to get the basics in my head first.

As for the histogram, no I haven't used it when shooting - I get confused with how it is supposed to look! Is it supposed to be even all across or more to the right/left etc?.

I have an awful lot to learn!!

Thanks again for the advice. Sue

[gibbo]

you're definately struggling with the sky there!

I have a lot of similar problems, but slowly getting to grips with it.

a few things to check:

- did you use a lens hood? No. 4 looks like it was shooting close to direct into the sun and its blownout a lot of the sky in the left side. A hood will help to reduce the stray light bouncing around your lens and washing out the colours.
- what metering system were you set to? sorry but I dont know the options on your camera so others will have to chip in, but looks like you were taking the metering off the foreground, the bright sky then overwhelms the sensor and it maxs out. Your alternative would be a more average metering system.
- Do you use the histogram when you are shooting to check your exposure? the histogram will allow you to adjust the exposure so its within the sensor's limits
- do you shoot raw or Jpeg? raw has a bigger range so its possible to extract more from the picture in post processing, by tweaking the curves, selectively adjusting areas or using HDR.

whatever you do the difference in exposure for skies and foreground always seem to be a problem (its not just you), unless you are doing HDR processing (combining multiple exposures), and so you may want to do a search of the forum on the benefits of a circular polarizing filter (CPL) and graduated neutral density filters (ND grads) which can be used to stack the odds better in your favour.

:agree: But take a step at a time, dont forget enjoy what you are doing. :thumbs:
Great set though good start :clap:
Next time out try a quick fix and bracket your shots to help your landscape shots for now.
The ND filters & ND Grad are very usefull.
Just checked your exif on your 4th shot
ISO up very high 1600
1/400 sec f16
just noticed your gain on high, not too sure but I think this might blow out the sky a bit. (Is this in your cameras menu somewhere)
Hope someone else might help here :shrug:

[Bumph GB]

If i where you i`d go back to auto in these sort of shots, start to annalize your exif data to give you an idea of what you need to do in manual mode. Also, a grad filter will really help the blown skies. Oh yes, your iso really needs to be kept as low as possible when shooting.

[webby]

Thanks for the advice will take it all onboard and keep trying, I'm sure I will get there eventually, there's just so much to learn!! I had the ISO so high as I thought it would help with the light oops obviously completely off mark there!

[Wookie]

Simplified:

A higher ISO gives the sensor more sensitivity (just like high ISO/ASA film). The downside is it needs more power through the sensor which heats it up and it can also pick up more stray light. So with increased sensitivity you also get more noise which is like a random unevenness in the colours (equivalent and similar to graininess on film)

High iso is particularly useful if there is very little light available. With high iso you need less light for the same shot so can increase shutter speed or decrease aperture (bigger aperture F number)

Outside in good light high ISO wont be needed, and unless you are doing something wierd you can usually set the iso quite low to improve quality.

Shots like you were taking (lanscapes & static people) you dont need a fast shutter, just fast enough to avoid shake (unless you have a tripod). For hand holding to avoid shakes the rule of thumb is if the lens is at 50mm you need 1/50th second minimum, at 100mm you need 1/100th second minimum, at 300mm you need 1/300th second minimum. Err on the side of caution if possible with the light available and go for a faster shutter speed to make sure the shots are crisp. If you cant get the minimum shutter necessary for the aperture you've selected to get the required depth of field then thats when you increase the ISO setting.
Note: Shooting stuff that's moving is a slightly different problem.

[webby]

:thumbs:Thanks again Wookie.

[Wookie]

no problem, I'm really good at getting them wrong myself, then looking at the results and thinking "what I should have done is . . . . "