not sure if its the right place to put this but i am after some help/feedback.
i really love my golf course photography but struggle to get nice crisp pictures, there are always shaddows, bright sun light, low sun light etc that just provide a stumbling block for me and then when i get home to get a picture half decent it needs editing so much it goes grainy.
here is one below that is as it was straight out the camera no messing. the colour of the sky and sharpness of the image is just lost and it bugs me. i have an eos 60d and 24-105 L lens so i have no one excuse. Any help will be much appreciated.
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At least you've learned one of the most important lessons early: You can't edit a crap image into a good image. Photography is not about editing, it's about... get this... you sitting down?... it's about photography!
The biggest issue with that shot is the light. Almost all of the visible golf course in that shot is in shadow, yet all the sky has hazy cloud being lit by direct sunlight. In short, it's contrasty lighting. No camera copes with such lighting well as the differences between light and dark are pronounced. You just need to be shooting at a different time of day. Re-visit the same place at different times of day, and in different weather types. Great landscapes need great lighting. How you define great is up to you, as there's no one measure of such things, but harsh, contrasty sunlight combined with shadows isn't it, trust me. With the shot you posted, if that was before sunset, then try again at sunrise, so the sun actually falls on the golf course instead of putting it into shadow. Just try all different times of day.
Don't under estimate a cloudy day. People always assume that the sun must be shining in photographs. Why is this? They look out of the window, see a grey sky, and just don't bother shooting. For me a grey sky is a fabulous time to shoot. Lovely diffused light, low contrast etc. I love it.. there are gaps at each end of the histogram you can drive a bus through, which means you've captured everything with no compromise. Sometimes a nice overcast day can make certain subjects look beautiful too,
Like Jannyfox said think about the light, to me the interesting bit is the light falling on the trees on the left side and the reflections in the water
As you have got image editing turned on I have had a little play.
Boosted contrast,taken out some of the extraneous bits, sharpened and cropped out quite a lot of the RHS .
You've achieved nothing. The answer is NOT editing. The image has poor lighting. Why even bother messing with it? It's encouraging beginners to assume that the enswer is editing. It's not.
i think one of my biggest stumbling blocks is that the holes decide where i shoot from. Would using a ND graduated filter help me out in situations where the sun was just too bright/low to shoot into?
Possibly. It will certainly help the bright sky issue, but it brings it own issues, such as overlapping into the ground and darkening hills etc. You could use a tripod and cable release, and take a set of bracketed exposures too, then blend them, but really.... these are all very complicated solutions when the answer is simple. Just shoot in different light.
