Beginners and landscapes / sunsets

[LongLensPhotography]

[censored]

 

[Derek897]

I don't shoot much landscape, so thanks for taking the time to write this up.
Always good to get helpful advice from someone with more experience.

 

[Nostromo]

I don't really do landscapes, mainly because I don't have the time to travel to the right locations, so i mainly stick to my local area.
For me, subject and light are the two most important factors (in I would say all photography).
I have found (in my limited experience of sunsets) that keeping the shadows light enough is my biggest challenge. I bracket shots and blend them together in photoshop (not hdr as such).
Only last night I went out with camera and tripod in hand for a bit of practice (it wasn't really about the scene so much, more about trying to improve) and although my foreground was light enough, the tree in mid shot was still really quite dark.
Sometimes I think new or inexperienced members on this forum are slightly put off from posting their photos after looking at some of the wonderful photos others post.
Thanks for taking the time to put a little tutorial together.

 

[Andy Into The Wild]

Great tips!

 

[DG Phototraining]

Good stuff

The only thing I disagree with is the use of Histograms, which I find pointless, but I know many swear by them and as long as the result is good who cares how its achieved

Dave

 

[LongLensPhotography]

Sometimes I think new or inexperienced members on this forum are slightly put off from posting their photos after looking at some of the wonderful photos others post.

While this may always happen, great images serve as an inspiration and should motivate to go out and celebrate the outdoors and strive for better results. I wouldn't like to imagine a world without something to aspire to.

I personally really like the work of Peter Lik for example. While some would argue his work is overpriced and cliched you have to agree the images are top notch.

I have found (in my limited experience of sunsets) that keeping the shadows light enough is my biggest challenge. I bracket shots and blend them together in photoshop (not hdr as such).

Lightroom technically produces a HDR image, but it is not tonemapped therefore it can be processed just like a regular exposure. The usual rules apply and from personal experience you have to be a little bit more careful with highlights recovery. It can easily create artifacts so whenever possible you want to use local adjustments for exposure compensation and other subtle tweaks.

Lightroom HDR only work well if nothing at all has moved. Any movement in trees, water, people creates ghosts and other artifacts. In this case it is best to combine two or three exposures by hand in photoshop.

My approach is to edit the darkest file just as like in Lightroom (ignore the excessive noise!), sync settings across to the others and match exposures. They should all look identical except for some blown highlights or noise, respectively. All you have to do then is open them up as layers in PS and just mask out bits as desired.
I am sure there are other ways but this is what works for me. Image 4 was produced in this way. (LR HDR merge wasn't available back then - I would expect it would produce very reasonable results in that case).

Photoshop HDR on the other hand is best avoided for anything but very specialist applications.

 

[nandbytes]

I must say I really enjoyed looking through your website and certainly very inspirational. Kinda shows me how much of a beginner I am

 

[Kingo46]

thanks for the tips landscapes is one I want to get into

 

[Mr Perceptive]

Good stuff

The only thing I disagree with is the use of Histograms, which I find pointless, but I know many swear by them and as long as the result is good who cares how its achieved

Dave

There are two sides to this, yes you are correct 'as long as the result is good' but using the histogram correctly makes best use of the dynamic range of the camera, thus giving a better base from which to work from.

 

[DG Phototraining]

There are two sides to this, yes you are correct 'as long as the result is good' but using the histogram correctly makes best use of the dynamic range of the camera, thus giving a better base from which to work from.

No it doesn't - but this isn't the thread to debate that again

Dave

 

[GlennW]

I personally really like the work of Peter Lik for example. While some would argue his work is overpriced and cliched you have to agree the images are top notch.

No, you don't have to agree the images are top notch. Nothing to do with price or cliché, everything to do with style (and sometimes composition). I prefer not to have my eyes bleed through ludicrous over saturation.