Beginner What have I done wrong here?

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Moorhouse

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Hi all,

Hope this is ok. I've recently been getting into photography and had a Fujifilm X-T20 with XC 16-50mm lens. I've been reading up on a lot of tutorials but feel the best way to learn is get out there with my camera and practice practice practice. So far I've had some half decent shots which I'm happy with.

I went out today on a longer walk up Pen-y-ghent and took many, many pictures. They all looked ok at the time through the viewfinder but on returning home, they're absolutely awful quality.

I've had the camera on S mode, shutter speed on auto. Close up shots seem to be clear and sharp, but all of my more landscape shots are terrible and murky.

REkO43q.jpg


5uyIB08.jpg


Can anybody think of an obvious issue that I'm doing?

Thanks,
 
What settings did it choose, can you show the SS, Aperture and ISO, are these jpeg straight out of camera?
 
Hi Rick,

On the landscape shot, it's telling me from the raw fuji image:

Dimensions: 6000 x 4000
Exposure: 1/1600 sec at f / 22
Focal length: 16 mm
ISO Speed: ISO 12800
 
Drop down your aperture a few stops and you can reduce your ISO, that will help with the murkiness/noise.
 
Moorhouse said:
Hi Rick,

On the landscape shot, it's telling me from the raw fuji image:

Dimensions: 6000 x 4000
Exposure: 1/1600 sec at f / 22
Focal length: 16 mm
ISO Speed: ISO 12800
Click to expand...

You settings are basically all over the place and perfect for turning any photo to mush which is what you noticed.

On APS-C you should not go beyond f8 (f11 at a stretch) anything beyond that and lens diffraction with soften your image.
ISO12800 is really high and to compensate your camera may have applied noise reduction which causes a loss in a lot of details and if you turn of noice reduction your images will be very niosey.

Both of these can be reduced to sensible numbers, plus by reducing the unnecessarily fast shutter speed of 1/1600. For landscapes shot at 16mm you could probably go as low as 1/6s or 1/3s with good handholding technique or to 1/25s to be on safer side.
 
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Thanks for the advice. Glad it's something obvious to my settings.

So presumably, I should take the shutter speed off auto and manually adjust this in the future? (I've had the dial set to A which I assume is automatic).
 
The root of the problem is sky high ISO and associated noise reduction it applied - and that was needed because aperture number should have been lower and shutter was much faster than needed. Even handheld you'd be OK with shutter about 1/200 and about F:8 - then ISO would have been 200-400 if not lower.
 
Moorhouse said:
Thanks for the advice. Glad it's something obvious to my settings.

So presumably, I should take the shutter speed off auto and manually adjust this in the future? (I've had the dial set to A which I assume is automatic).
Click to expand...

Really depends on the situation and what what you are trying to shoot. Both shutter speed and aperture can be used creatively. On a basic level they both control the amount of light falling in your cameras sensor. On a slightly more advanced level aperture also controls depth of field and shutter speed controls motion blur (or lack thereof).
I find this website rather good at explaining the basics - https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/

Good luck.
 
Looks like you have your solution here now, I'd give F8 or 11 a go and take it rom there, F22 is meaning your ISO is high, plus you are into diffraction territory,
 
Cos no one else has mentioned it.

Even with the correct settings, those images are never going to be punchy. they're shot under a large flat sky, a clear sky allows the sun to be a point light source which creates shadows - contrast. The cloudy overcast sky is the equivalent of a massive softbox, creating no shadows at all and therefore no apparent contrast.

But - those settings are bizarre, you could have got a high enough shutter speed at f8 at a low ISO. back of a fag packet I reckon 1/500 f8 would have been ISO 200 (ish) but I could be way out.
 
Thanks for the advice everyone, much appreciated.

I'll give the Cambridgeincolour site a look, I think I need it!

Will head back out and keep a closer eye on my settings next time.

Thanks again,
 
As others have said, your settings are all over the place and a combination of tiny aperture and sky high ISO is a recipe for a soft image. I would say that if you're going to be shooting landscapes then your best bet is to put the camera in aperture priority mode (A), and aim for anywhere between f8 and f11. Anything beyond f11 you're going to start getting into diffraction territory which will soften the image.

As others have also said, you're shooting under a large, flat, grey sky which is another recipe for a dull and muddy image. There is no directional light and hence no shadows to create depth, contrast and colour in the image. I notice you said you're shooting in raw, have you processed these at all? They look like straight out of camera raw files to me which will again be incredibly flat and dull.
 
RichardC27 said:
As others have said, your settings are all over the place and a combination of tiny aperture and sky high ISO is a recipe for a soft image. I would say that if you're going to be shooting landscapes then your best bet is to put the camera in aperture priority mode (A), and aim for anywhere between f8 and f11. Anything beyond f11 you're going to start getting into diffraction territory which will soften the image.

As others have also said, you're shooting under a large, flat, grey sky which is another recipe for a dull and muddy image. There is no directional light and hence no shadows to create depth, contrast and colour in the image. I notice you said you're shooting in raw, have you processed these at all? They look like straight out of camera raw files to me which will again be incredibly flat and dull.
Click to expand...
Thanks Richard, I'm still heading out and practicing but as you and others have said; there's a lot of grey, dull skies at the moment so not ideal.

I've not edited them, I just wanted people to see the raw image. I've bought myself Lightroom so I'm sure I'll have plenty more questions as soon as I get to grips with taking half decent pictures!

Cheers
 
Moorhouse said:
Thanks Richard, I'm still heading out and practicing but as you and others have said; there's a lot of grey, dull skies at the moment so not ideal.

I've not edited them, I just wanted people to see the raw image. I've bought myself Lightroom so I'm sure I'll have plenty more questions as soon as I get to grips with taking half decent pictures!

Cheers
Click to expand...

Not editing them will be a huge part of the reason they look ok on your camera screen and not on your pc when you got home. Every raw file has a small jpeg embedded within it. Jpeg files are processed within the camera, and this embedded preview is what you see on your camera screen when checking the photo. A raw file is a raw output from the image sensor which will always look flat, dull and soft. Process them and they'll look much better
 
Moorhouse said:
Hi Rick,

On the landscape shot, it's telling me from the raw fuji image:

Dimensions: 6000 x 4000
Exposure: 1/1600 sec at f / 22
Focal length: 16 mm
ISO Speed: ISO 12800
Click to expand...


you should easily be able to hand hold at 1/100 so lets look at that

shutter speed stops

1/1600
1/800
1/400
1/200
1/100

that is 4 stops lower

smallest aperture is often not best quality so bring down 1 or 2 stops

f/22
f/16
f/11

so 6 stops lower and lower ISO is nearly always better

12800
6400
3200
1600
800
400
200

so we end up with 1/100s, f/11 @ ISO 200 - that would have made a huge difference to quality

Mike
 
Moorhouse said:
Hi Rick,

On the landscape shot, it's telling me from the raw fuji image:

Dimensions: 6000 x 4000
Exposure: 1/1600 sec at f / 22
Focal length: 16 mm
ISO Speed: ISO 12800
Click to expand...
Totally agree with the other members here. I rarely go over 400iso to avoid noisy images. A tripod or even just your camera bag as a support and using the self timer allows you to shoot a decent small aperture and avoid noise.
One benifit of using a bag as a support is it forces you to a lower viewpoint which can produce a different image
 
Moorhouse said:
Thanks for the advice. Glad it's something obvious to my settings.

So presumably, I should take the shutter speed off auto and manually adjust this in the future? (I've had the dial set to A which I assume is automatic).
Click to expand...
A = Aperture priority, the best mode for landscape, select F8-16 and let the camera sort the shutterspeed, but also select the iso, something like 200iso and accept the lower shutterspeed, using a tripod/wall rock or your camera bag to support the camera. The 2second self timer can be a godsend to avoid shaking the camera whilst releasing the shutter (and avoids having to buy a remote release)
Tripods can be picked up for next to nothing on Facebook marketplace, look for a Manfrotto or similar quality
 
david77 said:
A = Aperture priority, the best mode for landscape, select F8-16 and let the camera sort the shutterspeed, but also select the iso, something like 200iso and accept the lower shutterspeed, using a tripod/wall rock or your camera bag to support the camera. The 2second self timer can be a godsend to avoid shaking the camera whilst releasing the shutter (and avoids having to buy a remote release)
Tripods can be picked up for next to nothing on Facebook marketplace, look for a Manfrotto or similar quality
Click to expand...
Or indeed F8-f11 on a crop camera to avoid diffraction.
Also at some shutter speeds, the mirror movement will still shake the camera even when using the timer, if you’re really being critical then use Mirror Lock Up.

And whilst I’m here; ISO below 400 is basically base ISO, fine when you’ve got the light or you’re shooting static subjects, but for the rest of us - ISO is something we live with in order to get the shot. :)

I’ve got a mounted A3 print from a 17 yr old camera shot at 1600 ISO (the highest it’d go). And I’ve sold entire albums where virtually nothing was shot below 400 ISO. :) No customer ever complained about ‘noise’.
 
nandbytes said:
On APS-C you should not go beyond f8 (f11 at a stretch) anything beyond that and lens diffraction with soften your image.
.
Click to expand...

Is that a general rule for all landscape shots? or the conditions original poster is shooting in?
 
Tom30 said:
Is that a general rule for all landscape shots? or the conditions original poster is shooting in?
Click to expand...

Diffraction is a physical property of the lens which causes loss in details in your image regardless of the type of photography or conditions.

Of course lenses and optical formula varies plus conditions also vary. So I wouldn't say it's a hard and fast rule and I have got good shots at higher f-stops but it's worth knowing the downsides.
 
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nandbytes said:
Diffraction is a physical property of the lens which causes loss in details in your image regardless of the type of photography or conditions.

Of course lenses and optical formula varies plus conditions also vary. So I wouldn't say it's a hard and fast rule and I have got good shots at higher f-stops but it's worth knowing the downsides.
Click to expand...

Thankyou, found a page to read up on it tomorrow.
 
Take your camera off auto iso and set iso to 100 or 200. If shooting landscapes use f11 on a crop body, A mode. That should do you 99% of the time for landscapes.
 
Scots_quine said:
Take your camera off auto iso and set iso to 100 or 200. If shooting landscapes use f11 on a crop body, A mode. That should do you 99% of the time for landscapes.
Click to expand...

I'd do the exact opposite. I always have auto ISO enabled unless making a decision to do otherwise and at f5.6 to f8 neither shutter speed or noise should be an issue.

Other than that I agree with Phil, the conditions on the day don't look very landscape scene friendly and you'd have to process the bejesus out of shots to make them interesting.

The op hasn't been back since 11th June so I hope they're doing better now both with light and settings.
 
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