Sunset over Lake

[ajith.rajeswari]

Hi All,

Today I went to Shoreline Lake, California near my home to take some shots for the "Nikon Vs Canon Vs Others WAR" ( Details Here : )
Please find some shots below:

Taken with Nikon D200
Changed the WB to 8000 to get a "warmer" sunset..no much post processing
Pic#1

Pic#2

Pic#3

Pic#4


Please comment.

~Ajith

[Colin Southern]

Hi Ajith - great stuff

Might be just my preference, but I think shots like these often look better with a bit of cropping.

What do you think ... ?

[ajith.rajeswari]

Hi Ajith - great stuff

Might be just my preference, but I think shots like these often look better with a bit of cropping.

What do you think ... ?

Exactly Colin, I like the cropped one than the original...Actually I got inspired from your sunset shots for this one .... Thanks to you ..

~Ajith

[Geoff F]

Yes definitely better when cropped. I'm not sure about the house lights though. To me they look distracting and I think I would clone them out - but not certain.

The second photo has a distracting spot on the left side. I think it is probably a flying bird but as it isn't recognisible I would remove it as it looks like a blemish. Not a lot else wrong though.

[Colin Southern]

@ Ajith ...

Between you and me, a little trick I use with shots like that is to try cropping out as much of the excess vertical water/sky as is necessary - then just get photoshop to stretch what's left into a 2:1 aspect ratio.

It does distort the image a little, but generally it still looks just fine.

By the way, I too noticed what looked like a bit of crud on your sensor - you might like to shoot a plain surface at minimum aperture and take a look at the result at 100% magnification to see if you've got a few dust bunnies on your sensor (I know I have!).

It's great to have inspired someone - but just remember, you're not allowed to beat me in any competitions!

[ajith.rajeswari]

@ Ajith ...

Between you and me, a little trick I use with shots like that is to try cropping out as much of the excess vertical water/sky as is necessary - then just get photoshop to stretch what's left into a 2:1 aspect ratio.

Thanks for the tip Colin.

By the way, I too noticed what looked like a bit of crud on your sensor - you might like to shoot a plain surface at minimum aperture and take a look at the result at 100% magnification to see if you've got a few dust bunnies on your sensor (I know I have!).

Oh.. NOOO .. I will check that

It's great to have inspired someone - but just remember, you're not allowed to beat me in any competitions!

h'mm

[Yan Zhang]

ajith,

I do like your sunset sequence shots. I also agree with Colin's suggestion to crop the unnecessary sky and water and get its reminder to be 2:1 ratio which looks great. here my only issue is: if you want to print this photo with 2:1 width-height ratio, it may be a bit more expensive than with the standard ratio 3:2. What do you think?

[ajith.rajeswari]

ajith,

I do like your sunset sequence shots. I also agree with Colin's suggestion to crop the unnecessary sky and water and get its reminder to be 2:1 ratio which looks great. here my only issue is: if you want to print this photo with 2:1 width-height ratio, it may be a bit more expensive than with the standard ratio 3:2. What do you think?

Thanks Yan. I also have the same dilemma...

[CNelson]

Nice images and I like Colin's crop and tip. I have a few images at the 2:1 aspect ratio but it's hard to find a print house that will print them larger than 10 x20" without an extra charge for special handling.

Anyway, without getting to distracted, the shots are very peaceful...good wall hangers.

Chuck

[Colin Southern]

Nice images and I like Colin's crop and tip. I have a few images at the 2:1 aspect ratio but it's hard to find a print house that will print them larger than 10 x20" without an extra charge for special handling.

Easiest way around that is to print the longest dimension as big as they'll go - and then simpy cut off the excess white bits from the other dimension with a sharp knife and ruler

Or ...

Get in to printing yourself (once I took this route I never looked back!).

[Davey]

I saw a large format printer (something like 40" or just over 15 ink something something) on an online store I order a lot of parts from. Hmm looks sexy I thought, then I saw the £10 000 price tag.................. Ahhhhh I don't think I'll be getting that any time soon. Well I can safely say I won't be buying that ever.

Most places I've found locally only go up to just over 20" too, I think I'd need to send off to online place to go bigger.

[Colin Southern]

I use an Epson 7800 that'll print up to 24 inches wide and basically "as long as you like" - paid NZD $10,000 for it (including tax, freight, complete replacement set of carts + a couple of rolls of paper) (I guess that's about USD $5000).

It's been a real workhorse - and has allowed me to add another arm to the business (especially with canvas prints). A popular entry-level unit is the Epson 4800 (and later models) - good for up to 17" wide, which should keep most people happy

[Bill44]

I only print up to A4 on a Canon MP980, which is not a bad printer and it has a Grey cartridge which is great for B&W work and toning in colour prints.
For anything larger the pro print shop set up by Ken Duncan is only about 30 minutes drive from my place. This place has some pretty decent equipment and I think they mention it on their site, http://www.createdforlife.com/

[CNelson]

Easiest way around that is to print the longest dimension as big as they'll go - and then simpy cut off the excess white bits from the other dimension with a sharp knife and ruler

Or ...

Get in to printing yourself (once I took this route I never looked back!).

I may have to look at doing my own printing some day. Right now my discretionary spending is going toward camera gear. That said, I know you're right.

Chuck

[ajith.rajeswari]

Hi All,
Thanks everyone for the printing info, I always made a normal sized print (similar to A4) and never tried an extra large size, never thought it was so hard/expensive in terms of effort and cost..


~Ajith

[taken]

ripples in the water,from the foreground, leading the eye towards the horizon gives u comfortable balance in such pics all in all these are nice pics to show around dramatics silhouettes in the foregrounda add that much extra interest to the pics....plain sunsets are boring

[ajith.rajeswari]

ripples in the water,from the foreground, leading the eye towards the horizon gives u comfortable balance in such pics all in all these are nice pics to show around dramatics silhouettes in the foregrounda add that much extra interest to the pics....plain sunsets are boring

Thanks Taken.