Waiting for the tide

[gredawarha]

Evening everybody

I had the opportunity to spend some time down in Cornwall this past week. I thought it an opportunity to take some landscape photos and I was generally disappointed in my photos. I found that the sky in my photos was often blown out and over exposed.

I have been reading up on landscape photography but it has not come as natural as portraits.

Whilst away I visited St Michaels Mount and took a lot of photos but again they were often blown out in respect of the sky.

Below is one of my favourites, I like to call it waiting for the tide.



We were waiting for the tide to go out so that we could walk back to the mainland using the causeway, I was hoping that he would move. He never did but I guess that I was being selfish expecting another to not wait for the tide.

Any comments or criticism would be welcomed.

[dje]

Hi Darren

I like the concept/composition of the shot and I don't mind the man with the red backpack - in fact I think he adds to the theme of the shot ie waiting for the tide. The shot is a little under-exposed but that can easily be fixed in pp.

My concern however is with the lack of sharpness to the image. Looking at the EXIF info, it appears that you used an aperture value of F/25. I suspect that such a small aperture might be causing loss of focus due to diffraction. An aperture setting of say F/11 would be quite small enough to get suitable DoF for this image and you need to be careful where you select the focus point. Maybe there's some camera shake too ?

Dave

[JPS]

Hi Darren,
I love Cornwall and hope to get down there soon myself to take some pictures.

I know what you mean, I am often disappointed with my pictures when I get home and view them on a large screen. Most annoying.

With regards to your picture; I like the general composition and the way the walkway leads you into the picture. The man IMO adds something to things as your eye travels along the walkway.
If this picture was mine I would crop a bit off the right-hand side and the top; this would position the end of the walkway (before the water) and man in a better position suited for viewing.
I would also give it a bit of sharpening, just to bring the details out a bit more. But that’s only my thoughts; I’ll be interested in what you think of these ideas as well as the other members of CiC.

Thanks for sharing a picture of such a beautiful part of the world.

[gredawarha]

Hi Dave

Thank you for the comments.

Funny that you think that it is under exposed as I have had more problems with over exposure with my landscapes from Cornwall. Totally agree about camera shake as this was taken hand held whilst laying on the ground trying to get as low as possible. Gorilla pod and tripod are on the Father Christmas list!

I have been struggling with metering and trying to Google as much as I can to try and learn more. In respect of aperture I am also struggling. I appreciate that large aperture (small F spot) give you more light and shallow depth of field and the opposite for small aperture (large F spot). What I am not so sure about is using apertures between the extremes but I guess that will come with experience?

[gredawarha]

Hi Dave

Thank you for the comments.

Funny that you think that it is under exposed as I have had more problems with over exposure with my landscapes from Cornwall. Totally agree about camera shake as this was taken hand held whilst laying on the ground trying to get as low as possible. Gorilla pod and tripod are on the Father Christmas list!

I have been struggling with metering and trying to Google as much as I can to try and learn more. In respect of aperture I am also struggling. I appreciate that large aperture (small F spot) give you more light and shallow depth of field and the opposite for small aperture (large F spot). What I am not so sure about is using apertures between the extremes but I guess that will come with experience?

[dje]

Hi Dave

Thank you for the comments.

Funny that you think that it is under exposed as I have had more problems with over exposure with my landscapes from Cornwall. Totally agree about camera shake as this was taken hand held whilst laying on the ground trying to get as low as possible. Gorilla pod and tripod are on the Father Christmas list!

I have been struggling with metering and trying to Google as much as I can to try and learn more. In respect of aperture I am also struggling. I appreciate that large aperture (small F spot) give you more light and shallow depth of field and the opposite for small aperture (large F spot). What I am not so sure about is using apertures between the extremes but I guess that will come with experience?

Hi Darren

If you look at the histogram you will see that there's not much at the top end. This is what I was referring to as "under-exposed". It can be easily adjusted with Levels by bringing the white point down to the top of the curve - say about 230 in this case.



Grey sky can be tricky for metering and it is probably safer to under-expose a little to avoid blown highlights in the sky. Check the histogram after taking the shot.

To get a better understanding of Depth of Focus and Aperture settings could I suggest you have a look at the CiC tutorial here.

Something around F/11 is commonly used for landscape work.

Dave

[JPS]

Hi Darren,
as the sites been down most of the day and we have a bank hoiday here in the UK I was at a bit of a loose end.
Hope you don't mind but I've been having a little play with your picture, just thought I show you just to see what you think, better or worse?
Regards

[gredawarha]

Hi John, you are more than welcome to play around with my image. I posted it to get peoples opinion and to learn more. I like what you have done with the sky, I'm not keen on the border but I think that is just my "thing" as I posted a previous image which someone also edited with a border and I was not keen on that either.

What is great about this site and the great feedback is that I have now learnt about the disadvantages of small apertures in respect of sharpness and diffraction. I shall use a larger aperture such as F11 when taking my next landscape.

I have learnt a lot about post processing over the last week or so which is also good. I also read somewhere (i forget where) about not checking your images on the LCD screen after each shot. Reading all your comments makes me question this approach.

Many thanks to all of you

[gredawarha]

Hi John, you are more than welcome to play around with my image. I posted it to get peoples opinion and to learn more. I like what you have done with the sky, I'm not keen on the border but I think that is just my "thing" as I posted a previous image which someone also edited with a border and I was not keen on that either.

What is great about this site and the great feedback is that I have now learnt about the disadvantages of small apertures in respect of sharpness and diffraction. I shall use a larger aperture such as F11 when taking my next landscape.

I have learnt a lot about post processing over the last week or so which is also good. I also read somewhere (i forget where) about not checking your images on the LCD screen after each shot. Reading all your comments makes me question this approach.

Many thanks to all of you