(Help with) "Colours of the Sky"

[JK6065]

There I'm again with one of my shots I'm quite happy about .

1/800e F4.5 ISO 100

The only problem is that I'm not completely satisfied with my low-light sunset photos. The photo just doesn't grabs you to make you hang it very large-printed on your wall. I guess a part of it is just the low dynamic range of a compactcamera (reason why I'm saving money for a DSLR) but I recon it way to easy to mark just that as a solution. The learning curve is sometimes quite flat but I hope there are some tips, tricks or whatever that gives you some tools for better shots. Bassically: do you guys have some tips wich were/are usefull for yourself or could you just judge what you see on the photo?

Thanks very much in advance.

edit
about the pp of the photo: In photohsop CS2 I played a bit with the curves to get more contrast and deeper colours in the picture. After a little saturation adjustment and noise reducing with Neat Image plug-in (awesome awsome tool, Thanks for everybody who mentioned this program on the forum) it looked like it does now.

[Colin Southern]

There I'm again with one of my shots I'm quite happy about .

1/800e F4.5 ISO 100

The only problem is that I'm not completely satisfied with my low-light sunset photos. The photo just doesn't grabs you to make you hang it very large-printed on your wall. I guess a part of it is just the low dynamic range of a compactcamera (reason why I'm saving money for a DSLR) but I recon it way to easy to mark just that as a solution. The learning curve is sometimes quite flat but I hope there are some tips, tricks or whatever that gives you some tools for better shots. Bassically: do you guys have some tips wich were/are usefull for yourself or could you just judge what you see on the photo?

Thanks very much in advance.

edit
about the pp of the photo: In photohsop CS2 I played a bit with the curves to get more contrast and deeper colours in the picture. After a little saturation adjustment and noise reducing with Neat Image plug-in (awesome awsome tool, Thanks for everybody who mentioned this program on the forum) it looked like it does now.

Hi Jeroen,

Fear not - help is on the way!

- Even an SLR with a higher DR won't be able to handle bright spots like that (even filters wouldn't cope) - best plan is to simply wait until the sun is lower.

- Putting the sun in the middle often isn't best (remember the rule of thirds)

- Don't be afraid to prune (crop) off portions of the scene that aren't contributing strongly to the image.

- Don't be afraid to play with white balance settings and to "get agressive"

- Don't forget your sharpening

- Don't be afraid to use panoramic formats - the greater the aspect ratio the more it tricks the eye into thinking it's a wider (more "panoramic") shot.

- Encapsulate your shots in boarders - they add a lot to the image.

I gave yours a Photoshop 30-Second Makeover (TM!) - what do you think?

[jacsul]

I gotta give credit Colin, I like your style. Aside from giving it a panoramic view did you readjust the levels or add a filter? Do tell..

Jack

[john w revie]

to gain more dynamic range from your camera turn the contrast to it's lowest setting
and always shot in raw.
I had a quick edit of your photo



John

[JK6065]

Thanks John for your try,
Interesting how you managed to gain such an wide dynamic range of my jpeg photo. How did you do that? What software did you use?
I like how the colours in the sky increased and I especcially like the area with the birds and the sun.
though the bar between the land and the sun is sometimes a bit too gray for me, and the land itself looks kind of fake.
Nevertheless you did a nice job with the photo you get (wich was a downsized jpeg).

[Colin Southern]

I gotta give credit Colin, I like your style. Aside from giving it a panoramic view did you readjust the levels or add a filter? Do tell..

Jack

Hi Jack,

Nah - nothing fancy. I just opened it in ACR (Adobe Camera RAW) and "did what needed to be done" (mostly concentrate on white balance, fill light, brightness, highlight recovery etc).

[agaace]

I just opened it in ACR (Adobe Camera RAW) and "did what needed to be done" (mostly concentrate on white balance, fill light, brightness, highlight recovery etc).

Yhm.. I know every photographer has their own workflow and there's no easy, universal answer to all questions (I know, I know, 42 ) So: I know some photographers who set all settings to 0 in ACR, and then do the "full job" in Photoshop, because they claim Photoshop has better tools. Do you, Colin, do the major adjustments in ACR, and then just the finest parts in Photoshop? This is where Agata gets lost - when Agata is given too many tools that do the same thing. Too much choice is sometimes worse than no choice..

[Colin Southern]

Hi Agata,

"It depends" If it's a RAW file then pretty much anything you CAN do in ACR you SHOULD do in ACR (a LOT less data loss). With JPEGS it's easier to do a lot of things in ACR, but I doubt that it makes much difference in terms of data loss.

Anyone who zeros ACR controls for processing a RAW file is doing themselves a gross dis-service