Wide Angle, Church of St Mary, Swaffham Prior

[james white]

Hi there, I took this image about 5.30pm last week, and would love to read your comments. I recently bought a wide angle lens (10-24) for my D90, and am trying to learn how to make the most of it! Any guidance there would be most appreciated. This has been touched up no end in Photoshop and the exif is gone. When I get home I shall locate the original in order to show what I've been getting up to with it, and remember how I took it! I am certain it was 10mm, and probably f8. I will attempt to make the raw available too if anyone is interested.

It was a dull day and I know the colours are depressing! It's not what I was going for but maybe it works. However, I am learning, and I can't do that without just taking pictures whenever I get a chance, good light or not! Tips for shooting under cloud would be most useful as the summer seems to be leaving us now...

Thanks, James

[Donald]

Tips for shooting under cloud would be most useful as the summer seems to be leaving us now...

Cloud is your friend, James. All that beautiful soft and muted light.

Seriously, it's about making that move from thinking that you need lots of bright, direct sunlight to starting to look at light and see what the diffused light caused by cloud can do for the landscape. I think it focuses your attention more onto shapes and tones rather than the vibrancy of colour. Because the light is less bright, you may well find yourself wanting to go for longer shutter speeds. If that is the case, then a tripod and remote shutter mechanism (cable or radio) will be high on the list of needs, if you don't already have them.

As for the ultra wide-angle (uwa). Great aren't they. I've got the Tokina 11-16 f2.8. The above image shows that you've already grasped the essence of uwa shooting - Get in close. I once wrote on here that you get in close and then when you think you're too close .... get in closer. It takes a while to get right (I had a lot of disasters before I felt I was capturing decent photographs with it.

[Kaye Leggett]

James, this is a really interesting shot. Your angle and capture of the rail leading to the church really works. For me its one of those photos that the more you look at it, the more you look at it, if that doesn't sound too bizarre.

The light works too as you've picked up some great grain, especially in the church porch and the slight sheen on the rail. I think the photo would work in black and white too.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi James,

I am about to order a 10-24mm myself (for use on D7100 or D5000), I hope my first shot is as successful as yours is (well done).

Regarding PP, the obvious answer to muted tones (if one is needed) would be either B&W conversion as Kaye suggests, or Local Contrast Enhancement (LCE).

Cheers,

[james white]

Thanks Donald, yes I am discovering that bright sunlight can be even more difficult and am getting more luck by sticking to the shade most of the time! I had picked up the all important tip of getting close from a certain other website which seems to divide opinion more often than not, but I enjoy reading it, and it has helped me get my head around a lot of stuff quickly! Despite reading that website, I realised a tripod would in fact be helpful, and my ultrapod ii arrived last week although I have yet to try it out!

Thank you Kaye! That's a great compliment - surely every photographer strives to take photograph that someone will look at for longer than a brief moment!

Thank you too Dave, this lens is the Tamron 10-24. I haven't had any contact with other similar lenses but I'm very pleased with this one for the price. My only issue is that when I pull the camera out of the case with this lens on it has always crept up to about 14mm and it always takes me a while to realise why my photos don't seem so 'dynamic'!

Here is the original:

10mm, 1/160, f/6.3, ISO 200, Nikon D90

I used Photoshop camera raw to make all sorts of modifications including further exaggerating the perspective. I then had to clone a little bit in the top and bottom right corners to keep the picture square. Happy accident that the wall and tiled roof got cropped out from the left corner, adding to the simplicity!