Here are a few select shots from a recent trip I made. Please provide your feedback. Off the top of my head a few things stick out:
Sky is overexposed in most of the shots (and it was hard to tell on the LCD preview if they were exposed properly) I need a few tips for reading histograms...
The shots are a little on the soft side - even though I was shooting with a tripod - my 12-24 was stopped down to F8-12 and I was using a remote shutter release. Any other ideas on the softness?
I noticed a bit of CA in the pictures to - I haven't done anything to the pictures these are straight JPEG conversions of the RAW files.
The photos are not too shabby - perhaps assisted by the subject matter. So here's a few general comments.
1. If you are in any doubt at all about the accuracy and adequacy of the exposures or colours then shoot in raw mode to give yourself the best chance of correcting errors. That can let you recover some of the highlights that are only burnt out after conversion to 8-bit jpeg.
2. The histogram shows the converted 8-bit data rather than the captured 12/14-bit data.
3. The right and left ends of the histogram are rather highly compressed (sideways) making it hard to resolve detail in those areas where the data is most critical for assessing highlights and shadows.
4. The histogram will bunch up at the right if there is plenty of picture data getting progressively brighter and even burnt out. However, if a small part of the picture data is burnt out and the rest is a lot darker than that then there is only a very thin vertical line at the right side of the histogram. It can be very hard to see.
5. Practise using your camera. Learn what each metering mode behaves like, or simply learn one and stick with it. Then also learn the extent to which you need to underexpose to preserve small highlights. That would have saved your skies.
6. Bracket your exposures and figure out what is best later on. Be sure to learn from the results.
7. Slow shutter speeds of landscapes that include moving water and wind-blown vegetation will result in blurred images even if you do use a tripod and otherwise good technique.
8. Increase the ISO if you need to increase the shutter speed. That will increase image noise but it can be fixed with software such as Neat Image Pro much more easily than image blur can be fixed.
9. If you must shoot with jpegs then use a low contrast and low sharpness. These settings will maximise your chance of successfully adjusting the pictures later on without damaging the colours of any highlights.
Very nice frame but too soft. I don't know why. All of them look soft.
f8-12 with 12-24mm tripod and remote and mirror lock up should be sharp. 24mm should focus from 4' to infinity at f8
Possiblities are defective lens or you were focussed at 2'. I can't think of others. Try backing off from the widest angle and see if it gets less soft. Windy would do it too but your oof is on farthest rocks that are not moving.
It could also be a dirty lens but it looks like a defective lens to me.
I'd like to setup a test shot to confirm the softness of the lens. I'd like to take some samples before and after cleaning the lens as well to see if what difference that makes. Should a run these through three focal lengths (short 12mm, medium 18mm, long 24mm) and I'll try all of this at the same settings, F11, manual, etc.
First off, nice composition. I love the way you framed the waterfall and the bend in the river. But there are a few technical things I believe you should do differently:
1. Run the image through at least some moderate unsharp filter. Most landscape photos from digital cameras really need this, since the antialias filter on the sensor softens the image somewhat. (You still may have an issue with your lens though. As Scott says, that wide angle really shouldn't be oof at that distance from the subject.)
2. Determine your white balance as part of your framing. In this photo, the white point appears to be set for direct sunlight, but most of the scene is in the shade. That causes a bluish tint over most of your photo and cancels out the saturation of sun in the background.
3. If you shoot JPEG only, you have to nail the exposure and the contrast. The whitewater in the upper left is overexposed, and yet, most of the foreground appears too dark. This is typical of a high contrast scene and is more controllable when shooting RAW (even more so if you bracket your exposures and use HDR techniques). Either way, it helps to find and become familiar with both the exposure controls (aperture, shutter speed, ISO) and the contrast control on your camera. Even in RAW modes, these settings are useful to see how the image might look after post-processing, since the image review applies these settings (on Canon at least).
johnnythunder wrote:
I'd like to setup a test shot to confirm the softness of the lens. I'd like to take some samples before and after cleaning the lens as well to see if what difference that makes. Should a run these through three focal lengths (short 12mm, medium 18mm, long 24mm) and I'll try all of this at the same settings, F11, manual, etc.
Any other suggestions?
Yes here is my selfish suggestion - show me where the shots were taken and I will take my camera and we will compare shots for oof These are really nice shots.
On the more serious side - go to vistek and rent another wide angle and try it and see if has the same challenges. Or just go to the camera store and shoot out the front door.
As I said it could be that you were on manual focus - see http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html and put in 12mm and 2 feet and you will find that beyond 10 feet it is out of focus. And then put in 20 feet and it will show depth from 2' to infinity. So if it were focussed at 2' it would cause such oof.
James and Scott thanks for the suggestions, quite helpful.
I always shoot in RAW on my D50 - and full manual. I try to get the histogram to show an even curve with a test shot (although it seems I'm a little off as most of the shots tended to be overexposed). I left the WB on auto, which makes sense if the camera tries to set it based on the sun-lit portions of the screen. I think I can adjust this now due to the RAW data I have - these pictures did not have any post-processing done (not even cropping!).
1) I'm going to try to play with the white-balance and see if I can nail the color saturation.
2) I'm going to try to adjust the exposure in software, and even see if I can get some good compressed information using HDR (I did bracket each of these shots).
3) I'll see if running the picture through an unsharp-mask helps clear it up both on the HDR and non-HDR results.
4) I'm definately going to shoot a bunch of test shots to see if the softness is lens related ----> not good if it is, the lens was purchased through a mail-order discount outfit.
Oh yeah, the picture was taken in Johnson Canyon, just outside of Banff on the 1A highway about 15kms from the exit. There are tons of good vantage points to get the right composition - just be careful of the slippery rocks on the edge!!! there are lots of storys about people falling in and going over the falls.
not good if it is, the lens was purchased through a mail-order discount outfit.