Forrest and River...

[JohnMW]

I've just recently taken up photography with a Canon A70. If anyone could provide some tips on what I may be able to do better in regard to taking photos such as these, I'd be more appreciative. :)

The first shot is of a basic forest type image; what I thought was rather neat was how the light is falling almost directly on a small cluster of red flowers...

http://webpages.charter.net/jmw74/light.jpg

The second is of Vickey Creek... I just thought it would make a nice shot; and I think the contrast was pretty neat.

http://webpages.charter.net/jmw74/river.jpg

Thank you for your help,
John

[Conk]

In the first image it is much too bright and lacks contrast. These things can be can be adjusted in Photoshop or any other image editing software, The auto button should work fine.
When you took the shot it may have helped to meter the light outside of the sunrays. Where is your main focus? There does not seem to be a focal point here. Again, the sunrays. In forrest shots I find that fill flash is almost always needed when there are area's with rays of sunshine. These are not always easy photos to take especially to the newbie.
Also a polarizing filter may help.

2nd photo,
I like the composition much better here and also the fact that there is more to look at than the first.
Definitely fill flash would have been the answer here. Too dark by the tree.
Go back and shoot this one again. It is an easy fix and once you see the results of what the flash will give you'll back with a ton more forest photos. I hope :)

[Mike_P]

While we're here.....

Conk - this business of fill flash outdoors. Would a small flash like on my S230 be of any use on the second shot, or is it rather beside the point?

Mike

[Conk]

Mike_P wrote:
While we're here.....

Conk - this business of fill flash outdoors. Would a small flash like on my S230 be of any use on the second shot, or is it rather beside the point?

Mike

The flash on your camera will be fine. I get more use from my flash outdoors than I do indoors. I hate using it indoors. I don't like the results.

[boyhowdy]

John,

I agree with Colin. I don't think I could successfully take the first shot because it is just too bright. Probably in the early morning hours or in late day before sunset or even during sunset may give you some beautiful colors and not blown out highlights. The second photo does have a lot to look at and the tree is definitely too dark. I have not tried fill flash as much as Colin suggests but didn't think it would work that far away. I will have to try it as it sounds like a good suggestion. Again, I think the time of day is critical as to when you should take these shots. All the pros I have been listening to tell you the best times are just after sunrise or just before sunset because that is when the light is the softest. Try to take the shot at one of these times and use Colin's suggestions with the fill flash and repost. I bet they will be killers!

Patrick

[Leighow]

JOHN

I have been having a terrible time with photographs in the forest, so I cannot help much. I do suggest (and you may be doing this already) that you take a half- dozen shots of each photo opp -- altering some of the settings (e.g. ISO 100) and perhaps the angle of the lens w.r.t the remaining sun.

SHOT 1:
******
The scale of the flowers is too small for the oevrall frame that you have set here. The real beauty is the misty/dusty curtain of light that is faling in the mid-back ground.

Also, there seems to me to be a color balance/saturation problem here -- i.e. things look blue and under-saturated. But that curtain of mist in the background is WONDERFUL!


SHOT 2:
******
I would say that you may be half an hour late/erly on site . Fuler light might add a bit more drama to what is a very potent setting. On the other hand shooting to close to the sun will tend to produce a B & W image (with color). So too, the foreground seems a bit too large (rules of thirds and rules are made to be broken).

Also, I would opt to make the tree form my left hand border. It is a tough call, but as it is here, the tree splits the white light. I think that by leaving that left-most patch of white light out, the brain will be thinking about the sun that is hiding up-river somewhere,

I would like to see more color too. SO I guess that I would try, try, and try again -- all in preparation for a return in the Fall.

Look ... it is a wonderful shot .... be I just want it to be world class.

HOWIE

[pappy]

Hi John, I agree with everything Colin, Patrick and Howie have said.....I have taken the liberty of doing some brief adjustments on your first image, I hope I am not presumptuous and you may hate it

http://members.shaw.ca/pjobbins/G3/light.jpg

Regards,
Peter

[RedShoesGirl]

conk wrote:
In the first image it is much too bright and lacks contrast. These things can be can be adjusted in Photoshop or any other image editing software, The auto button should work fine.

snipped..



Using auto in RGB mode can make for some very strange colour shifts if there is no clear white or black. If one wants to use auto, then convert to LAB mode first. The colours tend to remain more true. LAB is also the place to do the unsharp mask - on the luminence channel only. Then convert back to RGB.

lara

[RedShoesGirl]

I also took the opportunity to try and see what could be done with this photo - hope you don't mind.

I don't like the squarish format so cropped it more like we see, which is more like 35mm film. Longer horizontal - since the lfower was too small to be of any real interest. Also, I kept the scene dark - more mysterious.

http://community.webshots.com/s/image5/2/33/29/80023329iSjTGf_ph.jpg

let's see if I can embed from webshots

[Leighow]

JOHN

Since you are being "such a good sport" about this critique !; here is a rework of the RIVER.

While I cannot say that it is better, I can say that I was surprised to see that my little tweaks moved the eye to the foregound leaves, as well as the shoreline water In that sense, it is a new image.

Shooting into the evening sun is always (with my G2) perilous. The background is always under-exposed, whiel the subject (sky, river, etc) is over-exposed. I do not think that there is a good answer.

Other suggestions:

1: Look for a spot along the shore where (looking west) you can catch some red sky and reflections of same on the running water.

2: Look for a larger flower for the forground. Get down on your knees (or a small tripod) and try to get some perspective and line (up and to the right) and into your misty scene. You see, your this your 1st shot was aken "flat on" in the sense of "line" and "movement" within your frame.


HOWIE
PS: I like Peter's revival of your 1st image.

PPS: I went back to the forest myself this morning but it was a half-cloudy day. Even so, I learned that my highly reflective tree trunk was getting its light -- not from the ground (as I had surmised) -- but from reflections off its left had twin trunk! Quite amazing

http://members.rogers.com/hleigh/RIVER.jpg

[JohnMW]

I just wanted to thank everyone for their most appreciated replies to my initial post. You have all given me quite a lot of tips and suggestions, and I do hope that I am able to make good use of them and post more photos in the future; hopefully with better results. : )

Thank you all once again, and do have a wonderful day.

- John

[RedShoesGirl]

You're welcome and keep on shooting!!!!