Woods and Falls

[ejay79]

Here goes my first two image postings; any thoughts? Click for larger (not full-size) version.

http://gallery.ejinnovations.com/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=26178&g2_serialNumber=2 (http://gallery.ejinnovations.com/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=26179&g2_serialNumber=2)
f/36, Iso 100, 85mm, 1/12 sec shutter speed, levels adjustment in PS Elements.

http://gallery.ejinnovations.com/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=25061&g2_serialNumber=2 (http://gallery.ejinnovations.com/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=25062&g2_serialNumber=2)
f/11, Iso 100, 10mm, no post procesing. Dark but it works (I think ;) )

Good? Bad?

[kbreit]

Welcome to the forum. Now to critique...

The first one appears to be of low quality, perhaps due to your JPEG compression? A circular polarizer could help to reduce the reflections. If you move to the right a little bit, it would have completed the line from the bottom up through the mini-fall.

Second one. I do like how you're looking up. It gives a nice effect that I don't frequently see. It is however, too dark. Crop out the sides a little bit since they're mostly black.

Definitely not bad efforts though. Keep up the shooting.

[ejay79]

I should have done the image resizing in Photoshop, but instead left it to Gallery. A mistake in a rush to get them posted somewhere to link to - won't do that again :)

I do plan on getting a circular polarizer in the future. I had ordered a ND filter but it arrived two days after we left for the vacation. Go figure, and there's no good running water to shoot around where I live.

I'll play around with cropping the woods one. Thanks for the comments.

[nwa2]

I like the composition in them both.

Is focus sharp all the way through the first - difficult to tell.

[howzitboy]

both pretty images, just a bit dark and need to up the contrast a bit.

[ejay79]

nwa2 - yeah the larger shot shows that the focus is indeed sharp through the entire image. This was my first real use of my tripod and remote.

I need to find a good book(s) on post processing techniques, I feel like I'm just stabbing in the dark right now.

[lburnell]

Is that Tehquamenon Falls? I took that exact same pic when I was in the UP this last summer and it is not sharp either.

Lance

[Glenn NK]

f/36
ISO 100
85 mm
1/12th second

It doesn't appear to be sunny; I see no shadows, so I'll assume it's "overcast" with shadows barely visible, so from "sunny 16", open up three stops.

For ISO 100, f/8 and 1/100th second should have been close for exposure.

From 1/100th to 1/12th, you've gained three stops, and from f/8 to f/36, you've lost four stops, so your exposure should be close - maybe a bit under-exposed.

On a tripod, I use mirror lockup and self-timer for any shutter speed slower than 1/50th. This gives vibrations from the mirror some time (two seconds) to die out before the shutter opens.

The first image is nicely composed; it could use a bit more light to improve "modelling". Early morning, or evening, depending on the sun's direction might improve things quite a bit.

The second image is interesting; but as Kbreit noted, the dark areas might be cropped.

[strmrdr]

1stt one: the most interesting part of the picture is the falls but its a very small part of the picture.
Its mostly wet rocks while my eyes struggle to pick out the details in the falls.

2nd: crop the sides out, a 4 wide x6 high crop down the center should be about right.

[ejay79]

Glenn, thanks for the advice - I'll be studying it to make sure I understand it all :)

For what it's worth, one reason I went so small with the f/36 was to try and get some slower shutter speeds to smooth the water out. I had ordered an ND filter for the trip but it arrived two days after our departure. As a result I was trying various different settings to learn from them.

[ejay79]

Lburnell - it is indeed Tahq Falls. That's a shot of the Lower Falls to be exact. As I mentioned earlier, the original of that top photo was a lot sharper than that cheap/quick image resize.

The others I took of the falls can be seen here (http://gallery.ejinnovations.com/main.php/v/Trips/Michigan2007/Tahquamenon/).