How should have I taken this photo?

You seem to be testing the gear with photos that are beyond your ability to choose a reasonable exposure. When you select subjects with silhouetted frames and bright backgrounds you need to choose what subject you want to expose for. A good start would be to shoot a scene with constant light across the scene, then work from there.

nicolastella wrote in post #19000643
So I'm assuming you consider normal to have that grainy photo and lens aberration in that condition.
And yes, it is not worth the effort because it was not the composition I was trying to achieve.

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Yes, I consider that normal, and to be expected, considering what you were shooting and how you were shooting it.

Aberrations are mostly a result of the conditions you're shooting in, more than a result of the optical qualities of the lens. . Same with noise grain - it has more to do with what you are shooting, the light you are shooting it in, and the exposure value, than what ISO or what camera you are using.

I could even produce horrible aberration and extreme purple fringing with my 400 f2.8 if I shot in conditions that are conducive to those effects ..... and that was a $7,000 prime lens. . And I can produce terrible noise grain with my Canon 5D Mark 4 at just 400 ISO.

It's important to shoot a lot of stuff under a lot of different conditions, with different settings, and then examine the images on the computer afterwards, so that you learn the way your camera and lenses behave when shooting various subject matter at various different settings. . After a lot of experience doing that, you will know what conditions cause your gear to struggle, and how to best go about avoiding those struggles.

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nicolastella wrote in post #19000643
Tom, Very interesting, thanks for your answer. So I'm assuming you consider normal to have that grainy photo and lens aberration in that condition.
And yes, it is not worth the effort because it was not the composition I was trying to achieve.

I would like to say to all this that especially in the early stages of "career" do not put much time into technicalities like fighting grain, flares, aberration and getting expensive lenses. Better to put all the effort to learning how to visualize the composition and see/capture the light. You already know that waiting for the right light is good. Figure out the shoot visually (in your mind) before you shoot. Think about foreground, background, perspective (the main thing you choose lenses for) decide your subject and how to bring it to the viewer in a manner you prefer.

The more you shoot the more you learn, if you think about it. Every photo you take can be a valuable lesson.

I know these forums are often very "gear-headed", but I should warn you: You can easily drown yourself in pondering technical issues and kill the enthusiasm. Take that technical aspect slowly, you'll get there eventually. Main thing is to have fun and occasionally capture images that you can proudly hang on the (virtual) wall.

Honestly I dont think I ever get artifacts with my 70-200 f4L and this is the original 90s version. Than again, Canon grew artificial crystals to use as glass in their lenses back then

I get horrible green aberrations and purple fringing with my sigma 30mm f1.4 however.


I dont have any experience with that lens so I cant contribute.

Are you fairly new to photography?

Im not much of an artist but I think I am at a point where I have learned the limitations of my cameras and basically you have to learn that first.

Always shoot in manual. If theres still daylight out, set your ISO to 100 and adjust the F stop and shutter speed manually. Even if underexposed, low iso means definitely less noise.

I know its a long lens so high shutter speeds are usually a must. On my f4L 70-200, I can go down to 1/200 and still get a pretty clear shot and keep in mind this lens is not stabilized like yours is.

Thanks all for your feedback, I really appreciated. I never used that lens before and I was just testing it. So that condition was perfect. I got beautiful super sharp photos in perfect light condition even at 200mm , but not too much when under exposed. Just to share other comments in another forum, someone suggested to overexpose rather than underexpose, and bring back the exposure in post-processing. Another interesting advice was to use a gradient filter for the sky too keep the proper exposure for the shadow.
All very interesting.

nicolastella wrote in post #19001668
Thanks all for your feedback, I really appreciated. I never used that lens before and I was just testing it. So that condition was perfect. I got beautiful super sharp photos in perfect light condition even at 200mm , but not too much when under exposed. Just to share other comments in another forum, someone suggested to overexpose rather than underexpose, and bring back the exposure in post-processing. Another interesting advice was to use a gradient filter for the sky too keep the proper exposure for the shadow.
All very interesting.

No, not interesting at all.

Concentrate on composition as Pekka advised.

People can be a little straight forward, borderline rude on this forum.

Very common in a photography community. dont let it get to you.

I went through exactly the same experience when I started here. I still learn things every day.


Just experiment and you'll get there. Learn the limits of your camera and the pictures will start to look better and better.

Incorporate a tripod just so you can see what you are limited to when shooting hand held.

Also remember not every hour in the day is the ideal time to shoot. Ive learned to not even waste my time shooting in certain light conditions.

Archibald wrote in post #19001711
No, not interesting at all.

Concentrate on composition as Pekka advised.

You are straight rude with that comment. Why dont you take it somewhere else if you dont have constructive criticism?

Do you not have understanding for someone that went through the same thing you did?

Or maybe you were gifted by god with those skills before you exited your mothers womb and you were handed a 5dmk3 on your first birthday. Wait that would have been not too long ago coz that camera is only 7 years old.


Seems right because your post makes you sound like a seven year old.

PJmak wrote in post #19003114
. . . your post makes you sound like a seven year old.

PJmak, fighting rudeness with rudeness often escalates the hostilities and causes more unpleasantness for bystanders. Alternative responses exist.

A number of members have given their input and most of the input completely aligns. A number of times (in various forms) the suggestion has been to take a well thought out composition in less challenging light and we can all support you on that endeavor. ‘Fixing’ this particular image is not productive.

Simply put, that lighting and composition are just not going to result in a pleasing image.

To throw back comments to us made on other forums into this thread, is not going to go down well. If there is a specific question as to why a graduated ND filter might work in a particular situation, I am sure people will respond.

One part of the original question related to the fringing on the deck.
It's quite common to get some chromatic aberration on high contrast edges like you've illustrated with the deck railing against the sky. This includes very expensive lenses, it's just more apparent on cheaper glass. Lightroom has a remove chromatic aberration check box that does a pretty good job of dealing with that.

Don't let the haters get you down. You'll get the hang of things the more you shoot, and you've done exactly the right thing by posing questions to those with more experience. As this image is beyond the dynamic range of your camera, bracketing exposure for the foreground and the sky, perhaps the midground as well, then combining them in software will give you the results of a correctly exposed image. Short of that, as a few others have indicated, meter for the subject and let the rest fall where it may, recovering as much as you can in post processing.

In this instance, you are learning about both the dynamic range of your camera and about chromatic aberration. Two important lessons for all photographers.

cseelye wrote in post #19003297
One part of the original question related to the fringing on the deck.
It's quite common to get some chromatic aberration on high contrast edges like you've illustrated with the deck railing against the sky. This includes very expensive lenses, it's just more apparent on cheaper glass. Lightroom has a remove chromatic aberration check box that does a pretty good job of dealing with that.

Don't let the haters get you down. You'll get the hang of things the more you shoot, and you've done exactly the right thing by posing questions to those with more experience. As this image is beyond the dynamic range of your camera, bracketing exposure for the foreground and the sky, perhaps the midground as well, then combining them in software will give you the results of a correctly exposed image. Short of that, as a few others have indicated, meter for the subject and let the rest fall where it may, recovering as much as you can in post processing.

In this instance, you are learning about both the dynamic range of your camera and about chromatic aberration. Two important lessons for all photographers.

I know it's a very popular term these days, but calling POTN members who have responded to the OP's request 'haters' is over the top and unhelpful.

Spencerphoto wrote in post #19003377
I know it's a very popular term these days, but calling POTN members who have responded to the OP's request 'haters' is over the top and unhelpful.

The discussion in this thread has stayed away from the OPs questions to whether members are being rude to each other. I agree haters is an over-used term and perhaps not the best choice here. My point was that the posts that only offer criticism and no constructive advice to answer the OPs question don't benefit anyone and in the brevity of a forum post just a word I grabbed that everyone would recognize to encompass those who don't offer anything constructive to the discussion.
Perhaps a less offensive way of getting my point across would have been to say don't define your skill or attempts to better your photography based on comments in the forum that only offer subjectively negative comments and don't offer any useful advice.

We all take (or took) photos during our learning process that others would consider not worth the time and effort to make better. I would say those are exactly the photos that we learn from and make us better photographers. I only wish that while I was learning photography I had internet forums such as this to turn to to help guide me when I didn't understand a concept or how to technically improve on something that was holding me back. There has been some good advice offered in this thread along with the negativity, and hopefully the OP has taken the good advice and critique and will ultimately ignore the rest and the result will be finding the answers.

Keep shooting, keep posting, and keep learning.

Just to clarify for those who didn't understand my post, I was requesting advice on a technical question only. I posted also the picture with the final composition I was trying to take for those they were criticizing only on composition.
But the first specific picture I posted helped me to learn way so many different things that I was not even aware of, so I personally do not care about nonconstructive comments.
I well know that composition is important, but also learning light, and understand your limit is probably more important than just go in a nice place and shoot without any knowledge on what you are doing.

Thanks to all

nicolastella wrote in post #19004031
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I well know that composition is important, but also learning light, and understand your limit is probably more important than just go in a nice place and shoot without any knowledge on what you are doing.
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As someone just starting out, you will learn things as opportunity to learn arises. . I don't think there is any set order in which things must be learned.

If you are in a position to learn about the technical limits of your gear, then by all means learn what you can about that. . Opportunities to learn about composition will come along too. . Just take things as they come like you've been doing.

As long as you're getting out and shooting and trying to learn from your own real life shooting experiences, then the path you're on is a good one.


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