First Photo for Feedback - Castle Combe, England

[calebleehill1993]

Hey guys,

I'm new here and I'm just trying to figure out what I can do better in my photography. Here's an image that I took a while ago. It's one that I consider to among my best photos. I'm not sure what I should be looking for as far as how to get better. I think this photo is pretty good. I just want honest feedback about the photo's composition, color, post processing, or anything thoughts that someone has. Be as critical as you need. I'm new so I just need some direction and any helps. Thanks!

Here's the photo:

Castle Combe by Caleb Hill, on Flickr




Specs:
Camera: Nikon D3400
F-stop: f/4.8
Exposure time: 1/1250 sec.
ISO: 100
Focal length: 36 mm
Max aperture: 4.5
Metering mode: Pattern
Flash: None
Dimensions: 6000 x 4000
Post Production: Adobe Lightroom Classic

[Geoff F]

Looks OK to me. Possibly the boy's cap and woman's forehead are a fraction on the over exposed side so I would have toned them down a little.

Any particular reason for using such a high shutter speed with an aperture of only F4.8 ? I would have used something more like F8 and a lower shutter speed. But you seem to have managed with those settings for a scene with a fairly wide range of light levels.

[calebleehill1993]

Looks OK to me. Possibly the boy's cap and woman's forehead are a fraction on the over exposed side so I would have toned them down a little.

Any particular reason for using such a high shutter speed with an aperture of only F4.8 ? I would have used something more like F8 and a lower shutter speed. But you seem to have managed with those settings for a scene with a fairly wide range of light levels.

Thanks for the feedback!

When you say you would tone down the exposure of the woman's head and the kids cap, does that mean you would have to adjust those using an area adjustment tool in lightroom so it only effects those spots? I'm not super familiar with those tools yet, but that's something I'll have to look into.

Also, I don't think I really understand what aperture does. I know it has to do with focus and the bigger the F-stop, the more things that are in focus, but the less light the camera takes in to that leads to either higher ISO or exposure time. I think that's right. I'm just not sure what numbers I would use when for the F-stop.

Thanks, again.

[xpatUSA]

Nice composition and welcome!

There is lateral CA on the tower -very noticeable against the sky background. Can LR correct that?

There are visible artifacts between the boy's shirt and the walltop. Perhaps the image was posted at low JPEG quality.

The overall image has a rather soft and misty look on my monitor. Looks better de-hazed to my eye.



Agree about toning down those local highlights on the humans.

[Manfred M]

It's a nice image, but overall a bit "flat", i.e. not enough contrast. You've shot on a very sunny and bright day, with hard shadows and bright highlights.

[LenR]

Lightroom has a CA and de - fringing tools in the develop module.

[xpatUSA]

I'm just not sure what numbers I would use when for the F-stop.

This might help with that:

https://sleeklens.com/choosing-the-right-aperture/

Read it a couple of times.

Personally I tend to leave the aperture set at the "sweetest" for the lens I'm using. For example, f/4 on my Sigma 17-50mm with the 1.7 crop camera -but other lenses can be closer to f/5.6 or even f/8.

[calebleehill1993]

Nice composition and welcome!

There is lateral CA on the tower -very noticeable against the sky background. Can LR correct that?

There are visible artifacts between the boy's shirt and the walltop. Perhaps the image was posted at low JPEG quality.

The overall image has a rather soft and misty look on my monitor. Looks better de-hazed to my eye.

Agree about toning down those local highlights on the humans.

Ted,

Thank you for letting me know. I wasn't familiar with the "lateral CA" term so I had to look that one up. I'm not exactly sure how to tell if it has lateral CA. From what I read, this is a lens issue where the light splits and the different colors hit the sensor at different places. I'm having hard time seeing that in the image. I did find some lens correcting tools in lightroom that deal with CA. I'll have to play with those.

As far as the artifacts go, I'm not seeing those either. What exactly should I be looking for. Sorry if these questions seem remedial.

I do see the dehazing effect making a difference and I see that it is a little bit flat.

Thanks for all the advice!

[calebleehill1993]

It's a nice image, but overall a bit "flat", i.e. not enough contrast. You've shot on a very sunny and bright day, with hard shadows and bright highlights.

Manfred,

Thanks for the input! This really helps. I always have a hard time figuring out how much contrast to put in an image so that it looks good, but also not fake. Your adjustments look nice.

Thanks!

[pschlute]

Hi Caleb, welcome to the forum.

I had a look at and downloaded the original image from Flickr. The scene is a charming one and well composed, but it has issues.

1. You are obviously pointing the camera up to make sure the roof of the church is in the scene but this has the effect of creating converging verticals (perspective distortion). It makes the buildings look like they are leaning back. It is only slight in this image but it is noticeable. A way to avoid it is to keep the camera level, use any level display if available in your viewfinder. If that would cut off the tops of buildings use a wider lens and crop the image.

The good news is that converging verticals can be corrected in software like LR, but you must give the image plenty of space, as the process will involve losing parts of your image.

2. The area around the windows of the house where I guess your AF locked on to is reasonably in focus but the rest of the image is not. As others have pointed out for a scene like this you want to be using f8-f11 to get a sharp image throughout. I don't know what lens you used but if it has a filter on it take it off !

Others have commented on the fact that bright sunny days are difficult for scenes like this as you end up with a dynamic range that the camera cannot deal with perfectly. One solution is to take bracketed shots and merge them in the LR HDR Merge tool.

Look forward to more shots from you. Again, a charming scene.

[calebleehill1993]

Lightroom has a CA and de - fringing tools in the develop module.

Len,

I found the tools. Thanks you for letting me know. Do you recommend using the "profile" or "manual" tool in lightroom?

Thanks!

[pschlute]

Here is the image corrected for vertical distortion.

[calebleehill1993]

Hi Caleb, welcome to the forum.

I had a look at and downloaded the original image from Flickr. The scene is a charming one and well composed, but it has issues.

1. You are obviously pointing the camera up to make sure the roof of the church is in the scene but this has the effect of creating converging verticals (perspective distortion). It makes the buildings look like they are leaning back. It is only slight in this image but it is noticeable. A way to avoid it is to keep the camera level, use any level display if available in your viewfinder. If that would cut off the tops of buildings use a wider lens and crop the image.

The good news is that converging verticals can be corrected in software like LR, but you must give the image plenty of space, as the process will involve losing parts of your image.

2. The area around the windows of the house where I guess your AF locked on to is reasonably in focus but the rest of the image is not. As others have pointed out for a scene like this you want to be using f8-f11 to get a sharp image throughout. I don't know what lens you used but if it has a filter on it take it off.

Others have commented on the fact that bright sunny days are difficult for scenes like this as you end up with a dynamic range that the camera cannot deal with perfectly. One solution is to take bracketed shots and merge them in the LR HDR Merge tool.

Look forward to more shots from you. Again, a charming scene.

Peter,

Thanks for all the input! I didn't realize that pointed the camera up would have such an effect. I can kind of see what you're talking about. I don't think that my camera has a level feature in the view finder. That's great advice about getting further away. I did manage to find the LR tools you were talking about. It looks like it bends the image to look right. I'll have to play with the lens corrections tools and the transform tools. How do you know how the image is supposed to look? That's probably a loaded question, but I guess I don't have enough practice with editing to see these as well as someone like you.

In regards to the aperture issues, I think I'm better understanding that now. Again, I think more practice will help me get better at deciding the f values for different things. Also, I'm using a Nikon DX VR AF-P Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6G. I'm not exactly sure what all that means, but there you go.

You mentioned filters and I recently bought some filters just to protect the lenses I have. Do you recommend taking them off when shooting?

Thanks again for all the advice!

[xpatUSA]

I'm not exactly sure how to tell if it has lateral CA.

CA is a bit like a scratch on your Ferrari - you can't see it from your window. But step close and voila ...



Look each side of the verticals.

As far as the artifacts go, I'm not seeing those either. What exactly should I be looking for.

Same applies to many artifacts -you have to step close to see 'em:



There's also some CA on the woman's right side (camera left) -can you see it?

Some people frown upon zooming in as part of image quality assessment. But now that you know the "scratches" are there, can you live with it? ...

[LenR]

[QUOTE=calebleehill1993;758899]Len,

I found the tools. Thanks you for letting me know. Do you recommend using the "profile" or "manual" tool in lightroom?

Thanks![/QUOTE

Hi Caleb, Read thru the attached on CA and de - fringing in LR.
The Basic corrections generally work reasonably well. I prefer to use the color sliders - ( Purple/Green)
Zoom in on the trouble spots and assuming you are using a PC hold down the ALT Key and you will be able to observe the corrections as you adjust the sliders.

https://photographylife.com/lightroom-lens-corrections

[calebleehill1993]

Here is the image corrected for vertical distortion.

Sweet! This is cool! Thanks for doing that! It appears to be a little bit narrower as a whole, but it also looks straighter. I think I see what you're talking about.

[xpatUSA]

In regards to the aperture issues, I think I'm better understanding that now. Again, I think more practice will help me get better at deciding the f values for different things. Also, I'm using a Nikon DX VR AF-P Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6G. I'm not exactly sure what all that means, but there you go.

Caleb, the standard advice to get more detail in a scene such as yours is to up the f-number with due deference to the onset of diffraction blur.

There is another approach which says to focus on the tops of your background trees and to expect acceptable sharpness almost to the foreground.

You shot at f/4.8 and 36mm. That is an actual aperture diameter of 7.5mm -about 1/3 of an inch. Lens theory says that only objects smaller than 1/3 inch will be un-resolved! Meaning also that objects bigger than that in the foreground will be recognizable and -instead of worrying about depth of field- instead set your lens to say f/5.6 and decide where to focus.

Warning - heavy going:

http://www.trenholm.org/hmmerk/DOFR.html

Even heavier:

http://www.trenholm.org/hmmerk/TIAOOFe.pdf

HTH

[calebleehill1993]

CA is a bit like a scratch on your Ferrari - you can't see it from your window. But step close and voila ...

Look each side of the verticals.

I can definitely see what you're talking about with the CA. That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for showing me this. How would you recommend fixing this or not even having this problem i

Same applies to many artifacts -you have to step close to see 'em:

There's some CA on the woman's right side (camera left) -can you see it?

I see the shades of green on the woman. The artifacts I'm still having a hard time with. Is it a little bit discolored?

I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out!

[calebleehill1993]

Hi Caleb, Read thru the attached on CA and de - fringing in LR.
The Basic corrections generally work reasonably well. I prefer to use the color sliders - ( Purple/Green)
Zoom in on the trouble spots and assuming you are using a PC hold down the ALT Key and you will be able to observe the corrections as you adjust the sliders.

https://photographylife.com/lightroom-lens-corrections

Wow. Another good article to read though. Dang, I'm learning so much today. That's very helpful! Thanks!

[calebleehill1993]

Hi Caleb, Read thru the attached on CA and de - fringing in LR.
The Basic corrections generally work reasonably well. I prefer to use the color sliders - ( Purple/Green)
Zoom in on the trouble spots and assuming you are using a PC hold down the ALT Key and you will be able to observe the corrections as you adjust the sliders.

https://photographylife.com/lightroom-lens-corrections

Wow, this is super helpful! Thanks a bunch!