Canadian Shield Country

[purplehaze]

These are few pics I took yesterday morning behind my sister's cottage at West Hawk Lake in southeastern Manitoba. I was practising manual exposure, but close inspection will show that I have no clue where to focus. The dogs kept wandering in and out of frame; for you to decide whether they enhance the images or not.

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5

[ScoutR]

Janis, I love them, and the dogs do enhance the images, except (to me) maybe the last one where the dog seems like it should be more in focus. The first one really works for me with the dog almost at the top of the frame and then you have the colour and patterns in the rocks and that beautiful blue lake. I have not seen a lake that colour for such a long time, but I would wager that that is the true colour - reminds me of Northern Ontario. Looks like a great place.
#3 is my second favourite, I like the long view and again the dog gives a good point of interest.

Hope you get more feedback from the landscape experts on these.

Wendy

[Peter Ryan]

Hi Janis,

What a lovely backyard. I do like a series of shots that shows the photographer working the location. Well done. The colours are great and I am so over winter here at the moment I would kill for a bit of sun.

The composition and framing work for me and I like the dog in the shots.

Tell me, what are your concerns over focusing and when replying tell me what focus mode you use in your camera.

[purplehaze]

Janis, I love them, and the dogs do enhance the images, except (to me) maybe the last one where the dog seems like it should be more in focus. The first one really works for me with the dog almost at the top of the frame and then you have the colour and patterns in the rocks and that beautiful blue lake. I have not seen a lake that colour for such a long time, but I would wager that that is the true colour - reminds me of Northern Ontario. Looks like a great place.
#3 is my second favourite, I like the long view and again the dog gives a good point of interest.

Hope you get more feedback from the landscape experts on these.

Wendy

I'm so glad you like them, Wendy. If it looks like Northern Ontario, it's because it is almost is. The border is little more than a stone's throw away. Point taken about #5. I have another one where she is in better focus, but she isn't as well framed and distinguished from the background. I will see if I can't make it work, though.

[purplehaze]

Hi Janis,

What a lovely backyard. I do like a series of shots that shows the photographer working the location. Well done. The colours are great and I am so over winter here at the moment I would kill for a bit of sun.

The composition and framing work for me and I like the dog in the shots.

Tell me, what are your concerns over focusing and when replying tell me what focus mode you use in your camera.

Thanks, Peter. I generally shoot AF-S for stationary subjects, and AF-C for moving ones. Sometimes I have the camera on AF-A. My AF-area mode is set to Dynamic area and I never change it. (Should I?) My issue with focusing is that I have no sense of distance, so even if I had the depth of field charts memorized, I still wouldn't know where to focus to achieve the depth of field I want. I can tell you that I work within the diffraction limits of my Nikkor 18-105 mm lens, which is around f/11 or f/14.

[Donald]

I very much go along with Wendy's comment.

I think #1 is a very well conceived and constructed image in that, much against what 99% of people would do, you've made that rock outcrop the main subject with the dog and then the wider view beyond as the 'support acts'. And it works magnificently well. Seeing that in the first place it one of the things that seperates the photographer from the snapper.

We read about landscape photrography not having to be great sweeping vistas; that much more powerful images can often be made by looking more closely at detail. I think this is a great example of that. And I think the capture of the dog is perfect in that setting. The lone animal looking off into the middle distance. Gorgeous.

I wondered if #2 and #3 were very slightly over-sharpened. Or, put that another way - Whether they needed a mask to hold back some of the sharpening on on that big tree at the edge of the lake. I always find it really hard to get sharpening right on trees like that; i.e. with small leaves. They get that 'aliased' appearance. I think it's also a consequence of downsizing that produces 'moire'. So what I tend to do is, when applying both 'creative' and 'output' sharpening, I put on a mask and hold that back from the affected areas.

[jambin]

Hi Janis, I recognize this country, although on this side of the Atlantic it's called the Scandinavian shield. In my experience it's tough to photograph - all that harsh light and deep shadow. I think you've done a really good job on this series.

[purplehaze]

I wondered if #2 and #3 were very slightly over-sharpened.

Thanks for the tip, Donald; I will try brushing the sharpening away and see whether that makes a difference. I just realized today that I shot these with the Nikon Standard Picture Control, which applies some in-camera sharpening. I think maybe I should take it back to zero so that all of my sharpening is done in PP. Is that what you and others do?

And thanks for your very nice comments regarding the composition. I have a natural inclination to bend the rules, which I sometimes suppress, so it is nice to know I can maybe trust my instincts.

[purplehaze]

Hi Janis, I recognize this country, although on this side of the Atlantic it's called the Scandinavian shield. In my experience it's tough to photograph - all that harsh light and deep shadow. I think you've done a really good job on this series.

Thanks, Jim. You're right about that harsh light. I have spent a good part of the day trying to rescue some other shots that suffer from that problem and I fear they are beyond redemption. Hopefully, I'll get another chance to shoot the area in late summer or early fall.

[Donald]

Thanks for the tip, Donald; I will try brushing the sharpening away and see whether that makes a difference. I just realized today that I shot these with the Nikon Standard Picture Control, which applies some in-camera sharpening. I think maybe I should take it back to zero so that all of my sharpening is done in PP. Is that what you and others do?

And thanks for your very nice comments regarding the composition. I have a natural inclination to bend the rules, which I sometimes suppress, so it is nice to know I can maybe trust my instincts.

Janis

Yep, by shooting RAW, you don't get any sharpening applied in-camera.

And as for trusting your instincts - Always: Every time: Without fail: Absolutely. Sometimes you'll get it horribly wrong (but we just bin those ones), but when you get it right, it sings - because it's 'you' that's in the photograph and not the technical manual.

[purplehaze]

Janis

Yep, by shooting RAW, you don't get any sharpening applied in-camera.

Oh, right, I think I already learned that, and promptly forgot. I have been shooting RAW only for some time now. Why, when you are shooting RAW do they not just disable that bloody Picture Control feature? It is confusing.

And as for trusting your instincts - Always: Every time: Without fail: Absolutely. Sometimes you'll get it horribly wrong (but we just bin those ones), but when you get it right, it sings - because it's 'you' that's in the photograph and not the technical manual.

Thanks; I'll try to do that.

[Shadowman]

Don't fault the pooch for being a camera diva. The inclusion of your friend really makes the image.

[purplehaze]

Don't fault the pooch for being a camera diva. The inclusion of your friend really makes the image.

Thanks, John. I'll give her an extra treat today and tell her she owes it to you. Honestly, both the dogs (Stella and my sister's lab) gave me a host of wonderful photo ops, but I was too clumsy and slow to take advantage of most of them. I'll just have to treasure the memory of the joyous dance their two butts traced in the air as they bounded down the rock and into the lake.

[rpcrowe]

Nice pictures of a beautiful area. If the dog in the first image wasn't wearing a collar, you could have told me it was a wolf and I would have believed you...

[Peter Ryan]

Thanks, Peter. I generally shoot AF-S for stationary subjects, and AF-C for moving ones. Sometimes I have the camera on AF-A. My AF-area mode is set to Dynamic area and I never change it. (Should I?) My issue with focusing is that I have no sense of distance, so even if I had the depth of field charts memorized, I still wouldn't know where to focus to achieve the depth of field I want. I can tell you that I work within the diffraction limits of my Nikkor 18-105 mm lens, which is around f/11 or f/14.

Sorry Janis the posts are coming thick and fast I cannot keep up.

I use AF-S nearly all the time, even when taking my partner on her horse but that is just personal use. Nothing wrong with AF-C.

But I do you use Single Area as my AF Area Mode. This way I choose what I want to have in focus. Otherwise the camera normally chooses the nearest-the-camera-subject-priority so you may want the dog’s head in focus but a branch of a tree is actually closer to you than the dog’s head so it gets priority in the scheme of things.

Just point the focus area in the middle of the screen and what you want in focus, press the shutter release half way down to auto focus, hold it there to lock the focus in, recompose and shoot. It is just so quick once you have done it once or twice you will not even know you are doing it from then on.

I understand what you say about evaluating distance so I shoot around the same f/stops as you but I use the centre focus point and focus one third of the way into the scene (the approximate hyperfocal distance) and this will maximise your DOF in a shot.

Let me know how you go.

[purplehaze]

Nice pictures of a beautiful area. If the dog in the first image wasn't wearing a collar, you could have told me it was a wolf and I would have believed you...

Thank you, Richard. Quite a few people have mistaken her for a wolf, which is why I don't dare let her go without a collar.

[GeorgeM]

Nice series of shots. The bonus is some tips regarding focus techniques

[purplehaze]

But I do you use Single Area as my AF Area Mode...

My original response seems to have disappeared into the ether... Anyhow, thanks Peter. Those are all useful tips and I will apply them forthwith.

[purplehaze]

Nice series of shots.

Thanks, George.

The bonus is some tips regarding focus techniques

Yes, isn't it great how you can learn something from virtually every thread?