Helpful Posts Helpful Posts:  0
Results 1 to 19 of 19

Thread: Canadian Shield Country

  1. #1
    purplehaze's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    1,990
    Real Name
    Janis

    Canadian Shield Country

    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
    Canadian Shield Country

    #2
    Canadian Shield Country

    #3
    Canadian Shield Country

    #4
    Canadian Shield Country

    #5
    Canadian Shield Country

  2. #2

    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    3,113
    Real Name
    Wendy

    Re: Canadian Shield Country

    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

  3. #3
    Peter Ryan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
    Posts
    1,968
    Real Name
    Peter

    Re: Canadian Shield Country

    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.

  4. #4
    purplehaze's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    1,990
    Real Name
    Janis

    Re: Canadian Shield Country

    Quote Originally Posted by ScoutR View Post
    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.

  5. #5
    purplehaze's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    1,990
    Real Name
    Janis

    Re: Canadian Shield Country

    Quote Originally Posted by Peter Ryan View Post
    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.

  6. #6
    Moderator Donald's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Glenfarg, Scotland
    Posts
    21,402
    Real Name
    Just add 'MacKenzie'

    Re: Canadian Shield Country

    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.
    Last edited by Donald; 2nd August 2011 at 07:08 AM.

  7. #7

    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Stockholm. Sweden
    Posts
    108
    Real Name
    Jim

    Re: Canadian Shield Country

    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.

  8. #8
    purplehaze's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    1,990
    Real Name
    Janis

    Re: Canadian Shield Country

    Quote Originally Posted by Donald View Post
    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.

  9. #9
    purplehaze's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    1,990
    Real Name
    Janis

    Re: Canadian Shield Country

    Quote Originally Posted by jambin View Post
    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.

  10. #10
    Moderator Donald's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Glenfarg, Scotland
    Posts
    21,402
    Real Name
    Just add 'MacKenzie'

    Re: Canadian Shield Country

    Quote Originally Posted by purplehaze View Post
    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.

  11. #11
    purplehaze's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    1,990
    Real Name
    Janis

    Re: Canadian Shield Country

    Quote Originally Posted by Donald View Post
    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.

  12. #12
    Shadowman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    WNY
    Posts
    36,716
    Real Name
    John

    Re: Canadian Shield Country

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

  13. #13
    purplehaze's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    1,990
    Real Name
    Janis

    Re: Canadian Shield Country

    Quote Originally Posted by Shadowman View Post
    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.

  14. #14
    rpcrowe's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Southern California, USA
    Posts
    17,409
    Real Name
    Richard

    Re: Canadian Shield Country

    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...

  15. #15
    Peter Ryan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
    Posts
    1,968
    Real Name
    Peter

    Re: Canadian Shield Country

    Quote Originally Posted by purplehaze View Post
    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.

  16. #16
    purplehaze's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    1,990
    Real Name
    Janis

    Re: Canadian Shield Country

    Quote Originally Posted by rpcrowe View Post
    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.

  17. #17
    GeorgeM's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    southern New Jersey
    Posts
    365
    Real Name
    George Montgomery

    Re: Canadian Shield Country

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

  18. #18
    purplehaze's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    1,990
    Real Name
    Janis

    Re: Canadian Shield Country

    Quote Originally Posted by Peter Ryan View Post
    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.

  19. #19
    purplehaze's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    1,990
    Real Name
    Janis

    Re: Canadian Shield Country

    Quote Originally Posted by georgem View Post
    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?

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •