Inspiration Needed - post photos shot on rainy and/or overcast days

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Originally Posted by Mike Buckley

I think you'll have better long-term success if you master one mode before moving on to another. The soft focus in the images doesn't have anything to do with aperture priority vs. manual mode. The soft focus has to do with your focusing skills, not the exposure. So, I recommend that you master focusing while using either the aperture priority or the shutter priority. If you want to shoot moving ducks, you might want to use shutter priority to ensure that your shutter is fast enough.

Thank you Mike.. I will focus :) on mastering shutter priority or aperture priority, my focusing skills, and post again later.

Once you master shutter priority, it's really easy to master aperture priority and vice versa. The two concepts are intrinsically linked in the sense that when you change one, the other also changes.

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I would not worry about the quality of the shots. No one gets them right first time while doing something new.

It is good that you went out for them in that kind of weather. Soon as you adapt to the conditions you will start getting excellent shots.

If the current batch of shots need too much time to fix, why not instead use this time to minimise/get rid of these problems in the field? Of course at some time you will need to up the pp skills but the better you get the camera to do it the less you will need pp to help out.

Here is a good article about winter clothes.

http://blog.rmsp.com/2010/10/12/wint...he-difference/

This one is about bird exposures specifically but the principles apply to almost anything.

http://www.birdphotographers.net/ezine/mar08_01.aspx

Just after a downpour.

http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...2993_hf-vi.jpg

Thank you Bobo for the encouragement... The lighting is sure different but practice I will... Also thanks for the link for the bird photography is gibberish ie; looks like html code... Thanks for the link on winter clothes, I just noted the comment on knee pads, and sure enough I came away with muddy knees, from kneeling down.

I am also working on my pp skills, mostly I seem to need them to fix backgrounds (over exposed skies etc) but I can't seem to get a handle on selecting things well, so when I try to use layers and selections their is always a line, but practicing I am.

I also find it hard to determine if my edit improves a photo or not... For example from the rainy day shoot

Original Swan

http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...psa14892b3.jpg

Hit white balance auto (but now the water looks blue and it wasn't blue), filled light, sharpened 25% and increased clarity, got rid of dust spots... Here is the edited swan. Did I improve the shot?

http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...ps4c09cb96.jpg

Here is a rainy day picture which brings back many fond memories of my ten day trip to Alaska's Kenai Peninsula during which we saw the sun one time for about twenty minutes total...

http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...in%20024-L.jpg

However, for "record" shots like this a simple waterproof or weather resistant P&S camera would be the best gear. I really wish that I had carried a waterproof P&S on this trip which was for my friends a fishing trip and for me a combination fishing/photo trip. Although the Kata cover worked fine, I really didn't like carrying my DSLR gear out on a boat. The above shots were of trout which didn't cause much of a ruckus bringing in. However, when one or more of us tied into a salmon of this size, it was "Katie Bar The Door" with knees and elbows all over the place...

http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...20salmon-L.jpg

IMO, since I was fishing also, carrying DSLR gear on a relatively small fishing boat with four fat guys fishing for big fish and a guide also taking up room would have been a dangerous venue for my camera.

If I ever go on a trip like this again, I will defintely bring a P&S camera for record shots like these...

I did bring my DLSR on our fly-in to a lake because there might have been an opportunity to photograph some bears. Unfortunately we didn't see any from the boat only from the air as we flew in to the lake. We were too high to get a decent shot of the bears...

We did see this moose but despite our calls to the big animal, it just wouldn't turn around. It was impossible to walk around in front of the moose due to the marshy ground. I shot this during the one instance of the sun peaking through the clouds that we saw during our ten days in Aaska...

http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...se%20002-L.jpg

This is the High Adventure air service base camp...
http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...79_Kd9Li-L.jpg

This is the plane in which we flew into the lake..
http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...in%20020-L.jpg

This is our guide...
http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...23_pWXgV-L.jpg

Some of the sights along the lake...
http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...in%20019-L.jpg

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Originally Posted by Christina S

Thank you Bobo for the encouragement... The lighting is sure different but practice I will... Also thanks for the link for the bird photography is gibberish ie; looks like html code... Thanks for the link on winter clothes, I just noted the comment on knee pads, and sure enough I came away with muddy knees, from kneeling down.

I am also working on my pp skills, mostly I seem to need them to fix backgrounds (over exposed skies etc) but I can't seem to get a handle on selecting things well, so when I try to use layers and selections their is always a line, but practicing I am.

I also find it hard to determine if my edit improves a photo or not... For example from the rainy day shoot

Original Swan

http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...psa14892b3.jpg

Hit white balance auto (but now the water looks blue and it wasn't blue), filled light, sharpened 25% and increased clarity, got rid of dust spots... Here is the edited swan. Did I improve the shot?

http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...ps4c09cb96.jpg

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Yes improved but probably using too open an aperture resulting it parts being in good focus and parts outside.

About that link - needs flash plugin for viewing.

That's a beautiful shot.. Thanks for sharing the camera specs

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Originally Posted by arith

Just after a downpour.

http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...2993_hf-vi.jpg

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Thank you Bobo. Will download a flash plug in, which I thought had but apparently not.

Thank you for sharing Richard.. That's some fish, but especially that is some moose! Love the waterfall shot.

That swan isn't far off, Christina. A fraction high in the blue, but very little.

This is my quick edit.

http://i49.tinypic.com/e67l6w.jpg

Just a boost with Curves, mostly highlights but just a little extra midtones then a minute reduction of the blue highlights.

You could use a little less on the highlights if you wish.

There isn't much fine feather on it's back; but that is a common problem with swans.

Thank you Geoff... I gave it a try following your guidelines and I think this time I did fairly well using a layer on selecting the body and neck of the swan.

But I could not get the beak in the selection so I tried doing that separately but here you can see a definite line where the black part of the swan meets the white part. ... still I think I'm improving.

http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...psc011a63a.jpg

http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...psc011a63a.jpg

In photoshop elements 9, I don't think I can decrease a certain colour of highlights... In curves I see just the highlights slider which I can slide to increase or decrease the highlights, but not blue highlights... ?

Thank you.

Some rainy scenes from Northern British Columbia near Prince Rupert:

http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...873686d2_c.jpg

DeHavilland Beaver Floatplane at the Seal Cove Seaplane Base



http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...05e7d3f0_c.jpg

The Khutzeymateen



http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...0a084c90_c.jpg

Young female silverback grizzly having a snack



http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...5fd50c24_c.jpg

Bald eagle sitting on a nursery log

I used a rain hood over my D90 for these shots.

Wow! I'm booking a trip to Alaska... Gorgeous photos (even the plane), love the landscape, bear and eagle shots, especially the bear. Nice to know you took these with a D90..

I'm thoroughly enjoying all these rainy day shots.

Geoff, if your reading this I'm going to post a photo merge edit that I tried with one of my pelican shots... Just so my requests for advice don't take away from this thread... post your rainy/overcast day shots.

Thank you.

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Originally Posted by Christina S

Wow! I'm booking a trip to Alaska... Gorgeous photos (even the plane), love the landscape, bear and eagle shots, especially the bear. Nice to know you took these with a D90..

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Alaska? Not quite; around 50 kilometers / 30 miles south of the most southerly point in the Alaskan Panhandle. All the shots were taken in BC.

Great shots Manfred... The bear and eagle are absolutely super...

Here are two shots edited with Topaz Adjust

http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...in%20003-L.jpg

http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...in%20005-L.jpg

I try not to let a rainy day spoil my photo fun;) there much you can still do.

http://i48.tinypic.com/2lue5ag.jpg

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Originally Posted by Christina S

In photoshop elements 9, I don't think I can decrease a certain colour of highlights... In curves I see just the highlights slider which I can slide to increase or decrease the highlights, but not blue highlights... ?

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In the Curves dialog menu, look for the Channels dropdown menu that by default is set to RGB. Open that dropdown menu to alter the R, G or B channel individually. That's in Elements Version 6, so it's probably also available in Version 9. EDIT: That drop down menu is in the Levels dialog menu, not the Curves dialog menu.

Personally, I think you're better off most of the time adjusting the curve rather than adjusting the slider.

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Originally Posted by GrumpyDiver

Alaska? Not quite; around 50 kilometers / 30 miles south of the most southerly point in the Alaskan Panhandle. All the shots were taken in BC.

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Oops... but closer to Vancouver, so I can get there by bus.. Your shots look like they could've been taken in Alaska... :)

Richard, beautiful photos..

Thank you Mike... There is no drop down menu in the curves settings just the options of backlit, shadows, contrast, highlights etc.. however in the levels setting a drop down menu for RGB, Green, Blue and Red exists... is this the same?

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Originally Posted by Mike Buckley

In the Curves dialog menu, look for the Channels dropdown menu that by default is set to RGB. Open that dropdown menu to alter the R, G or B channel individually. That's in Elements Version 6, so it's probably also available in Version 9.

Personally, I think you're better off most of the time adjusting the curve rather than adjusting the slider.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Christina S

Oops... but closer to Vancouver, so I can get there by bus.. Your shots look like they could've been taken in Alaska... :)

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Actually, no. The Khutzeymateen is only accessible by float plane or boat, usually from Prince Rupert. There are no roads into the Grizzly Bear Sanctuary / Provincial Park.

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Originally Posted by Christina S

Thank you Mike... There is no drop down menu in the curves settings just the options of backlit, shadows, contrast, highlights etc.. however in the levels setting a drop down menu for RGB, Green, Blue and Red exists... is this the same?

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Yes, that's it. Sorry for my misleading mistake, as I rarely use Elements. I'm used to Levels and Curves being in the same dialog menu. (I have now corrected my previous post.)