Learning Landscapes - Foggy day scenes from Boundary Bay

[Brownbear]

My sincere apologies to anyone who viewed my foggy day images. I decided that the images were of very poor quality and that I need more help with the following.

I boarded a 7am ferry for the sole purpose of photographing the mountains at sunrise from the water. The scenery was stunning. Albeit I nearly froze to death trying to take photos from the front of the boat.

Aperture priority F22 SS .6 seconds ISO 100 Exposure Comp -.61

Tripod and Mirror up mode.... I focused on the water directly one third of the way in for maximum depth of field and sharpness. However all of my photos are blurry. The photos I took after sunrise, hand held, are sharper.

I suspect that it is the movement of the boat, the engine vibrations and the strong headwind that accounts for the blurry photos but I'm not certain. I would like to try this again and I'm tempted to try it without using a tripod.

Here is one of the least blurry images.



Any and all suggestions on what I should try the next time around will be truly appreciated.

Thank you.

[pnodrog]

A tripod on a boat is as you have found out a waste of time. Even leaning on a railing does not really work. A good stance, fast shutter speed and VR/IS on are your best options. When standing our body and balance will try and correct the boats movements. That is why being out on a boat is tiring even if you are just sitting, you may not be aware of it but your body is getting exercise just by constantly compensating for the movement of the boat.

[TonyW]

This sort of scene and photograph, with its gentle colouring and calm feel, appeals very much. It makes me want to be there on the boat.

What L.Paul says seems right to me. I would have thought that with the distances involved you could have used a wider aperture and you could get away with a bigger ISO to give a faster shutter speed. When I have taken pictures from a moving boat I have done so standing up with the camera hand held and they seem to me to have been quite sharp.

[tbob]

Christina; You need not have deleted the foggy Boundary Bay images. I thought the one with the path, the trees with the ravens and the fog had real potential. You just needed to simplify the composition by reducing the elements to the tree/ravens/path and less surrounding and distracting elements. Same as the rail fence, simplify to less elements. A landscape does not have to be a wide vista to work. Often small and tight conveys more.

Water and mountains work well as a simple vista with a lot of appeal and punch.

Another technique to avoid motion blur when hand holding is to fire off a burst of three or more shots. Often the second or third shot will have less motion artifact. Seems weird but it often works

[Stagecoach]

Hi Christana,

Most has been said already but I can assure you that even with flat calm water such as this and without the boat moving it will be rolling slightly. If you can position yourself half way along the length of the boat there's least movement there.

If not using the tripod leaning against the railings can be tempting but these usually suffer from vibration but if you are tempted, make sure your camera strap is around your neck.

As for your previously posted images I agree with Trevor !

Grahame

[Kyle]

I really like this one. It feels very calm and serene. Feels like a place you could just sit on a boat for hours, relax and enjoy the scenery.

[Brownbear]

Paul... Good to know BUT the boat is large boat, a ferry and I have a good tripod so I thought it would work. (:

Tony... I wanted to get a silky water effect with the mountains in the background sharp, hence the slow shutter speed and low iso, and mirror up mode.

Trevor and Grahame.... Thank you for advising on the foggy day photos. I'm just a little frustrated with my landscape attempts. In those images I thought I captured the fog well but I felt the scenes I photographed were rather mundane. I haven't deleted them yet, so I will take another look and try your suggested edits.

I started out on the front of the boat but moved to the middle of the ferry for the posted shot and still blurry.

Kyle... Thank you for commenting. The scenery is gorgeous and yes, I just may have to stay on the ferry all day until I manage a shot.

Do you think if I brought my husband along for the ferry ride and had him wear my camera back pack, upon which I could stabilize my camera (on the top - I've managed to do this with bird shots) I could manage to use a slow shutter speed?

Here is the scenery that I would like to capture using a slow shutter speed for silky water with sharp mountains... I like the way the motion lines in the water lead to the mountains

Before sunrise



Sunrise







Any ideas on how I can manage sharp mountains and silky water?

[Shadowman]

Nice hues.

[Brownbear]

Yes, and precisely why I wish to try this again.

Nice hues.

[Donald]

Any ideas on how I can manage sharp mountains and silky water?

I would say that is impossible on a ferry ... or any type of boat on the water. I do think, Christina, that your giving yourself a challenge that just cannot be met.

[Brownbear]

Hi Donald,

Thank you for letting me know (and saving me time). I suppose if silky water is not possible the scenery will suffice. But no doubt I will give it a one or two shot try (at the most) before upping the shutter speed.

I would say that is impossible on a ferry ... or any type of boat on the water. I do think, Christina, that your giving yourself a challenge that just cannot be met.

[Stagecoach]

Hi Christina,

Have you tried the 'Focus Blur' tool in Elements on water, sure PS has similar?

EDIT : Why, silly suggestion.

Forget the blur tool it makes the water hideous, I just tried it. But, here's another thought, for some of the scenes it may be possible to take two images, one fast shutter to get the land sharp and one slower for your silky water and then stitch them.

Grahame

[IzzieK]

Christina, I like your #3 shot on message #7.

[pnodrog]

Any ideas on how I can manage sharp mountains and silky water?

Take two shots(maybe more).
One at a fast shutter to capture the mountains minimizing any camera movement.
Another at a slower shutter speed for the silky water effect and possibly even a third shot for a sky exposure.
In PP merge them using masks.

Compensate the exposure either by changing aperture or if in aperture priority up the ISO to increase shutter speed. It will depend on the lighting level and your camera's characteristics as to which approach will give you the best result. On my camera provided ISO remains under 1600 I would be altering the ISO partly because I tend to use aperture priority 90% of the time

[Donald]

Take two shots(maybe more).
One at a fast shutter to capture the mountains minimizing any camera movement. Another at a slower shutter speed for the silky water effect and possibly even a third shot for a sky exposure.

Would that work on a boat, particularly one that was moving through the water?

[pnodrog]

Would that work on a boat, particularly one that was moving through the water?

The mountains/hills in the background are distant and yes there will be a small shift in the registration of the photographs but with masks you should be able to blend them together pretty seamlessly. The exposures do not need to be an absolute match and to get a bit of additional details in the mountains it may pay to give them a stop or two extra exposure, less exposure with the sky and do a semi HDR merge.

I know this will incense straight out of camera enthusiasts but that is their problem...

[jcuknz]

As L Paul wrote the solution is in editing following the taking of two or three shots ... it is not an impossible task if you fully use the tools at your disposal. Today we are very lucky to be working in the digtial age with all the wonderful tools at our disposal.

Standing ones tripod's legs on cushion[s] was one answer for movie cameramen with heavy cameras in/on moving engine powered vehicles, but that was before the days of Image Stabilisation. People sling off at the P&Ser holding cameras at arms length but done with care the isolation of the camera from the body [head] is a plus factor using the flexibility of the arm to dampen down body movement/vibration .... true movie work is different from stills but basic camera techniques are similar.

[FrankMi]

Any ideas on how I can manage sharp mountains and silky water?

As L.Paul suggests you could accomplish this by combining multiple images in post processing.

Sometimes you can duplicate a single image and treat various elements in the image differently, as Grahame pointed out. If a focus blur doesn't give you the results you seek, try a motion blur or any one of the many other types of blur until you find the one that gives you the effect you are looking for. You can then merge just the blurred elements back into a copy of the original.

Either of these suggestions will require getting up to speed on Layers and Masking but that skill is critical to accurately modifying one part of an image without touching other parts of the image.

Matt Kloskowski considers Layers to be Photoshop's 'Most Powerful Feature'. I have found Matt's book the most helpful guide I've read so far for learning post processing. http://www.amazon.com/Layers-Complet.../dp/0321534166

I Hope this helps, Christina!

[jcuknz]

Would that work on a boat, particularly one that was moving through the water?

Since I have compiled panoramics with frames taken kilometers apart it is basicically ones competance in editing and the editing tool ... It would not be a serious problem with Paint Shop Pro.

The more you practice editing the more likely one is to become competant, though even after a decade I do not rate myself that great ... though perhaps the old are slow learners

[Downrigger]

Your shots in post #7 are lovely... the first especially so to me and I almost can take the slight fuzz on the horizon as artistic license rather than Ferry motor.
But I agree with the others - the motor vibrations will give you blur with exposures long enough to quiet the water. Sometimes, I must say though, I feel like I've seen enough "silky water" in images anyway since it's not like anything you really see at the shore, unless it's mist, and that's another matter entirely.