Fall Colour

[purplehaze]

A handful from Thanksgiving weekend. I am still learning to handle my 70-200 mm lens and my DOF is often lacking. These I thought were passable. C&C welcome.

#1
DSC_0078 by onesun1moon, on Flickr

#2
[IMG]DSC_0083 - Version 2 by onesun1moon, on Flickr[/IMG]

#3
[IMG]DSC_0133 - Version 2 by onesun1moon, on Flickr[/IMG]

#4
[IMG]DSC_0166 by onesun1moon, on Flickr[/IMG]

[Shadowman]

Very nice, what's your concern with DOF?

[purplehaze]

Thanks, John, but I've not shown you the many rejects. I am very slow to get a feel for what size aperture I need for shooting a given subject at a given focal length and distance. Verrrry slow. I don't have a head for math or an eye for judging distance, so I have to rely on practice and experience and I have not been getting much.

[John 2]

I think you probably needed a little more for the first one which is my favourite Janis, but there is no problem with the rest.

[Mike Buckley]

Janis,

For photos in this style, it's easy to blow up the image in your camera after you have captured the picture to determine how large your depth of field is. If the depth of field isn't ideal, change the aperture setting and shoot again. Alternatively, take the same shot using several aperture settings and one of them will surely work once you get home to review the images on your computer. My point is that you should be able to capture all of the scenes using at least an acceptable depth of field if not the ideal depth of field even if you are unsure of the ideal aperture setting before you release the shutter.

[purplehaze]

Agreed about the first, John. Too bad, as I really like the light and the bokeh. Thanks, Mike. I do sometimes bracket my apertures, but not consistently, and I often feel squeezed by the shutter and ISO limitations of the 70-200 mm on the Nikon 7100. Much of my shooting is done while I have the dog harnessed to me and adding a tripod is just too unwieldy. But I have been working out, building some muscle, and learning more about noise reduction, so maybe I can afford to push the shutter speeds and ISOs a bit more. There is a great article in a past issue of RéponsesPhoto (fabulous magazine) about handholding technique that I need to dig up and study more closely.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Janis I like #2 although it has a cropped hut in it. That cropped hut , the fallen tree , the dead tree trunk , the green plastic bags and fall colors create a feeling of abandonment.

[Mike Buckley]

The key to reducing or eliminating noise is to nail the exposure. Personally, I don't even try to deal with noise if it isn't apparent when displaying an image at about 30% or smaller.

[purplehaze]

Thanks, Mike; duly noted.

And thanks, Binnur. That shot has been getting a lot (for me) of views on Flickr; maybe I should clean it up a bit. The hut is actually the village clubhouse, a busy summer venue for bridge games, rummage sales, movies, dances, and weddings, but now abandoned for winter. This is a better view of it, shot a year ago last May:

[IMG]DSC_9411 - Version 4 by onesun1moon, on Flickr[/IMG]

You can see those dead trees are quite tenacious. The green garbage bags are actually sandbags, which were placed there to help restore the natural dunes that have been under attack in recent years by a combination of extreme weather and artificially high lake levels used to generate hydro power. Despite our best efforts, I fear the lake may soon claim our beloved clubhouse, but I wouldn't be surprised if those dead trees survive it.