On Watch

[Stagecoach]

It might be your only keeper for the outing but it is a nice keeper. The cat adds to it too
Would like to see your fine tuned version when you finish it.

Thanks Rita. Working on the fine tuned version now and will post when complete

[Stagecoach]

Nice capture Grahame! Love the colors and the owner.

Thanks Barbara,

[purplehaze]

Totally overlooked the owner; was reveling in the gorgeous colour.

[Rainforest]

+1 to Rita's comments. Nicely done!

[FootLoose]

Nice subject, Grahame but the shadows bother me because they appear to be falling against the direction of the sunrise. I guess that is the result of the flash? I wonder if it would it be possible to eliminate them by taking a longer exposure and not using flash, or if the flash could be toned down somehow so that the shadows didn't appear so stark?

[Stagecoach]

Totally overlooked the owner; was reveling in the gorgeous colour.

Hi Janis, looks like the colours are favoured by our female membership, thank you

[Stagecoach]

+1 to Rita's comments. Nicely done!

Thank you Susan

[Stagecoach]

Nice subject, Grahame but the shadows bother me because they appear to be falling against the direction of the sunrise. I guess that is the result of the flash? I wonder if it would it be possible to eliminate them by taking a longer exposure and not using flash, or if the flash could be toned down somehow so that the shadows didn't appear so stark?

Correct Greg, that was the unfortunate drawback of the flash. If I had held it more in the direction of the natural light I'm pretty certain I would have lost the shot due to excessive flare from the lens.

Here's a shot SOOC taken 1 minute before the posted one at the same settings, f/4, 15sec, ISO200, that shows the natural shadow without additional light. The shot was exposed to the point where the sky was just about to clip.



Whilst it had not been my intention to shoot this craft at sunrise if I was to do it again perhaps there's a couple of solutions;

a) Take two exposures for the hull/ground, one with flash and one without but increased to the same exposure as the flash gave and then clone in carefully? Problems I see with this approach is colour balance and speed I would have to work as the sun light rises so quick here.

b) A second flash used at a different angle to lesson the shadows?

[Wavelength]

I like it this way too because sometimes the real scene is more like this, that too because our eyes cannot produce fill in light

[bnnrcn]

I prefer this version Grahame. You might lift the shadows a bit but overall it is a stronger image than the original. I would clone the sticklike thing on the very left in the air though as it distracts

Correct Greg, that was the unfortunate drawback of the flash. If I had held it more in the direction of the natural light I'm pretty certain I would have lost the shot due to excessive flare from the lens.

Here's a shot SOOC taken 1 minute before the posted one at the same settings, f/4, 15sec, ISO200, that shows the natural shadow without additional light. The shot was exposed to the point where the sky was just about to clip.



Whilst it had not been my intention to shoot this craft at sunrise if I was to do it again perhaps there's a couple of solutions;

a) Take two exposures for the hull/ground, one with flash and one without but increased to the same exposure as the flash gave and then clone in carefully? Problems I see with this approach is colour balance and speed I would have to work as the sun light rises so quick here.

b) A second flash used at a different angle to lesson the shadows?

[FootLoose]

I too prefer this version, Grahame, though as Binnur notes the shadows could be lifted to bring out a little more detail there. It depends, of course, on what your own intention is, but for me this shot captures the atmosphere whereas the op seems more about capturing the presence of the vessel on the beach.

Perhaps a third solution would be to increase the iso - depending on how well you camera handles noise.

[Stagecoach]

I prefer this version Grahame. You might lift the shadows a bit but overall it is a stronger image than the original. I would clone the sticklike thing on the very left in the air though as it distracts

This one (post 28) was not a finished 'version' Binnur but an example of the lighting condition at the time that demonstrated the max exposure I could undertake in camera before clipping due to the sunrise light.

But I agree it can make the basis of another picture of the subject with some PP to lift the shadows and I'm working on it. That annoying sticklike thing is a pole in the ground that the boat is moored to by a rope. Fortunately it's not too hard to clone out.

The cat was hiding in this one

Here's what I have now completed but I'm just not sure when to stop. I feel this could possibly use some lightening on the lower right side to balance things? Any help or advice will be very much appreciated.

[Stagecoach]

Perhaps a third solution would be to increase the iso - depending on how well you camera handles noise.

I'm not clear on how increasing the ISO would help Greg?

There was no latitude to increase overall exposure without blowing the sky sunrise light area, and a higher ISO is going to give increased noise problems when trying to lift shadows later in PP. Unless I'm missing something?

[FootLoose]

I'm not clear on how increasing the ISO would help Greg?

There was no latitude to increase overall exposure without blowing the sky sunrise light area, and a higher ISO is going to give increased noise problems when trying to lift shadows later in PP. Unless I'm missing something?

I was responding to your suggestion of taking two exposures and blending them together. I thought with higher ISO you might not need to lift the shadows in PP. The sky would be blown, but you are only interested in blending the lower section in so that wouldn't really matter.

But regardless, I would be happy the last image you posted. I don't think you need to do any more to the shadows, as there is enough detail in there to keep me interested. It is a sunrise shot, so everything doesn't have to be clearly visible.

[Stagecoach]

I was responding to your suggestion of taking two exposures and blending them together. I thought with higher ISO you might not need to lift the shadows in PP. The sky would be blown, but you are only interested in blending the lower section in so that wouldn't really matter.

Thanks Greg for explaining that, I had not realised you were referring to a second 'correct' exposure for the hull. Yes there's plenty of scope for raising the ISO on the D800 and to be honest I could have done that as well on the shot taken to reduce the slight movement in some of the ropes.

But regardless, I would be happy the last image you posted. I don't think you need to do any more to the shadows, as there is enough detail in there to keep me interested. It is a sunrise shot, so everything doesn't have to be clearly visible.

I found it was possible to still raise the shadows a fair bit in post on this one to emphasise the hull but it then starts to look unnatural if that is the aim of the overall scene.

If the weather improves tonight there's a possibility of a moonlit one with water under it, keeping my fingers crossed.