Icy Sunset!

[Katy Noelle]

Thank goodness I got those fingerless gloves! It's just shivering cold with the wind whipping through. I need to practice more in these kind of conditions because, I just had a hard time thinking. There was no tripod and no place to put the camera down safely; so, I just leaned on the roadside, guard rail. How should I have shot these? Should I have had a smaller ISO and larger aperture? If I want to sell prints of my photos, someday, what is the highest ISO I should ever use. Where should I have been taking my focus and, hence, meter reading? I thought that I had this all figured out but, now, I'm wondering all over again.

Also, is this where it would have been helpful to have a gnd filter? If so or not, why? Is the post processing just terrible? (iphoto is acting up on me.) What do you think? Are they salvageable?


AV shutter:1.3 -0.67ev f22 18mm ISO400


AV shutter:2.5 -0.67ev f22 18mm ISO400 Pattern metering for all of them


AV shutter:1.3 -0.67ev f22 18mm ISO400



AV shutter:1 -0.67ev f16 29mm ISO800

Too many questions?

[Donald]

I was going to say three things (which you've effectively said yourself):

1. Tripod
2. White Balance card
3. GNDs (especially for #2)

As you know, I'm not the best person to judge colour (so I won't). But things don't look right to me (hence the need for the Whi-Bal)

[arith]

Upside down GND probably GG2 or GND4 on #3 which is my favourite.

[Katy Noelle]

Hmmmm, Donald, thinking further...

I tweaked the blues a bit and the reds just a titch because it brought out the contrast with the ice and the water. Should I have, perhaps, put up the sooc originals? Was I having a hard time making the "waters" clear because I should have focused on them? If I had, would the trees been a horribly dark blur? Is this where the gnd comes in?

Sorry, too many questions! I'll bet it's obvious to most of the rest of you. I'll just keep trying.

I have a question about the gnd (especially in #2) where would I have put the darker part? On the sun? I was worried that the trees are too shadowy.

I would love to try them again but, looking out the window, I think that all of the water is completely closed up, now. It is quite frigid - well below freezing.

Most importantly, I've been meaning to ask and have rummaged around through the search but haven't found the answer.... What would you recommend as a good, first gnd filter to get?

[Donald]

Should I have, perhaps, put up the sooc originals?

Originals would help see what came out of the camera

Was I having a hard time making the "waters" clear because I should have focused on them?

I don't think there's a problem with the depth of field. The water is fine.

If I had, would the trees been a horribly dark blur?

No, not if you had got the hyperfocal distance correct and focused at that point. And given that you were shooting at 18mm and 29mm, you were going to have plenty latitude to get both the near and the far stuff in focus, especially down at f22.

I have a question about the gnd (especially in #2) where would I have put the darker part?

Given that the Cokin, Lee, SinghRay systems are in a holder than you can swivel (not circular filters screwed into the front of the lens), then you can set the 'line' at any angle you choose. I would have had the line of gradient running along the tree line; i.e. going up from left to right at the angle of the top of the trees.

I'm not sure because I haven't used one, but this might have been a case for a hard edge GND as opposed to soft-edge as you have a pretty straight line there (but I would defer to Colin's or Rob's [there may be others]greater experience in this area to provide a more definitive answer). That would have made sure that the dark part stayed on the sun and the sky, leaving the trees relatively untouched.

What would you recommend as a good, first gnd filter to get?

I have 1, 2 and 3 stop. I very rarely use the 1 stop, except in combination with the 3, to give me 4 stops; i.e. two filters mounted in the holder in front of the glass. It depends on the sort of light you get and the dynamic range that 'normally' occurs between, in my case, land and sky. The 3 stop is my most-often used filter, but I frequently, especially in the early morning before daylight is really is hitting the ground, have the 3 and the 2 mounted together, giving me 5 stops.

[dragonaxe]

who needs snow...when you've got icy sunsets!!!??? love them!!

[Katy Noelle]

Originals:








The problem is my post processing, isn't it.

[arith]

I think your work is very nice.

[Katy Noelle]

Upside down GND probably GG2 or GND4 on #3 which is my favourite.

I think your work is very nice.

Thanks, Steve! It's funny that i think that you were answering my question at the very moment that I was writing it. You read my mind!

[pono]

Do GND filters only come in the big square kind that you need a holder on the front of the lens? It makes sense, so you can move it up and down depending on where the light is, but I was just wondering.

[Colin Southern]

Do GND filters only come in the big square kind that you need a holder on the front of the lens? It makes sense, so you can move it up and down depending on where the light is, but I was just wondering.

No, but they're basically the only ones that are any good.