Photo for Critique please

[JoanMarian]

Taken on a Misty Day.

This is my first post so I hope I have done this correctly, if not please advise.

Any advice for improvement welcome. Thank you

[Manfred M]

Thanks for posting. This is a nice pleasant landscape scene. The image could use a little more refinement in post. The sky is quite bright and the textures are getting lost. The shadows in the trees could be opened up a bit to show a bit more texture.

[royent]

I'm looking all over it for a point of interest
Roy

[JoanMarian]

Thank you Manfred, unfortunately I didn't have my grad filters with me so should probably have used one to darken the sky. Thanks for your advice on the shadows in the trees, I will look into that.

[JoanMarian]

Hi Roy, I get your point but was really trying to catch the misty atmosphere of the day.

[Geoff F]

Going further from Manfred's comments. With this type of scene I often shoot three bracketed exposures and merge them together with layers and masking. Sometimes only using two of the shots if I am able to set the first midtone image camera settings slightly towards solving any potential exposure problem.

If there is too much movement in the scene for bracketed exposures I shoot Raw format and make two or three different conversions which are merged together to expand the image brightness/contrast range.

Some editing software has an auto HDR option (High Dynamic Range) but I usually prefer to do my own merging with masking.

[JoanMarian]

Thank you Geoff, yes that is a good idea. I have done some bracketed shots in the past. I don't have have a special HDR program but have been experimenting making my own presets in Lightroom, I must admit I am no expert with Layers and Masking but I do have Photoshop also. I love HDR photos but not when they are 'over-cooked' and look weird, but done nicely they can look great.

[Manfred M]

Thank you Manfred, unfortunately I didn't have my grad filters with me so should probably have used one to darken the sky. Thanks for your advice on the shadows in the trees, I will look into that.

I don't think you really needed the grad filters here. Lightroom (or Adobe Camera Raw) let you pull a gradient down in the sky and let you adjust exposure on it. For getting the shadows in the trees opened up, just move the shadows slider as far to the right as required.

[Chataignier]

To my mind, if you can see that a photo is HDR then it is over cooked. I feel that HDR is best used as a tool to handle scenes with extremes of light and shade that exceed the camera's dynamic range, not a means to create "different" looking images.

A point about bracketing, my Fuji has an ISO bracketing option that creates 3 bracketed shots from one shutter operation, the sensor output is treated at three ISO levels in the camera to produce the three bracketed exposures. This overcomes any movement issues. I dont know if this is unique to Fuji, but it is far easier to use than my former Canon.

[DanK]

A couple of different issues here.

First, the only time one really needs more than one exposure is when the image exceeds the dynamic range of the sensor and clips at one end of the other. As processed (there is no way for us to see the raw capture), this does clip at both ends, but only a tiny bit. That suggests, as Manfred posted, that you can do an adequate job with a single image.

The other reason is that you can use bracketing to improve detail in the shadows, by avoiding the absolute bottom of the sensor's capabilities.

In this image, I would have bracketed. An additional two stops would be more than adequate.

Re HDR: it's worth clarifying that there three, not two, methods of combining exposures

1. HDR
2. Automated exposure fusion, which does no tone mapping and simply selects well exposed portions from each image.
3. Manual blending, which functionally is like #2 but with more control.

I too hate the overprocessed, "grunge" look that HDR tone mapping creates. The approach I have used most often is #2, which I do with a Lightroom plugin called "LR/Enfuse". However, the "merge to HDR" function that is native to Lightroom does a pretty good job most of the time. (In the Develop module, go to Photo-Photo Merge-Merge to HDR.) It doesn't create the overprocessed grunge look, although I have found some cases where it distorts color a bit. I no longer have it, but I think I once posted the identical bracketed shot merged with both that routine and LR/Enfuse, and the better colors in the latter were clear. In other cases, Merge to HDR has done just fine, and in fact, I'm about to print and hang a three-image composite that I created with Lightroom's merge to HDR. It's this one, which I posted recently:



David--My Canon R6 II will do what you describe. It offers the choice of whether to store the original raws or a JPEG composite. I haven't used it because I had a tripod with me when I needed bracketing, so I can't vouch for how well it works.

[JoanMarian]

Thanks again Manfred, I will give that a try

[JoanMarian]

Thank you David, I agree with your comment. I am pretty sure I have the bracketing facility on my Nikon so will look into that and give it a try.

[JoanMarian]

Hi Dan

Many thanks for your helpful advice which I will look into.

Excellent photo, it looks great, thanks for enclosing

[Manfred M]

Thanks again Manfred, I will give that a try

No problem - modern cameras and the high dynamic range that they have means we don't need to resort to techniques like HDRI or exposure fusion as often as we did in the past. As long as you have enough data (i.e. no blown highlights and minimal crushed blacks) there is usually enough data in an image file to fix most exposure issues in post. Same thing can go for graduated neutral density filters. I don't use them as often now as I did 10 - 12 years ago due to advances in camera technology.

[DanK]

I found the examples. Here is an exposure-blended composite made with LR/Enfuse:



And here is a composite created with LR's native merge-to-HDR function:



Note the colors of the stone pillars below the bridge and the sidewalk and stone adjacent to it. The colors of the first one are much more accurate. It appears that the tone mapping in the LR HDR function altered white balance. The difference isn't huge, and given the mixed lighting in this sort of shot, folks might not notice the issue with the second one if they didn't have the first to compare it to. However, for this reason, I generally use exposure blending when I am concerned with accuracy.

[JoanMarian]

Thank you so much for sending these Dan, very much appreciated. This has given me inspiration to explore Lightroom more and I didn't even realise about the Enfuse part, I do have Lightroom 4 which is now quite old so I will look into this. Thanks again.

[DanK]

LR/Enfuse (https://photographers-toolbox.com/products/lrenfuse.php) should work with Lightoom version 4, even though version 4 was replaced 10 years ago. They have on their website that it works with version 3. LR's own merge to HDR function was in place at least as early as version 6, but it might not be in version 4.

An unsolicited suggestion: I would seriously consider upgrading, despite the cost ($120/year for Lightroom and Photoshop). The changes in both Lightroom and Photoshop since 2012, when version 4 was released, are enormous. The changes have been particularly large for LR, I think. Ten years ago, it was a raw-rendering and database program with quite modest editing capabilities. It now has very powerful editing functions--not on a par with Photoshop, but powerful enough that I can often complete or nearly complete my edits in LR.

I'll give you one example. I do a lot of candids of kids. One big problem with that genre is lack of control of backgrounds--both the content of backgrounds and their illumination, which is often too bright. In the newest version of LR, I often tell the software to select the subject, invert the resulting automatic selection to select the background, and darken the background. LR usually does a very good job with the selection. The whole process of this initial darkening of the background now takes me four mouse actions, if I recall, and about 30 seconds.

[JoanMarian]

Hi Dan, yes I will definately consider upgrading. I bought this version from a member on my local photography site and thought I would give it a try. If anything I think I prefer it to Photoshop and great for keeping track of photos. It took me a while to get into it but I really like it now. It would be handy to have all the extras, I will have a go with the link you sent me. Many thanks again for all your help and information.

[PhotoVanGogh]

@JoanMarian I think you did just that. I love images like this that have layers of not only hills and trees, but texture and atmosphere.

[JoanMarian]

Many thanks, much appreciated