A telephoto shoot - Penrith Lakes

[Yan Zhang]

Hello all,

I just joined this site yesterday introduced by Colin who has been giving me many excellent advises in landscape photography in the last several months.

This photo was taken near my home. Since I found this scene, I went to the same location many times at different light conditions. This one was one of the few shots I took in early January 2009. I used Canon 400D camera with lens 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM, with the tripod and IS off, the time was early morning before sunrise.

Comments welcome!

[Colin Southern]

Hi Yan,

Thank you for your kind words.

What a nice shot - simple but effective composition (infact the perfect example of how you can break the rule of thirds with reflection shots and get away with it) - perfect exposure and colour that could grace many a wall.

Do you shoot only for your own collections, or have you ever thought of trying something more commercial with shots like this?

[Yan Zhang]

Hi Colin,

Thanks for your comments.

At the moment I only have collections of my photos for myself enjoyment. Occasionally some friends asked me to send my link to them for their views and downloads. Sometimes people also suggested me to explore commercial markets, but I have no any information for that and also don't know if my photos are good enough for that.

Any advices would be greatly appreciated.

[Colin Southern]

Hi Yan,

I'm reminded of the old sayings "The longest journey begins with the first step" and "nothing ventured, nothing gained". I still remember the first large print that I had done - in fact I still have it framed in my workshop; It was so exciting.

Unfortunately, it's more than just a hop-skip-and jump from there to having people lined up at your door waiting for one of your prints, but none-the-less, with a bit of thought and planning these things do have a habit of slowly falling into place.

So in the spirit of that, I'd encourage you to have something like the shot you showed us here printed at a decent size (perhaps something like 12 x 18) - get it framed professionally or printed on canvas and stretched (both of which will be learning experiences in their own right) - and see what you think of the final product - hang it on your wall - see what others thing about it - and generally "get the ball rolling". That's what I did.

After a while you start to develop a self-confidence that says "hey, I'm not the world's greatest photographer, but these are darn good shots all the same) - you might then get a few more printed and mounted - hung on your wall (which in itself will be a source of great pride) - at which point you can then experiment with the next step - finding an outlet for them (I try to look for outlets that will sell on the basis of a small commission where my work brings others into their shops to help them sell their own wares, so it's a win/win) (incidentally, money only changes hands when the image sells, so there's no financial outlay for outlets doing the selling). If it's anything like my first efforts you end up coving your costs and perhaps just a little bit more, but along the way you build confidence - you find ways to do things better and cheaper (I recently started manufacturing my own frames for canvas stretching, and already the approx $3500 I borrowed from my "retirement fund" is back where it came from and I can make another $60 per 22 x 44 in canvas print that I sell.

That's the basic thrust of it anyway - you might like to give it some thought. From what I've seen of your relatively low resolution image that you just showed us here, something like that would look very attractive - and I'm sure would be very saleable (although I've learned not to expect things to sell the same day) (although some do, which is always extra nice :)

So my encouragement is to "give it a go" :)

[Yan Zhang]

Hi Colin,

Thanks for your encouragement and thoughts. Your experience gave me some ideas. I'll try to explore this.

[CNelson]

Hi Yan:

Welcome, I'm new also but enjoying and learning from this site. I like the image you have posted. It appears you have an eye for what makes a good photograph. Colin has provided some excellent advice and I can't add to what he has said except to encouratge you to keep it up.

Chuck

[The Blue Boy]

I agree with Colin. This picture could indeed grace many a wall. I'm very lucky as I have a long time friendship with a printer who does my stuff. I'm also getting quite friendly with a small shop in the centre where I work as recently all the pics the mrs wants she wants on canvas. Also I've sold a couple through them and it's such a buzz! Plus it's enabled me to buy a decent 50mm so I didn't have to go cap in hand to the afore-mentioned mrs

[Jim B.]

Hi Yan,

I'm new here also.I really like the photo.Wonderful composition.I'm looking forward to viewing more of your work.
Jim

[ajith.rajeswari]

Hi Yan,

That was a good shot, I liked the framing and composition, as Colin mentioned though it does not follow the rules of third it looks great!! Thanks for sharing..How is the sharpness in the original image?

Thanks to Colin for the inspiring words..

~Ajith

[Yan Zhang]

Dear all,

Thanks very much for your comments and encouragement. In just couple of days, I have found this site is so helpful and just like a home.

Ajith:

I took this photo in jpg directly from my 400D camera. The original picture was quite sharp. But I found that using lens FE 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM to take sharp picture is quite technical, especially when you want a bit long exposure time. I have quite couple of other shots on the same scene like this one but not very sharp due to various reasons such as tripod vibration.

Yan

[Colin Southern]

Also I've sold a couple through them and it's such a buzz! Plus it's enabled me to buy a decent 50mm so I didn't have to go cap in hand to the afore-mentioned mrs

Going "cap in hand" has to the the ultimate indignity!

[Colin Southern]

Out of interest Yan, what was the exposure time for this shot?

[Yan Zhang]

Colin,

Here is shooting information:

Shutter speed: 6s
Aperture: f/13.0
Focal length: 90.0mm
ISO: 100
Shooting mode: Manual

Filter: 3-stop ND filter applied

Yan