Landscape 2014

[Cogito]

Birma, after "Marsco Early Light" the bottle should be much emptied! Nice shot (again!) and rather you than me...

[Birma]

Thank you Sury, Viewfinder, Greg and Tony

Greg, I had to use a bit of HDR processing to get the detail on the dark face of the mountain to come out and I blended this with a regular LR one. The water may have been icy but it was my fingers that felt the chill most, despite the neoprene gloves! They soon warm up when I moving about, but it can be chilly if you're stood still for too long time.

Tony, Talisker all gone (not by myself I hasten to add!) and on to Jura now

More shots from Skye to come but I have a PP backlog at the moment

[Kalainen]

Birma, the two last images you posted are absolutely stunning! I especially like the first one because of it's subtle and soft tonality. The second one has a bit more bite in it. The shadow side of the mountain looks like it was lifted up a bit too much, but I cannot say for certain since I'm not looking it from my own calibrated monitor. All in all, I really like the way you post process your pictures. How long has it take you to come to this point? How long have you been learning it? Just asking, because I think you have developed a very easily identifiable style, which is, from my perspective, a good thing!

--
Toni Ahvenainen (1976)
Year of the Alpha - 52 Weeks of Sony Alpha Photography: http://www.yearofthealpha.com
Flickr-account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/109262328@N06/

[Birma]

Thanks Toni - I really appreciate the comments

My post processing has been a long learning curve, with lots of sudden step changes as I have learnt new techniques or new software packages. I started learning about 8 years ago (scary!) right here on this forum with some tips about auto levels in Photoshop Elements, and I have continued to pick up tips and ideas as I have gone along. I read a few of the "guide to ..." books at first, but I must admit to most things now being learnt from You-Tube videos. Often I get stuck, or want to get a particular effect, and so I google it and then try the advice I find on the videos. Starting to use Lightroom was a revelation as it just seemed to make the whole workflow so straight-forward. I have recently been learning a bit of HDR using Photomatix Pro. I learnt at the same time about blending images in Photoshop. (The Adobe system of getting all of the packages for a monthly fee has worked well for me!) As with any new 'trick' I am probably tempted to use it too much. I very rarely use a completely HDR image as I usually just want part of the image to have this effect. In the second mountain shot above I probably left the 'dark' side of the mountain too light as I just loved the detail that came out in the HDR processing . I have only just scratched the surface of what the software I have can do, but it is finding the time to learn that is the challenge.

A big part of my recent progress in post processing has been down to the amazing dynamic range in the A99 sensor, and what Lightroom can do with the raw files from the A99. I have stopped using ND grad filters to balance the sky and land in my landscape shots completely as the A99 pretty much covers it, or in extreme cases I can blend a couple of images. (Since February I have taken the filters out of my camera bag as I had not used them for so long.) The ND grad filters were a pain to use (for me) and I had problems with colour casts and loss of detail etc.

All of this means I should be able to spend more time on composition (which I really need!) and less time on the mechanics of getting the file I want in the camera.

[viewfinder]

swithland res charnwood forest sundown recently

[viewfinder]

Thanks Toni - I really appreciate the comments

My post processing has been a long learning curve, with lots of sudden step changes as I have learnt new techniques or new software packages. I started learning about 8 years ago (scary!) right here on this forum with some tips about auto levels in Photoshop Elements, and I have continued to pick up tips and ideas as I have gone along. I read a few of the "guide to ..." books at first, but I must admit to most things now being learnt from You-Tube videos. Often I get stuck, or want to get a particular effect, and so I google it and then try the advice I find on the videos. Starting to use Lightroom was a revelation as it just seemed to make the whole workflow so straight-forward. I have recently been learning a bit of HDR using Photomatix Pro. I learnt at the same time about blending images in Photoshop. (The Adobe system of getting all of the packages for a monthly fee has worked well for me!) As with any new 'trick' I am probably tempted to use it too much. I very rarely use a completely HDR image as I usually just want part of the image to have this effect. In the second mountain shot above I probably left the 'dark' side of the mountain too light as I just loved the detail that came out in the HDR processing . I have only just scratched the surface of what the software I have can do, but it is finding the time to learn that is the challenge.

A big part of my recent progress in post processing has been down to the amazing dynamic range in the A99 sensor, and what Lightroom can do with the raw files from the A99. I have stopped using ND grad filters to balance the sky and land in my landscape shots completely as the A99 pretty much covers it, or in extreme cases I can blend a couple of images. (Since February I have taken the filters out of my camera bag as I had not used them for so long.) The ND grad filters were a pain to use (for me) and I had problems with colour casts and loss of detail etc.

All of this means I should be able to spend more time on composition (which I really need!) and less time on the mechanics of getting the file I want in the camera.

hi thx for that birma useful x i am big fan off lightroom and ps learned a lot from the well informed on u tube still learning

ray

[Birma]

Glorious sunset shot, Ray. Lovely colours and I like the lone duck crossing the water

[sury]

Fantabulous shot Ray. (Fantastic + Fabulous).

Sury

[the_hefay]

Beautiful sunset viewfinder.

[Kalainen]

Thanks Toni - I really appreciate the comments

My post processing has been a long learning curve, with lots of sudden step changes as I have learnt new techniques or new software packages. I started learning about 8 years ago (scary!) right here on this forum with some tips about auto levels in Photoshop Elements, and I have continued to pick up tips and ideas as I have gone along. I read a few of the "guide to ..." books at first, but I must admit to most things now being learnt from You-Tube videos. Often I get stuck, or want to get a particular effect, and so I google it and then try the advice I find on the videos. Starting to use Lightroom was a revelation as it just seemed to make the whole workflow so straight-forward. I have recently been learning a bit of HDR using Photomatix Pro. I learnt at the same time about blending images in Photoshop. (The Adobe system of getting all of the packages for a monthly fee has worked well for me!) As with any new 'trick' I am probably tempted to use it too much. I very rarely use a completely HDR image as I usually just want part of the image to have this effect. In the second mountain shot above I probably left the 'dark' side of the mountain too light as I just loved the detail that came out in the HDR processing . I have only just scratched the surface of what the software I have can do, but it is finding the time to learn that is the challenge.

This is a good description of your learning process and I can certainly relate to it. I come from the world of graphics design and I know way around photoshop (in that context), but, like you, Lightroom was a revelation for me too. I've found that it's harder to develop taste than learn different techniques and that is one thing I feel I struggle. I can 'correct' and 'readjust', but having a good and consistent taste is different thing. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I derail on wrong paths. To succeed I need to have vision in my head before I start, otherwise the software will use me and not other way around as it should. On thing is certain though, post processing have become essential part of any photography. Same time this raises some questions of 'how much' and with 'what intentions' should post processing be done. Learning to give justified answers to these kind of questions in ones own context is something I regard as a level of professionalism.

A big part of my recent progress in post processing has been down to the amazing dynamic range in the A99 sensor, and what Lightroom can do with the raw files from the A99. I have stopped using ND grad filters to balance the sky and land in my landscape shots completely as the A99 pretty much covers it, or in extreme cases I can blend a couple of images. (Since February I have taken the filters out of my camera bag as I had not used them for so long.) The ND grad filters were a pain to use (for me) and I had problems with colour casts and loss of detail etc.

Although I'm pretty satisfied with dynamic range of 5N, hearing things like you've mentioned here, makes me wonder how much would a stop or two matter in my photography. I understand what it means on a mathematical level, but I can't imagine how it transforms to practice. Looks like you've got both, so how much there is difference with 5N and A99?

-Toni

--
Toni Ahvenainen (1976)
Year of the Alpha - 52 Weeks of Sony Alpha Photography: http://www.yearofthealpha.com
Flickr-account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/109262328@N06/

[ValeryD]

Beautiful shots, most of them I admitted already on the Flicker.
I'll add one more landscape picture from Ice Jam, not from cellphone, from normal a57 camera + 16-80 CZ.

[Birma]

Those blocks of ice are amazing, Valery. Great contrast with the tower blocks behind

[Birma]

Hi Toni - I must admit that I haven't done any tests on the Dynamic Range of the A99 compared to any of my APS-C sensor cameras. I just get the impression I have more leeway with the RAW files from the A99 than I did before. I did also read this in some reviews I read last year of the A99. I would expect DXO or some such site probably has some figures on it. I expect internal Lightroom improvements have also had a part to play.

When I first got in to digital photography there was a lot of comment in magazines and online about not wanting to do too much processing, and having to get things right in the camera rather than doing post processing. It gave me the impression that there was a school of thought saying post processing was bad. Since then I've decided that, for myself, I'm making pictures. The camera, and the light coming in to the camera, are part of that process of making a picture. Post processing in software is another part of the process. I'll do as much of either part as is necessary to get the end result I want. I read a good quote the other day, attributed to Ansell Adams. It went something along the lines of "the negative from the camera is the equivalent of the musical score, and the print is the equivalent of the performance". I thought that was a neat analogy; the RAW files from the camera are potential, which we interpret as we want.

As a slight counter to my own argument, as I am making pictures of the natural world, if my interpretation goes too far then the picture will lack realism and can spoil the end result. I therefore always appreciate comments which say when I have perhaps gone a bit too far .

Your comment about a style is an interesting one. I'm not sure that I've got one. I'm probably still learning so much as I go along that it is a moving target.

[sury]

Now I see what Ice jam can do. Those are big blocks. Nice capture, Valery.

Sury

[Cogito]

Great sunset, viewfinder! Wonderful ice ValeryD!
Keeping it "Minolta"....

The Great Ouse (river) by Houghton Mill.



Houghton mill, Cambridgeshire.



And the 'local' in Houghton.