My First Post here at Landscapes

[Kobus Tollig]

Cant Really Give Exif here Cause i Blended 3 exposures.
Was Taken With Canon 50D and 10-22mm at f16
All C&C Welcome and Appreciated

[Morkel Erasmus]

you know I love this one bud!! super comp, colours and mood. but then again I'm no expert...:)

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I like the rocks leading you into the image, the sky as well, very much indeed. I am no expert myself. Is that a ship wreck?

[Kobus Tollig]

Thx for the comments. Akos yes its a wreck

[Robert Amoruso]

Kobus,

Welcome to Landscape and great first post here. Even if you blended images, please post the shutter speeds as that is important to let viewers know what speed caused the affect on the water. Also post what you used to blend the exposures.

Great use of leading lines to the ship. The rocks in the FG, the BG land masses left and right and the clouds. Also the rocks make for an interested FG. Nice work.

[Jay Gould]

Kobus, when I first saw your post title in the new posts list, I must admit I opened the image to see the results of the 50D more than simply seeing another landscape image. You nailed it! :D

I have just finished reading John Shaw's and Tim Fitzharris' landscape books and your image meets all of the rules: you have definable and strong foreground, midground, and background; you have a great set of leading lines to the background; and you have an additional item of interest - the ship.

However, that is not what I first saw! This is the second time I am writing this - I do not know what happened to the first post.

When I opened your image I had just been looking at John Chardine's Coffee Arabica thread - http://birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=39680 - and when I opened your image I saw the coffee beans and the lovely coffee aroma going out from the beans (the foreground rocks) to the horizon.

And, I wasn't even smoking or drinking anything "funny"! :eek: ;) :cool:

Thanks for sharing. Jay

[Kobus Tollig]

Thx all for the great comments appreciate it.
Here is the slow water Exif
10-22mm @ 10mm
5 sec, f/14
Mode: Manual
Metering: Evaluative
AEB comp: +2
ISO: 100
AF mode: One-shot AF
Drive: Single frame shooting
White balance: Auto
Flash: Off
Used CS3 for the blending
Hope this is ok. If you need more ill give more.
Jay thx. The coffee beans was the first thing i saw when opening the image on my PC. So you smoking nothing heheh.

[Mitchell Krog]

Nice one Mr T, small rock creeping in on the left of the frame which can go, could brighten up the sky layer a tad, just a tad, now I'm off to get me some coffee :D

[Robert Amoruso]

Kobus,

Thanks fof the techs. I agree with Mitchell on the small rock on the left.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Kobus,
Welcome to the forum! Very nice first post! Very good use of the FG rocks leading you in along with the water on both sides diagonally leading to the shipwreck which is nicely placed in the frame. Agree with the slight rock protrusion but very minor to overall impact. Nice job minimizing the sky.....looks like you captured all the interesting stuff.....and it balances nicely with the rest of the image. Very well done!

[Stephen Earle]

Excellent work here Kobus. Is it Mitch whose teaching all these landscape tricks?

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Love this image Kobus. Love the composition, the gorgeous light & likede the glow off the FG rocks/pebbles especially. Excellent job on PP. Would like to know if you used HDR to blend or manual blending ?
Would really appreciate inputs on the blending aspect...

[David Thomasson]

Welcome, Kobus! I'm a bit late seeing your first post, but I'm glad I did. What an "entrance" you have made! Very nice work. The light and color are excellent,
but this image is most of all about composition, and the composition is most of all about lines. At least that is my impression, and as I looked at it in those terms,
I saw one adjustment I just had to try. I hope you don't mind. Very strong lines in this image, except for the one along the left side of the foreground rocks. I shifted that one a little ...

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/4045/rocksandship.gif

http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/5107/rocksandship.jpg

[Kobus Tollig]

Love this image Kobus. Love the composition, the gorgeous light & likede the glow off the FG rocks/pebbles especially. Excellent job on PP. Would like to know if you used HDR to blend or manual blending ?
Would really appreciate inputs on the blending aspect...
Thx for you comment i appreciate it lots. I used Manual blending in CS3

[Kobus Tollig]

DAvid Thx for the could you please share how you did it

[David Thomasson]

DAvid Thx for the could you please share how you did it

Happy to. I just selected the bottom part of the image (below the horizon), copied that to a new layer (layer 2), and used the transform tool in Photoshop to skew it so the rocks aligned with the shipwreck. Then blended the edges in with a mask and cloned a little on two blank layers to finish the blending.

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/6415/shipfix.jpg

[Kobus Tollig]

Thx David. I get the transform right and masking but not the cloning with the blank layer??

[David Thomasson]

Thx David. I get the transform right and masking but not the cloning with the blank layer??

It's a good practice to clone on a blank layer rather than on the image so you can erase.
Just be sure to set the sample option as shown here so the tool will sample from the image layer.

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7869/cloneset.jpg

[Kobus Tollig]

Thx David i have learned alot from you. Not sure if i would ever use it(ethics) but who knows. Appreciate your time and effort. Enjoy the weekend. Bye

[Jay Gould]

Thx David i have learned alot from you. Not sure if i would ever use it(ethics) but who knows. Appreciate your time and effort. Enjoy the weekend. Bye

Hi Kobus, still not smoking! :D

Earlier you said


I used Manual blending in CS3 <!-- / message -->

Why would you not use what David has taught us so long as you disclose; doesn't disclosure address the "ethics" issue? David's RP makes your powerful OP even more powerful!

[Kobus Tollig]

Jay I hear what you say but for me a would like to capture what I see. 3 captures put together is still what I see. I just use it to slow down the water. I hope to get my filter this week and then I will not blend anymore.... Just blending cause I did not have filters. But yes it does improve the image and have to be honest that if it will make more money for me I would prob do it.....but I don't think it will..mmmmmm what do you think...
Will look at your answer tomorrow...now 23:30 here. Gonna go sleep. Cheers

[Jay Gould]

Jay I hear what you say but for me a would like to capture what I see. 3 captures put together is still what I see. I just use it to slow down the water. I hope to get my filter this week and then I will not blend anymore.... Just blending cause I did not have filters. But yes it does improve the image and have to be honest that if it will make more money for me I would prob do it.....but I don't think it will..mmmmmm what do you think... Will look at your answer tomorrow...now 23:30 here. Gonna go sleep. Cheers

What filter are you getting?

Kobus, the moment you introduce "income" into the equation and indicate that for "income" you would create "digital art" (my description of what DT did!), it reminds me of the old joke about what would you do and for how much - really? - well, now we know what you are willing to do for a price, let's talk about the price. ;) :p

We all have to make our own decisions - walk the path we choose. As long as there is disclosure why not present what you are able to accomplish in it's best light?

"Will look at your answer tomorrow" - you got it Mate! :D

[Kobus Tollig]

Hi jay. I'm getting myself Cokin filters....ND8 and ND4 graduate

[David Thomasson]

A short note on ethics ...
http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?p=280490#post280490

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Kobus,
Would suggest you not abandon multiple blending entirely......why???.....because you are so good at it and because the ND filters will not be able to handle all situations. Trust me......I love that you are trying to get it right in camera with just the ND filters.....but i personally feel that HDR's and blending exposures will very soon not only be commonplace but fully accepted! In the not so distant past....we all used negatives....and no one considered them the final product! Those of us who did process ourselves spent countless hours tweaking them......or went to labs that did better work than others. Even when you wanted to print slides.......we chose our print lab carefully on the work they did. The films themselves were carefully chosen to present the desired final product........I have drawers full of filters to give me a desired effect.....everything from sunset/enhancing filters to red / green and yellow filters for B&W work. I find it amusing that B&W printers have no issues with dodging and burning yet give digital shooters grief over levels or curves layers......what's the difference???.....they are basically dodging and burning on steroids!!!.....faster, yet the same principle. Do not abandon one in favor of another! I use all tools in the toolbox when necessary and they include any and all PP'ing ones. Things evolve....as does the photographic process....what is not readily accepted now.....may be in the not too distant future.
Leave the debate for later in the evening over a cold beer! My 2 cents.

[Kobus Tollig]

Thx Roman i here what you say.
For me blending works after sunset or before sunrise. (ocean work). Reason is without filters you blow the highlights on the water if you try to slow the water. So imo filters will always be there unless cameras can compensate for that in the future. After sunset ill probably still use blending lol