The Everglades II

[Harold Davis]

this is one from saturday afternoon at ENP. i couldnt get the rule of thirds to work here cause i just couldnt clip the clouds at the top. is this right or wrong?

thanks for looking and comments and critiques are very much appreciated.

D300, Nikkor 28-80 at 28mm, f/14, 1/800s, ISO 220, -1.3EV

[George DeCamp]

Hi Harold!

Couple things here;

1. You need a little clockwise rotation on this image. Use the slider on the right hand side of the forum screen and move your image up to the top of the grass....you will see atthe beginning it is a bit crooked. Did you use a tripod? If so you need a little bubble level.

2. Sure you can crop the clouds!! Play a little and you will see, use the slider on the right again to see different crops and find one you like.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Harold Agree with George go ahead and cut the clouds Would like to end up with more of a vertical The square does not help the image

Also for b&w is all about local contrast You can tweak those clouds and make them pop !!! Will give it a try at home later !!!

[Harold Davis]

i'm obviously overthinking this. to the point that i have abandoned this pic and gone to another with different in-camera exposures. then i came back to here and looked at what i had a wondered where i went wrong.

i'm working on one at home now, too. thanks guys. i appreciate the help.

I'LL BE BACK!!!!

[Harold Davis]

same spot, different exposure, different crop. this one was f/16, 1/160s. i spent a lot of time on this one. i really wanted to get it right. you guys spend your time helping us out, i think it is only right for us to put our best foot forward out of respect for you.

if this one doesnt work, i'm paying one of ya to teach me the correct way:D

thanks again....looking forward to hear what you think!!

[Judd Patterson]

Hey, Harold, this is a great scene that has a lot of potential! I'm curious how you did the black and white conversion? I really like the Channel Mixer so that I can experiment with the three channels (red, green, and blue) and selectively pick which one(s) I want to dominate the image. In your bottom image I think it would be nice to have more detail/texture visible in the grasses. You might want to see if the green channel had that kind of detail or perhaps try selecting only the grass and running a curves adjustment. For me it's a difficult scene to determine the optimal composition, but I think I would have certainly moved around, experimenting with a vertical showing from the dwarf cypress all the way to the clouds tops, and also some wide angle views
where you moved into the sawgrass and got right up on the cypress. You certainly are showing some great dedication here with what can be a challenging landscape to photograph well!

[Harold Davis]

hey, judd. i used capture nx. i have mixers in nx. i did not try to play with them any, i was really trying to get the clouds to pop while keeping the foreground properly exposed. i feel like i keep saying this, but this jpeg does not do the RAW file justice. the foreground in the RAW is exposed better and shows a ton more detail. i am using capture to do the RAW conversion as well as the size/resolution reduction.

thanks for your input. i will work on it some more tomorrow and see what i can come up with. maybe i'll add a little yellow to the clouds and some green or red to the grasses. gotta go check on the lunar eclipse again!!

[Harold Davis]

ok, judd. what do you think? i add a touch of green and some light to the foreground and some yellow to the clouds that i think added some drama. as i was working on this this afternoon, i now have a vision for another photo that i think will work better. i will incorporate some of what you said in your post and a couple other things. now i just have to find it:eek:

thanks