Tuscany Sunset

[Douglas Bolt]

Canon 5DM3, Canon 70-200mm@121, f4@22, 2.5s, ISO 100. PP: PSCC - adjusted Temp & Tint, exp -.65, increased contrast, clarity and vibrance, darkened sky c Gradfilter, slight LCE, and sharpened with PKS 80% opacity.
Photo taken this may on a workshop with Hans Kruse in San Quirico d'Orcia near Siena, Italy. I went with f22 in an effort to get the yellow flowers in focus, but because they were blowing in the wind, f9 or so would have been a better choice.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Hey Douglas. Tuscany sure is a photogenic place.
Even though you chose f22 the photo doesn't look particularly sharp in any area - foreground, midground and background. Perhaps your tripod wasn't sturdy enough or securely planted and the wind had a slight effect on your shot stability? The flowing lines are nice but the lack of sharpness really takes away the enjoyment of the scene for me. The greens/yellows also seem oversaturated and I wish there was some detail in those 2 trees.

[Don Railton]

Hi Douglas.

I agree with Morkel 100%... and the blur LLC I find distracting, however its nicely composed with all the intersecting diagonals and the colours are sweet, albeit a little saturated. The approach for me with moving elements would have been to experiment more with lifting the shutter speed and F stop. You have plenty of scope here with a tripod ...

regards

DON

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Douglas - Sorry to heap it on but Morkel summed up my thoughts as well. I hope you have others though to share from the workshop.

TFS,
Rachel

[David Stephens]

Don't be afraid to raise the ISO to get the SS that you need to stop action. As a practical matter, f/16 or even f/11 would have given you the DOF you needed here. The smeared yellows and the general OOF elements, make me think that the long exposure was not really appropriate here. If there was any breeze and you didn't use mirror lock up, remote release on a very sturdy tripod, you're stretching you luck. Hand held at around 1/60-sec., f/11 and appropriate ISO would have given a sharper, better result here, IMO.

I LOVE the tri-color result and the balance of composition and the numerous diagonals. It's a real shame about the blurring, because it's a lovely scene and strong composition otherwise.

[Douglas Bolt]

Thanks for the honest critiques. And, yes, Rachel. I do have some more to share.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Douglas, I like the framing of the composition quite a lot. And I love the blurred foreground vegetation, but for me it is the middle section, where the land is undulating, that the unsharpness becomes problematic. I am assuming it was a rather windy evening. David makes a good suggestion to up the ISO an freeze the vegetation. Looking forward to more :)

[nick clayton]

I like the strong colours and composition of the image especially the trees.