Sunrise on the Elk Mt. Range

[Joanna Trescott]

This was a difficult shot. The day started out grey, but the sky opened up just for a few minutes. I processed one raw file for highlights and one for shadows and did a quick mask. I pushed the saturation and contrast more than I usually do as suggested in my last post. I also cropped our a small portion of the bottom and created a layer to dodge and burn a little -- is this too much? I always have a challenge in this location trying for the right focal point.

Canon 20D EF 10-22 3.5-4.5 USM
F16 @1/50, ISO 400 AWB
Handheld

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Hi Joanna,
I can't comment on your post-processing as I know so little about it, but I like the image a lot. I like that you took it with such a wide angle lens and the purple flowers really make it for me. My only nit might be that the shadow on the left-hand hill might be a little strong.
Regards,
Nicki

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Joanna,
You did very well composing the scene. It's just beautiful. An issue I have now is with the sky.Did you use just a brightness/contrast adjustment or USM method. I ask because the clouds on the upper right are blown in this version.......and when I went to work on it to show a possible solution......I couldn't recover them. If you want me to post my re-work with the blown clouds and you would like to try over again using my technique........just let me know.
Now 2 things I would like to add for in the field. Tripod, tripod, tripod......1/50 sec is borderline for hand holding......why risk not using it on such a beautiful scene.........and my signature 3 stop grad ND filter. 4oz of weight and 4 seconds of use would have saved a lot of computer time.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Joanna

Fully agree with Roman and btw I just got my 3 stop ND filter ... I never leave home without it.

You have a great eye for composition and like your careful framing !!! Its a gorgeous image !!!

[Robert Amoruso]

Roman brings up some good points. First off this is a well composed image of a great subject. I am guessing that it at least took you some time to get to this ridge to make this image. In which case a tripod would have help greatly here as Roman noted. With the tripod, you could have used the minimum aperture of f/22 of your lens. This may have gotten the very most FG flowers in focus.

The FG flowers are a powerful compositional element of this image and you did well composing with them. However, the few in the front that are OOF are distracting hence my comment above. This is where tilt-shift lenses come in handy but at $1000 each for Canon's TS lenses, they are not a cheap option.

Another option for maximizing DOF is to make two images - one with the FG sharp at the minimum aperture and one with the BG in focus at the minimum aperture. This is called DOF bracketing. Heliconfocus (http://www.heliconsoft.com/heliconfocus.html) is a program that will assemble bracketed DOF images but it can be done manually in Photoshop.

Lastly, the 3-stop GND filter mentioned is a great option for taming contrast between skies and land.

[Alfred Forns]

Thanks for the link Robert I've been looking for that program :) :) :)

[Gayle Clement]

This is a really beautiful area. The flowers in the foreground are terrific. I agree with Roman's suggestions. I am also going to check out that software recommended by Robert.

[Nonda Surratt]

Lovely image! Will defer to the landscape folks on critique, learned quite a bit in this post, thanks!

[Katie Rupp]

Joanna, this is really beautiful and like Nonda, I learned quite a few new tips in this post. Thanks for sharing the image and the information.

[Harold Davis]

hi joanna. i am loving your landscape images!! super job with the compositions on both i have seen. i have a question for the experts: i understand that f/22 is going to give you the best dof, but where should the focus point be in an image like this?

thanks!

[Lance Peters]

Hey MR H - Ill take a stab at your question - would of course depend on the lens you are using (Hyperfocal assignment)

I would say about 1/3 the way into the scene - of course you could actually figure it out for yourself, I am sure I have seen calculator's around on the net for this exact thing.

:)

[Joanna Trescott]

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions. I will check my RAW image to see if the clouds are blown out. I just spent 6 hours hiking on the Continental Divide and thought constantly about what I have learned in this forum. I will check into the GD filters, too. Thanks!

[Harold Davis]

with a D300 and 17mm at f/22, it looks as if you would have to focus within 97.9 feet in front of you. everything behind the focal point is focused to infinity. does this sound right?

[Joanna Trescott]

Roman: I checked the RAW file and the sky is not blown out. I think it must have occurred when I increased the saturation and contrast. As I mentioned, I created two files and combined them in quick mask.

[Robert Amoruso]

hi joanna. i am loving your landscape images!! super job with the compositions on both i have seen. i have a question for the experts: i understand that f/22 is going to give you the best dof, but where should the focus point be in an image like this?

thanks!

with a D300 and 17mm at f/22, it looks as if you would have to focus within 97.9 feet in front of you. everything behind the focal point is focused to infinity. does this sound right?

Harold,

THe best way to handle this is to use a technique called hyperfocal distance. I am working on a tutorial right now for this to use in my landscape workshops and will post a link to it the the education forum when done - but in a nutshell.

From Wikipedia (Hyperfocal distance. (2008, July 27). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:26, August 1, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?...ldid=228250731)

In optics and photography, hyperfocal distance is a distance beyond which all objects can be brought into an "acceptable" focus. There are two commonly used definitions of hyperfocal distance, leading to values that differ only slightly:

The first definition: the hyperfocal distance is the closest distance at which a lens can be focused while keeping objects at infinity acceptably sharp; that is, the focus distance with the maximum depth of field. When the lens is focused at this distance, all objects at distances from half of the hyperfocal distance out to infinity will be acceptably sharp.

The second definition: the hyperfocal distance is the distance beyond which all objects are acceptably sharp, for a lens focused at infinity.

The distinction between the two meanings is rarely made, since they are interchangeable and have almost identical values. The value computed according to the first definition exceeds that from the second by just one focal length.

The hyperfocal distance is entirely dependent upon what level of sharpness is considered to be acceptable. The criterion for the desired acceptable sharpness is specified through the circle of confusion (COC) diameter limit. This criterion is the largest acceptable spot size diameter that an infinitesimal point is allowed to spread out to on the imaging medium (film, digital sensor, etc.).

Calculating it

In lieu of presenting a bunch of long drawn out equations I refer you to John Hendry’s excellent resource at http://www.johnhendry.com/gadget/dofcalc.htm. You will want to use the “Hyperfocal Distance Calculator” – see the screen shot above.

In this example I input a 24mm lengths focal length, f/22 aperture (smallest for my Canon 24-105mm IS) and a Circle of Confusion of 0.023 for my Canon 1D Mark III (see http://www.dofmaster.com/digital_coc.html for list of digital camera CoC).

The results are a Hyperfocal Distance of 3 ft – 9 in. Setting my lens to that focus point will yield acceptable sharpness from 1 ft – 10 in to infinity.

Using this information.

When focused on the hyperfocal distance (3 ft – 9 inches in the example), the image is acceptability sharp from half the hyperfocal distance to infinity. In the example above, the hyperfocal distance is 3 ft – 9 in so everything's sharp from 1 ft – 10 inches to infinity. If you focus on infinity, then everything's sharp from infinity to the hyperfocal distance of 45 inches.

The biggest problem with modern auto-focusing lenses today is (a) the hyperfocal distance markings are not on them and (b) due to the short focusing arch to accommodate required AF response times, it makes this approach all be useless.
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Using a Circle of Confusion for a 20D (from the link above it is 0.019) and the Hyperfocal Distance calcuator I would the focus setting for 10mm and 22mm, they are:

10mm at f/22: set at 9" focus, 5" to infinity will be in focus.
22mm at f/22 set at 3 ft - 10 inches, 23 inches to infinity will be in focus.

This is one of the reasons I use the Canon TS lenses, they are manual and have the hyperfocal distance marking right on them.

Using the above procedure you can find the focusing point to take best advantage of the DOF of your lenses.

[Harold Davis]

thanks robert!! it will take me some time to digest all of that. i like your calculator better than the one i was using.