Taken in late afternoon in early summer. F5.6 iso 160 1/250 sec.
The mtns in the very back....should they be darker?
Bryce Canyon
Taken in late afternoon in early summer. F5.6 iso 160 1/250 sec.
The mtns in the very back....should they be darker?
Hi Hazel,
Occasionally Artie busts me on the 3 stop grad ND.....but this may have been the time to use it. You don't have much sky.......so by sliding it up....you would only get about a 1/2 stop of power. I like the way you composed with the bush in the LL corner and the spires are framed nicely. The light was a bit flat....but playing around a bit with the contrast of curves may help. Now....the sky....Robert A. has a sticky at the top of the landscape forum....tonal range and contrast tweaks......look under multiplied layers....I would apply this from the brighter area of the mountains on up......should help. You may also want to apply the LCE (local Contrast Adjustment/enhancement).....but only on the lower portion....as this will further blow out the sky. I call this the digital darkroom....many different ways to get there......try a few of them until you find a combo you like. I still go back and re-visit some of my earlier corrections with what I learn here. Let me know how you make out!
Hi Hazel,
A very fine capture indeed...I like the composition...with the touch of green from the left side of your frame, to balance out the rest of the tonal color range. The perspective on this one is impressive. the composition has a majestic look...very nice...:cool:
Hi Hazel - like the composition - would love to see it again if you do some of Romans tweaks :)
Bryce Canyon
hate to ask the "dumb" question, but what is a 3 stop grad ND? Where can I read more about it?Originally Posted by Roman Kurywczak
Hi Hazel good question !!!
Its a filter with three stops from top to bottom. You can place the darker side on the sky and it will receive three less stops of light ... about the only way to have a good exposure on the sky and land !!
In this image the sky is washed out but it has a good exposure ... only solution is the filter. The make it in different graduations. I bought the 3 stop on Roman's recommendation and has worked great.
We are lucky to have Roman around, he is a master, and his input is very much appreciated !!!
Hazel, just googled this quickly.http://www.great-landscape-photography.com/graduated-filters.html Might give you a start. I think Roman recommends the Singh 3 stop ND grad filter, I purchased the Lee. One made in the US, the other in Great Britain. Have yet to use it though, waiting til the weather warms up a bit.
Hi Al,
Great response! Now I don't want to confuse you.....but I use what's called a soft stop.......that is the line of the gradation is gradual and there is no hard edge......this allows for a little wiggle room when using it. I do not recommend the screw on type for the lens......as is the case in your image.......you have very little sky......so if the graduation started from the middle.....it would darken parts you didn't want. I use a large 4x6 size Singh Ray filter. I have used the Lee also......both worked very well. The benefit of the larger size......is that I can hand hold it in front of my lens by the very edge in the bottom clear area.......and slide it up to where the gradation just covers the brighter area. In your case here......because there was so little sky and it was much brighter than the FG......I would stack 2 together and use it exactly the same. Just before sunrise or sunset....I manually expose for the FG......and then check the difference in exposure in the sky......set the exposure for the FG....and then place the grad ND over the sky area to bring it closer in tonality to the FG. Many times that early....I have to use more than one.....as the difference is often 5 stops or more!
You can do this in HDR.....combining multiple exposure for both the FG and sky......I'm a bit lazy when it comes to the work required in the computer.....so I take the easy way out and use the filter. 4 ounces and 5 seconds is the way for me!
Hope this helps without confusing!
PS Jackie....nice link!
Last edited by Roman Kurywczak; 03-20-2009 at 10:13 AM. Reason: added ps
Hazel, These guys have already given good advice-I just wanted to say I think it is one of your best posts! I think it would be worth taking the time to tweak!
Bryce Canyon
Thanks for the compliments and advice and help understanding the filter thing.
I'll work on this one with Roman's advice and repost.
will be interested in seeing the repost hazel. nice looking scene!!
Bryce Canyon
OK. I first did a gradient touchup to the sky the add some color. Then I printed out Robert's tutorial on contrast and tonal range. After studying that, I did some selective color changes, adding to the black. Then, in blending mode, I selected multiply...improvement but too dark, so I used curves to bring it back a bit.
Learned a lot. Hope it's moving in the right direction. Any other comments? Thanks!
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