And now for something completely different

[P-A. Fortin]

Some experiments with my kit lens, and I actually liked the results, even though I do not know why I have no knowledge whatsoever on landscape/cityscape photography nor post processing of these images. If anyone could direct me toward some resources in that department I would highly appreciate. I mean, I do look at the forum dedicated to such images, but I'm pretty much lost wondering "how do they do that". Is there any kind of "The Art Of Landscape Photography" book out there?

Canon 60D, 18-200mm @ 40mm, f/22, ISO 100, 3.2 sec, CP filter. No processing since I had no idea what to do (sharpening would not really be required imho).

[Kerry Perkins]

Hello P-A., thanks for posting something different! It ain't just birds, I read somewhere... Nice job with the flowing water and nice green moss. I do believe that the image is a bit bright and would go with a curves or levels change to tone down the brightness. Sharpening would actually add to the scene IMO, as it wouldn't do anything to the water but would bring out more detail in the greenery. I would also suggest toning down the bright sun spot on the moss in the upper right. Nice job to see and capture this nice scene!

[Jeff Cashdollar]

P-A,

You probably know more about landscape than you think,..it is being there on time to capture the mood and light and I suggest using a tripod when possible. This is a great first post in that regard and like Kerry thanks for posting something different. Think of landscapes in terms of the zone system as well, for example where is the one place you want to meter in this image, it is the water - must have detail there. On my monitor the whites look hot in the waterfall always look at the histogram no matter what the subject is - keep the data balanced among all five stops when possible.

Keep practicing, do not be afraid to put your tripod in the water and get close. I use to get down in the streams and was amazed to see all the colors in the water, it contains/ reflects from the trees, sky and the general habitat - keep em coming.

[P-A. Fortin]

It does not look like it but I was actually deep down in the water with the tripod on this one. Although I kept the tripod legs on rocks instead of in the water since I feared the running water would cause some vibrations.

I have to admit that underexposing a bit would have toned down both the water and the bright sun spot in the moss. Will keep that in mind in the future.

I actually have one image where I got the kind of effect Jeff mentions: the water looks close to fluo green! Depending on the light angle and what is reflected on the water, the effects that can be obtained are very interesting. During fall with the colors on the leaves, the results must be quite interesting as well.

I also liked the effect of the CP filter that allowed the rocks to show up in the lower part of the image.

Thank you both for the comments. This is some stuff I'm looking forward to experiment on in the future (when there are no birds around )

[Kerry Perkins]

P-A., by all means stretch your wings! What I have found is that learning how to make good bird images really makes all of your photography better. I feel more tuned in to the whole scene and much better prepared to make the right exposure decision than before I discovered bird photography. I am sure you will have the same experience.

P.S. - you might want to try a neutral density filter instead of the polarizer. I find that sometimes I don't want the polarization effect so I use an ND8 which is three stops of light reduction. Also, you can get good water flow with shutter speeds as fast as 1/4 sec.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi P-A, nice to see you trying something different. I like the way the water flows through the image. Good suggestions above for improving the image. I've found that just reading the critiques in the Landscape Forum and then trying different techniques has helped improve my landscape images. I'm not sure of a particular book but you can also find some landscape photographers whose work you admire and see if they have a blog or a book with tips. Morkel has posted some links at the top of the Landscape Forum that might be a starting place.

TFS,
Rachel