landscape virgin

[Thomas brookes]

these are my first shot of landscapes i have ever really taken

this is gower in wales

what do you think?

this is the bow of an 18th century ship wreck

 

[Chris Dodkin]

How was it loosing your cherry in Gower then?

Some crackers there mate - especially like #3 (the kite flyer) - #4 (coastal view) - #6 (land yacht)

Couple of the shots looks like the sky got a little over exposed - you shooting RAW or JPEG in camera?

If you can, shoot RAW and then expose for the brighter area and fix the darker bits later in post processing.

If it's really bright, you can use a graduated ND filter on the camera lens to dim the sky nicely and balance it with the ground - other than that you have to wait for different light where the sky and land are more evenly illuminated, usually twilight before dawn, or twilight after sunset!

The kite shot has a great sense of story - really good use of a subject

#4 has great colours, love the deep green of the cliffs and the little white houses perched on top - did you use a polarizer at all?

My favorite has to be the land yacht shot - The subject wearing red is genius, really draws the eye - then the cropped perspective of the cliffs really works as your eye is drawn to the parachute sail. Looks like you were up at high ISO to get that shot?

Now you've 'done the deed' - I hope you're up for more

 

[Thomas brookes]

Wow chris thanks for the in-depth reply,

I have never taken photos in such a sparse area before and found the ever changing light as the clouds cut out the sun and back again a new (quite enjoyable challenge) ever since my chat with Hamish when I first got my d7000 I have shot religiously using manual functions only. the fluctuating brightness and the missed opportunities almost made me give up and go into auto. As well as that it was pretty windy as you can see from the kites with wind on the beach resulted in regular blasts of sand in my face and camera this truly was a ring clenching experience when I came to change lenses.

Saying all that I truly enjoyed it. Was great practice and looking back I don't feel I would have been as happy with them if I had gone into auto.

I do shoot in RAW, and great tip about the exposing for the brighter probably school boy stuff I suppose...

Ahhhhhhhhh the ND filter I have 2 a Number 4 and 8 I used them a couple of weeks ago taking a shot of the sun out my window, got to the beach opened both cases and unfortunately I had decided to pack just the cases and not the actual filters!!!!!!

No polariser on number #4 just tweaked and dropped a horizontal gradient on it in lightroom

I do like the yacht man, as I said before I only had a few chances to get him so I did have a few burnt shots I would see him coming line the shot up and boom the sun would pop out from behind a cloud "Whiteout" then he would be coming Back down and it would happen again....... That's what I enjoyed the most I think, working at a shot on getting it!!!!! Lots if fun!!!!!

 

[Tim Pindar]

The important point about Chris' mention of ND filters is the word "graduated" - so the top half (sky) can be exposed less than the bottom half (land) of the photo.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

good example here:

 

[Hamish Gill]

Let's get a bit of perspective here ... The d7000 is more capable of capturing sky detail than toms shots let on ... It's the pp that he has applied that has given the effect ...

It's quite obvious to me Tom that you have come at this from the perspective of using a camera phone ... You have created images that look like "toy camera" shots made on a phone ...
There is nothin wrong with that obviously but I think your selling your self a little short
The compo and content are better than the pp IMO ... Although don't take this badly mate as I know you have done this with intent and within that intent they work quite nicely!

 

[Hamish Gill]

That sounds worse than I wanted it to ...
What I'm trying to say is that with the content of especially the of kite ones and first ones there might be more effective pp methods ...
B&w, or split toned, very slight grain, stark blown out sky maybe?

Edit
An the one with the bit of wood for that matter ... ...

 

[Tim Pindar]

Hamish if I understand your point correctly I agree with it - the shot taken in camera using RAW is just the start of what it takes to make it a great photo, and there is a lot of improvement that could be made to these photos on the computer although they are good material to work with.

Regarding the changing light, personally I almost never shoot in manual mode - instead I choose Aperture or Shutter priority, and fiddle with the chosen setting and the ISO to get the exposure I want. Apart from specialist situations I've never seen the point of going totally manual, it just means I wouldn't get a decent exposure half the time! And of course you can adjust it later.

I also find empty wide sandy beaches a challenge to photograph, as there is so much blank beach or sky in the shot if you're not careful. Some magazines will urge you to get a big interesting rock or puddle etc in the foreground to give interest to the shot. That then requires huge DOF and often therefore a tripod. To capture worthwhile shots whilst simply out on a walk, say, you have to be more inventive and some of Tom's shot achieve that well.

The key is often to look for people and movement. This shot of mine is a bit obvious (my wife waving) but livens up an otherwise slightly dull beachscape:

Or you can look for a viewpoint where you can bring other people in as interest:

 

[Thomas brookes]

Hmmmm points taken back to the drawing board I think. The issue I had was all my shots usually have a goal and an end result these I just had no idea what to do with them. the high saturation on them isn't me doing bad pp I wanted to almost get a toytown look to them like a model railway diorama. I wasn't all that impressed with them myself , I just had no direction. I shall revise.