Landscape Photography

[nick crisp]

Well, just to prevent a couple of us from hijacking threads and rambling on about our rambles in inappropriate places really!
Not a professionals only thread, all comers welcome. If you got a shot you're particularly proud of on your last biking tour, or one you just like a lot, or maybe you went hill walking or whatever. Your own work only please, and no bikes in shot! Those piccies go on the touring threads.
Also for discussion of the art, the tools, the techniques.
I've posted quite a few shots here and there, so excuse me if I start with just a couple more; Blencathra at sunrise:

[mickvp]

those would have been excellent candidates for HDR, if thats your thing

Nice shots :thumbsup:

[nick crisp]

Thanks Mick, but what's HDR?  :rolleyes

[Dead Eye]

One from my old place last winter - the camera didn't quite capture how nice it was in real life, but it came out ok

[mickvp]

Thanks Mick, but what's HDR?  :rolleyes

HDR is "High Dynamic Range" Nick. basically its a method of  either taking 4-5 pictures on a tripod of the same scene, but at different f-stops, and then layering them together to increase the amount of the photo that is exposed properly (so you could have gotten both the grass and the sky exposed properly together, rather than just one or the other as you would have found with a single image), or taking one photo like yours and running it through specialist hdr software.

HDR does create some weird effects through its process though, and its not for everyone, but some like it (I do as long as its not too overdone).

See here (linky) to see what I mean.

[nick crisp]

Yeah, I see. I was told once that as long as the camera has picked up some detail in the darker areas, there are software programs that can enhance it too? Wish I had a bit more time and money to explore these things more.

[apage16]

A lovely shot over the hills on a trip this summer to the Cinque Terre, Liguria, Italy.


Sadly in the cage this time round.


[smg id=1297]

[unfazed]

A last minute decision to go out on a mountain in Cork on the Serow (I'm on the orange one) some time ago
We felt like explorers no other tracks but ours  :lol

[slimwilly]

One i took in the summer , the Furka pass,Switzerland, not overly huge but nice to get up in the snow,the road in the foreground is three layers deep,six hairpins closest to us.Also,further away you may make out a runway,right in the bottom of the valley,,take off and climb,,or dive and land.

[slimwilly]

At the top

[red98]

over the cairngorm`s this summer

[nick crisp]

Oi, no bikes!  :rolleyes

[evesdad]

The view down my street

[VNA]

Winter is here, the snow is on it's way;

Beinn a'Chochuill

[nick crisp]

Those are some superb shots you've been posting VNA. What's your kit? Gotta be a pretty good DSLR?

[VNA]

Used to carry a 5D and some lenses.

Bought a Panasonic G1 in 2010 with a 14-45 kit lens.  Dumped the kit lens for a  Panasonic 12-35f2.8 quality optic.  Itching to upgrade the camera to a Panasonic GH3.  G1 was the first generation micro 4/3rds.  The GH3 should be streets ahead and would get the best from the sweet wee lens I've got.

[VNA]

Oh, to my mind digital sensors just capture data.  The difference between an OK shot and a great one is often the finishing, ie photoshop work.  No tricks, just spending time setting up and maximising the data you have.

Have been thinking of getting a filter holder to take my Lee grads, but then I waste so much time on the hills taking shots that I think maybe grads will slow me down even more.

Nice thing about winter is that the snow often reduces the contrast.

[fazersharp]

If you will forgive my intrusion I have given your picture a little tinkle

[nick crisp]

A decent lens is the most important thing in the camera tho, rather than maxing out on pixels etc? (you can tell I don't have much idea myself about kit, I'm sure!)
Can't decide on use of filters and how far to go with the photoshop stuff. Although it can produce some good results, it's not really "telling it like it is", is it? Oh, I know all those greens and greys can get a bit boring, but it's about catching the natural light - and that might mean being there at silly times of the day. I suppose if it's used subtley it's ok, and I guess with the professionals' work it might even be hard to tell. Hmmm, don't know, jury's out for me. I saw some work in a shop in Keswick, guy has some fantastic work in his repertoire, but there were a few where I thought he'd gone too far - looked like they'd been touched up with paint; colours were just too extreme and I thought I could even identify some of the ones he'd used - cadmium yellow, raw sienna etc. Others were brilliant tho.
All just theory for me tho, as I only have a cheap digital jobby, and no decent software to play with it later. Just happy snaps! (as I'm sure you've figured by the lack of clarity in my "work"). I do try to think about light and composition tho, to get the best with what I've got. But that's also why I can get in the hills and not worry about the weight and bulk of camera gear. Part of the idea for me was to get the pics home and use them to base some watercolours on, so just need a base for composition and an idea of the atmospherics. Haven't done much tho  :rolleyes

[Kosmic Kartman]

Two from the Brecon Beacons.