DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register
 

DPChallenge Forums >> Out and About >> DPC Mentorship - Landscape/Scenery
Pages:  
Showing posts 51 - 75 of 171, (reverse)
AuthorThread
07/15/2005 02:56:02 PM · #51
Allright, sorry this was forgotten.

I will start off with “almost Maine”. I first feel that I should say the reason why I gave it that title was kind of an inside joke. You see my shooting partner is also my grandmother and our favorit place in the entire world is the state of Maine. When I took this we were planing a trip to Maine and this looks like a picture that I had taken in Maine last year.

All right well the reason why I chose this as an example is the lines and movement in it. The lines of the rivers edge draw the eye into the mid ground where the movement of the clouds bring into create movement inside of the frame. I haven’t got to this in our lessons yet but this frame is a perfect example of balance. You can achieve balance in a frame by drawing the eye into the frame where it then finds movement. This frame also kind of breaks the rule of horizons seeing as it’s in the middle of the frame but every rule is ment to be broken, you just have to know them before you know how to break them. I also chose this picture to show how to meter for a landscape. This picture has the bring sky and dark shadows. This is where it’s important to really look at your frame and find it’s lightest and darkest points and meter for both. I carry a light meter in my camera bag still for situations like this, though it’s not a must have it just makes my life easier. If you lack patience, find a new forte because to find a good landscape takes time and to shoot it like you want it to look like takes even more time. Don’t be afraid to wait for the right sky or the wind to blow the right way. I take along my bible when I go to shoot landscapes but you do whatever is necessary to keep you entertained while you wait.
07/15/2005 03:16:15 PM · #52
Side assignment!

this is something I have done lately and I think everyone needs to do this.

you need to start a tear sheet file/book. I find this very useful both in my freelance work and just life in general. It's very easy to find tear sheets, you make them. tear sheets are just what the name suggest, pictures torn out of other media. I find most of mine in magizines and callenders but I have some from books I got at thrift stores and printed pictures from the net...(not copyrighted of course).

These are great to study from and when you don't feel like taking a pictures anymore and putting your camera on ebay you can pull your tearsheets out and find inspiration. If anyone wants to they can even scan and post some for all to use. I don't have a scanner or else I would do so.
07/15/2005 03:29:18 PM · #53
Re: Joe's "Bar Harbor Day One":

This is actually a good example of one of the pitfalls of using longer lenses for landscapes; while it's clear what Joe's intentions were (a strong foreground object creating a diagonal leading us deeper into the image), this capture suffers from lack of foreground. It is uncomfortably tight on the bottom, and we are really feeling the need for a little more visual depth in this image. Backing off just a tad on the zoom, IMO, would have enhanced the image noticeably.

The light here is very soft and muted. It's basically a backlit picture, and the sky is carrying a great deal of the load. I feel like some work with curves would give it a little more visual clarity while retaining the muted quality of the light.

R.

Message edited by author 2005-07-15 15:30:07.
07/15/2005 03:38:16 PM · #54
Re: Colette's "Texture and Shadow": [thumb]106501[/thumb]

This is an exceptionally good example of raking light in the landscape. It's also a good illustration of the vertical component of light in this sense: consider what would happen if she had shot the exact same image from just a few feet above ground level. Aside from obvious compositional problems, and just considering the light itself, the raking light becomes backlight, because she is shooting INTO the light. In other words, the definitions are relative; the light is what it is because of how you position yourself in relationship to it.

As to the shot itself, I am left with the feeling that there is a great deal more luminosity that could be pulled out of this image in post processing, elevating it from "very nice" to the level of "outstanding".

Compositionally it's quite subtle, with strong linear, horizontal components relieved by darker elements in an unorthodox placement. One notes in particular the row of trees at the right center of the image, where one might have "expected" them to be lower in the frame. One thing that can be learned from this is that a landscape does not have to have a "subject", in the conventional sense, to be succesful, and that light itself can be the subject.

Robt.
07/15/2005 04:41:10 PM · #55
I couldn't agree more, I really don't like this shot I posted it to be
an example of how sunlight can effect a shot. The musted tones from the sky are because of the sunset. All I was going to say that was anything benifitial to the group is "look at what sunset does to other things besides the sky". This is a completly unediting shot, and there was junk on my sensor...

Originally posted by bear_music:

Re: Joe's "Bar Harbor Day One":

This is actually a good example of one of the pitfalls of using longer lenses for landscapes; while it's clear what Joe's intentions were (a strong foreground object creating a diagonal leading us deeper into the image), this capture suffers from lack of foreground. It is uncomfortably tight on the bottom, and we are really feeling the need for a little more visual depth in this image. Backing off just a tad on the zoom, IMO, would have enhanced the image noticeably.

The light here is very soft and muted. It's basically a backlit picture, and the sky is carrying a great deal of the load. I feel like some work with curves would give it a little more visual clarity while retaining the muted quality of the light.

R.
07/15/2005 09:38:07 PM · #56
Originally posted by bear_music:

Re: Colette's "Texture and Shadow":

This is an exceptionally good example of raking light in the landscape. It's also a good illustration of the vertical component of light in this sense: consider what would happen if she had shot the exact same image from just a few feet above ground level. Aside from obvious compositional problems, and just considering the light itself, the raking light becomes backlight, because she is shooting INTO the light. In other words, the definitions are relative; the light is what it is because of how you position yourself in relationship to it.

As to the shot itself, I am left with the feeling that there is a great deal more luminosity that could be pulled out of this image in post processing, elevating it from "very nice" to the level of "outstanding".

Compositionally it's quite subtle, with strong linear, horizontal components relieved by darker elements in an unorthodox placement. One notes in particular the row of trees at the right center of the image, where one might have "expected" them to be lower in the frame. One thing that can be learned from this is that a landscape does not have to have a "subject", in the conventional sense, to be succesful, and that light itself can be the subject.

Robt.


Thanks Robert for your comments and explanations on this image. I realize that this isn't a post processing session however I am curious as to how you would go about capturing more of the luminance for this shot?
07/15/2005 10:01:28 PM · #57
Originally posted by cpanaioti:



Thanks Robert for your comments and explanations on this image. I realize that this isn't a post processing session however I am curious as to how you would go about capturing more of the luminance for this shot?


This may be a little TOO exaggerated, but here's a variation:

[thumb]204425[/thumb]

Adjusted levels to match the histogram (tones were compressed, moved the sliders in to express the full tonal range). Did a hue/sat bump of +8 in master and +10 more in yellow. USM. Save for web.

Robt.

Message edited by author 2005-07-15 22:02:02.
07/15/2005 10:34:21 PM · #58
A little too harsh there Robert but you were working with a previously processed file, jpg to boot. I started from scratch with the RAW and came up with this.....

[thumb]204442[/thumb]
07/15/2005 10:42:38 PM · #59
Yup, that's an improvement. The additional foreground is a definite plus too.

For the record, on these sorts of edits my philosophy, for teaching purposes, is "Take it a little too far." It's impossible to find the optimum point if you keep creeping up on it; better to go too far then back down.

Robt.
07/16/2005 12:42:39 AM · #60
Robert--I'm very glad to have you mentoring here! I've learned something already, since I had never heard the term "raking light".

So I went out with my rake near sunset to catch the light per the assignment. ;) This may not be the best demonstration of it (because of the scope of the scene), but it was one of my favs. And it clearly needs some raking here. (Sorry for my sick sense of humor).

This is full frame, mainly a conversion and reduction from RAW with a sligh 5% sat boost and a gamma correction to 1.8:

It's hard to get these scenes down to 640 :(

[thumb]204492[/thumb]
07/16/2005 12:57:40 AM · #61
Originally posted by nshapiro:

Robert--I'm very glad to have you mentoring here! I've learned something already, since I had never heard the term "raking light".

So I went out with my rake near sunset to catch the light per the assignment. ;) This may not be the best demonstration of it (because of the scope of the scene), but it was one of my favs. And it clearly needs some raking here. (Sorry for my sick sense of humor).

This is full frame, mainly a conversion and reduction from RAW with a sligh 5% sat boost and a gamma correction to 1.8:

It's hard to get these scenes down to 640 :(



It's a pretty scene, nice light and all, very serene, but it only marginally qualifies as raking light, if at all.

As a matter of definition, raking light is coming at something close to right angles to the shooting axis, and roughly parallel to the surface you are trying to model/reveal the texture of. In this scene, that would mean the light "should" be coming parallel to the face of the BG house (that would be at right angles to your axis of shooting) and preferably from the right, so as to have maximum effect on the foliage to the left.

In the actual image, the light is low, which is good, but it is coming from 45 degrees or so BEHIND you (you are shooting "with" the light instead of "into" or "across" the light), so the light more properly falls under the "flat light" category. We are seeing some modeling of foliage (the reeds and trees) but the foreground grass is quite flat, and the distant grass is revealing its undulations because of the shadows falling across it, not because the light is revealing surface and texture.

This is actually quite a decent example of the soft, subtle mood you can get by turning away from a dawn or sunset and shooting with the light instead of across it or into it.

Robt.
07/16/2005 02:22:55 AM · #62
NOTICE

Now that I've taken on co-mentorship of "Landscape/Scenery" with gi_joe, he and I discussed merging this group with "Natural Light", as they have a LOT of overlap in terms of what can be covered (natural light, after all, is THE tool for landscape work), but we decided on a slightly different approach:

Effective immediately, we will consider all members of one group a member of the other. Keep an eye on both if you're interested in working specifically on issues of light, and feel free to participate in the other. As we progress in "Natural Light" we'll be moving into some areas that have nothing to do with landscape, such as macros, interior work, whatever seems appropriate (always from a lighting POV of course), so there will be some divergence in the goals of the groups.

Robt.
07/17/2005 02:29:02 AM · #63

Lo folks, Ron Blanton here, rank amature seeking fame, fortune and a way to justify to my wife the money I have spent on these tools. I hail from all over 15 years in Tennessee, 12 in Maryland, 10 in New Hampshire, 10 in Utah, 2 in Florida and now 5 in Georgia. I work for an ISP providing internet services via satellite. I am a cross over from the Natural Lighting Group and am happy to be able to particpate here as well. This shot was taken two weeks ago when I actually recognized what sunlight looked like. Thought I might toss it in as my landscape as my time is a bit limited now, will shoot fresh ones from this point on.

As for the assignment:


Message edited by author 2005-07-17 02:32:19.
07/17/2005 04:02:08 PM · #64
Here are some of my earlier ones:
.

And here's one that I took this weekend:


PP was a bit of a rush, but I wanted to get one up.

A bit about me: I am in the IT field. Few different jobs, now a storeman for an IT company, Love getting up to shoot the sunrise, people are beginning to notice that I carry my camera most places. Hit a bit of a rut lately on DPC, trying to print more photos, rather than only shoot them. Gotta go, but I hope this spurs me on to shoot more landscapes.
07/18/2005 07:40:36 AM · #65
The rain ate my home work. I tried to get a raking light shot this weekend. But the rain only stpped a couple of times around midday. So no good raking light was available to shoot. I tried shooting some light over leather but the results were less than desirable. So if the rain is kind enough to let up around sunset today. I will give it another go.
07/18/2005 08:41:42 AM · #66
Originally posted by tristalisk:

The rain ate my home work. I tried to get a raking light shot this weekend. But the rain only stpped a couple of times around midday. So no good raking light was available to shoot. I tried shooting some light over leather but the results were less than desirable. So if the rain is kind enough to let up around sunset today. I will give it another go.


Me too. Hard to have raking light in the sun when it doesn't show itself for days. Looks like another one today (at least it's true this morning and forecast is not good for late afternoon). One of these days...
07/18/2005 10:02:19 AM · #67
I'll third the 'rain ate my homework' excuse. At least for Saturday. I haven't processed what I took yesterday yet so maybe I'll have something to post later.
07/18/2005 12:20:37 PM · #68
I have to validiate that rain problem. I think it rained everywhere east of the mississippi. I did get some pictures done but not for this assignment. sorry schoolwork has to come first. I know it sucks
07/18/2005 12:36:28 PM · #69
Excuses, excuses...

hmmph...

R.
07/18/2005 09:41:29 PM · #70
I took this yesterday ....



Does this qualify as raking light or is it just strong light. It was 7pm but the sun was still quite high though across my field of view.
07/18/2005 10:56:02 PM · #71
Originally posted by cpanaioti:

I took this yesterday ....



Does this qualify as raking light or is it just strong light. It was 7pm but the sun was still quite high though across my field of view.


Strong light. Nice shot.

People, the concept of "raking light" is surface-dependent: if you have a prominent, relatively planar surfact in your image and the light is "raking" along nearly parallel to it and at approximately right angles to your axis of view, that's "raking light". Absent a textured surface you want to reveal, the term has no meaning.

Robt.
07/18/2005 11:04:49 PM · #72
Originally posted by cpanaioti:

I took this yesterday ....



Does this qualify as raking light or is it just strong light. It was 7pm but the sun was still quite high though across my field of view.


Wow! This was so cool, I had to see it upside down with the foreground clutter (sloppily) removed...


07/18/2005 11:05:33 PM · #73
That's what I thought. I had hung out at the gardens for about 3 hrs by that time and didn't feel like sticking around any longer. Next time I'll just go later.
07/18/2005 11:24:14 PM · #74
Geez - I just realized I clicked on the wrong thread, saw the photo and started going to town and now I see that I inadvertently crashed the landscape mentorship thread. Please forgive me. backs out softly...
07/19/2005 08:06:22 AM · #75
Originally posted by kpriest:

Geez - I just realized I clicked on the wrong thread, saw the photo and started going to town and now I see that I inadvertently crashed the landscape mentorship thread. Please forgive me. backs out softly...


.... and don't let that ever happen again. ;oP

This is one reflection I didn't think to flip and therefore didn't notice the almost perfect symmetry.
Pages:  
Current Server Time: 03/28/2024 05:16:59 AM

Please log in or register to post to the forums.


Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Prints! - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2024 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 03/28/2024 05:16:59 AM EDT.