dandantheadminman
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figuring out what i did wrong
ok, i kinda like the pic, but i can see lots of nooby errors,
trees at back not sharp
grainy/noise in shadows
those being the main probs
however, im not totally sure what i did wrong.
it was taken at 30s, 18mm, f3.5, auto WB (tweeked a bit colder in RAW), manual focus at infinity (almost positive i did), ISO 200
and no photoshopping bar wb adjustment
im guessing i shoulda used a sharper f-stop and gone for a bulb exposure, and do you think the unsharp trees at back are causa wind? it wierd cause the close ones are fine...
any tips would be greatly appreciated thnx, cause i like trying to figure out where i went wrong for next time...
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dandantheadminman
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p.s. that would be the moon not the sun 
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Hamish
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Adam - I put some PP hints in the other thread with this photo.
Did you use Long Exposure NR and/or in camera sharpening? Turning off the cameras sharpening (which can be done in RAW), the a little NR and a contrast type USM can boost things a lot.
You will get the trees being a bit soft from movement at that shutter speed. It can't really be helped. Focussing at infinity is a bit of a waste though. You're best to focus into the picture. You tend to get about 1/3 of the DOF in front of the point of focus and 2/3 behind it, so focussing right at infinity is often wasting an amount of DOF. Look up hyperfocal distance for a better explanation. You do have to try and balance the best aperture for sharpness and DOF with the shutter speed and a little wind can be a right pain.
I think it's a great scene though.
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dandantheadminman
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ooo ok thnx again buddy
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Hamish
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Adam - you could try the following in CS2 if you fancy
(duplicate layer for comparison and select top layer)
Filter -> Noise -> reduce noise
settings: (basic), strength 3, preserve details 25%, reduce color noise 50%, sharpen details 25% and keep remove JPEG artefact unchecked
You can tweak them a bit to your liking but the colur noise is the stuff that's most evident. try not to smooth things out too much though, a little noise won't show up in prints.
Now add contrast USM
Filter -> Sharpen -> USM
settings: amount 15%, radius 70 pixels, threshold 2
which will sharpen things a little by increasing contrast, and won't increase noise.
now turn on & off visibility of top layer to see the difference (you probably already knew how to do that so accept my apologies if it's a bit patronising)
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mikedeere
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I'd have recommended the following:
- Smaller aperture of around f/11, you'd get a lot better sharpnes throughout.
- Longer exposure to compensate for aperture, maybe ISO 400 if need be. The water will be even smoother as a result of this too.
- Focussing about halfway across the lake, maybe as close as 1/3. I think this is the main issue when it comes to this photos lack of sharpness.
- As for motion blur on trees, it's a good thing and don't try to correct nature! Other elements of the scene will be sharp too.
- That noise is still baffling me... Especially for ISO200.
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dandantheadminman
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ooo ok ill try that, thnx
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