figuring out what i did wrong

dandantheadminman · Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 8:33 pm Post subject: 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...

dandantheadminman · Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 8:33 pm Post subject:

p.s. that would be the moon not the sun Wink

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Hamish · Forum Veteran Joined: 29 Sep 2006 Posts: 1011

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 · Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 10:55 pm Post subject:

ooo ok thnx again buddy
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Hamish · Forum Veteran Joined: 29 Sep 2006 Posts: 1011

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) Wink

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mikedeere · Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 10:34 am Post subject:

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.

dandantheadminman · Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 1:06 pm Post subject:

ooo ok ill try that, thnx

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