Looking for some C & C please..

OREGATO

Hey guys,

Just looking for some feedback on these two shots. Taken yesterday and just wanted to see how I could have improved these shots a bit.

Camera used is a 5D MK II with a 24-70mm L lens, ISO of 100 - shots are handheld

The first:



I used an aperture of F22, I think my focus point is off as only the grass seems to be 'sharp'. What I wanted, was more detail into the shot but it looks a bit soft. In future, with this kind of shot, can someone guide me as to a better approach/settings (I know all shots will have different settings depending on different variables but I would just like an insight as to how you would have composed the shot and chosen your settings.

I've read up that for some shots where you want that level of sharpness, you should only go as far as ~F16 otherwise, the shots will be softer, is this true?

The second:


Again, same as the first really..

Lastly,



What would you have done differently to improve this shot?

All shots were shot in JPEG with no PP (I will move onto RAW later on, but for now, want to focus on doing better without the needs for PP)

Any comments/feedback welcome.. I'm still learning as I go along but would be great to get some feedback off you guys!

Thanks in advance.

Will

swingking

Sometimes to get the level of sharpness from front to back, you need to focus 1/3rd into the shot. This is known as the hyperfocal distance.

I really like the last shot. Great colours.

OREGATO

swingking wrote: »

Sometimes to get the level of sharpness from front to back, you need to focus 1/3rd into the shot. This is known as the hyperfocal distance.

I really like the last shot. Great colours.

Hi SwingKing,

thanks very much for the feedback, much appreciated.

I like the last shot too, I took around 3 or 4 variations of the shot but I think that one came out the best.

I will have to look into hyperfocal distance.

Anyone else any feedback?

Promac

The first 2 shots are a bit dark which will be a combination of using F22 and probably pointing the camera at the sky while you were metering it. Skies are bright so the camera under-exposes and you end up with dark landscape/foreground.

Try opening up the aperture a bit - I normally start around F16 and work from there - and point the camera at whatever you want to show off most in the shot. There doesn't need to be a specific subject but if you want to show the lake and its surroundings then point the camera at that and then (while keeping your shutter button half-depressed) move the camera to compose your shot. This will make sure your main area of interest is properly exposed.

Some lenses do go soft at the extremes of their aperture ranges but that's an L quality lens you have so it shouldn't be too bad. Certainly not as soft as those 2 images are coming out. What shutter speed did the camera/you use? Maybe it was a bit slow.

And with a 5D mark II you can afford to let the ISO go up a bit (I have one and leave it on auto - this camera is clear as day up to ISO 1600 at least). That'll let you go faster on the shutter speed.

You might actually benefit a lot from doing a quick course as well - the Institute of Photography do a great beginner's landscape course that explains all of the above and more, a lot better than I ever will.

DaireQuinlan

Promac wrote: »

Some lenses do go soft at the extremes of their aperture ranges but that's an L quality lens you have so it shouldn't be too bad. Certainly not as soft as those 2 images are coming out. What shutter speed did the camera/you use? Maybe it was a bit slow.

It's a physics thing actually, at least up in the f/16 f/22 range, doesn't matter about the quality of the glass, sharpness will start to drop off due to diffraction at some point. In general (because you're enlarging the image more to get a correspondingly sized view) the smaller the sensor the faster this will start showing up.

http://www.dofmaster.com/hyperfocal.html is a good reference for all things DOF and hyperfocal related. I have a chart printed out from that site pasted onto the side of my 20->35 :-)

Promac

That's a great site. It's on my bookmarks bar already.

WillyWonka

#3 is really good. Great colours.

#1&2 don't do anything for me. I can't see what the subject is really. I'm guessing it's the lake but it's too small in both.

Colours could do with some umph! as it's a bit flat looking.

Perhaps revisit the site at sunrise or sunset and try a different angle. Imagine in you head what type of shot you'd like to see hanging on your wall and then try and get it.

Landscape is not easy!!

kelly1

#3 is by far the best IMO.

OREGATO

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I'll be defintitely trying to sign up to some training courses this summer. I actually thought landscapes would be one of the easier things to shoot but how wrong am I!