Tips and tricks please?

[Winston Churchill (Sir)]

I am not known as a landscape photographer - and I doubt I will every be - but when the flowers flower - and the stars align - I try

I keep thinking the sky in the Milky way is too dark - but making it lighter it looks crap - what am I missing?

Last photo - too saturated?

Whatever you have to add - thank you

South Africa has some of the most beautiful flower displays once a year - and people visit from all over the world to see and photograph it. You might notice I am not a good flower photographer either

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[jeffnles1]

Elsa,
I think these are all nice. My suggestions are as follows:
First Pic: I do not think the sky is too dark. I like 'inky' black sky for night shots. I would maybe experiment with shortening the exposure just a bit. There is a touch of star trails. With a 16mm lens, the "rule of 500" says you should have been able to go to about 31 seconds but I've found that "rule" to be a little optimistic and back off just a little. Another thing you may try if you set the image up again would be to use a flashlight to "light paint" the tree in the foreground a little more. Sometimes that technique works and looks great, sometimes it looks too fake. I like to experiment hoping that something sticks. I'm not an astro expert but dabble a little.

Second Pic: I love the colors and the line of the road. Makes me want to go there. For fun perhaps try to get a lower angle. Looks like it was shot from eye level. I like to get lower to shoot flower shots even when I'm doing fields of wildflowers. I frequently get down on one knee and play with depth of field focusing on one stand out flower in the foreground allowing the background to go out of focus in a splash of color. Also, play with tighter apertures to maximize depth of field or even focus stack if it isn't windy. Overall, not a lot I would change on the second pic other than just spend some time enjoying that beautiful field and trying different compositions to see what worked best. Gorgeous spot.

Third Pic: I do not know if it is oversaturated or not since I wasn't there to see what it looked like. Given that I have no idea what that area looks like, I would never notice if it was over saturated or not. To me that is one of the interesting things about photography and landscape photography in particular, when. look at a photo of someplace I've never been, I am seeing it through someone else's eyes and I get to enjoy your vision of the place.

 

[Jerry Watson]

Hi Elsa. On #3 I think focus stacking might give you better results.

 

[Winston Churchill (Sir)]

Elsa,
I think these are all nice. My suggestions are as follows:
First Pic: I do not think the sky is too dark. I like 'inky' black sky for night shots. I would maybe experiment with shortening the exposure just a bit. There is a touch of star trails. With a 16mm lens, the "rule of 500" says you should have been able to go to about 31 seconds but I've found that "rule" to be a little optimistic and back off just a little. Another thing you may try if you set the image up again would be to use a flashlight to "light paint" the tree in the foreground a little more. Sometimes that technique works and looks great, sometimes it looks too fake. I like to experiment hoping that something sticks. I'm not an astro expert but dabble a little.

Second Pic: I love the colors and the line of the road. Makes me want to go there. For fun perhaps try to get a lower angle. Looks like it was shot from eye level. I like to get lower to shoot flower shots even when I'm doing fields of wildflowers. I frequently get down on one knee and play with depth of field focusing on one stand out flower in the foreground allowing the background to go out of focus in a splash of color. Also, play with tighter apertures to maximize depth of field or even focus stack if it isn't windy. Overall, not a lot I would change on the second pic other than just spend some time enjoying that beautiful field and trying different compositions to see what worked best. Gorgeous spot.

Third Pic: I do not know if it is oversaturated or not since I wasn't there to see what it looked like. Given that I have no idea what that area looks like, I would never notice if it was over saturated or not. To me that is one of the interesting things about photography and landscape photography in particular, when. look at a photo of someplace I've never been, I am seeing it through someone else's eyes and I get to enjoy your vision of the place.

Thank you for your thoughts - it is much appreciated. You clearly have more experience - I don't even dabble !

Regards the flowers - yes. When faced with plates of flowers you shoot them from every angle and every height. I tried to show the vastness of the field in this one, which is actually quite difficult to show someone else what you see. Going lower makes better pictures - but not the full picture - I think....

 

[Winston Churchill (Sir)]

Hi Elsa. On #3 I think focus stacking might give you better results.

Thank you - I think a Tripod might give better results too

 

[Anjin San]

1 and 3 re excellent…although the slightly shorter exposure for 1 and the focus stack for 3 are excellent suggestions. 2 doesn’t do as much for me…but it is a nice shot as well.

 

[Palouse]

I'm in the same boat as you, even though I do mostly landscapes, I qualify it as I'm a landscape shooter wannabe!

#1. I love the dark sky, perhaps a wee bit more brightness on the top of the tree in the foreground.
#2. Shooting earlier/later in the day will add more texture and a 3-d effect. Getting low is an easy change, but I wonder if going up—hold the camera high above you and slightly pointed down, will make for an even better shot. The flippy LCD will make this "easy"
#3. Don't change a thing! And I do love long-lens landscape shots!
Cheers!

 

[Winston Churchill (Sir)]

1 and 3 re excellent…although the slightly shorter exposure for 1 and the focus stack for 3 are excellent suggestions. 2 doesn’t do as much for me…but it is a nice shot as well.

Thank you kindly

 

[Winston Churchill (Sir)]

I'm in the same boat as you, even though I do mostly landscapes, I qualify it as I'm a landscape shooter wannabe!

#1. I love the dark sky, perhaps a wee bit more brightness on the top of the tree in the foreground.
#2. Shooting earlier/later in the day will add more texture and a 3-d effect. Getting low is an easy change, but I wonder if going up—hold the camera high above you and slightly pointed down, will make for an even better shot. The flippy LCD will make this "easy"
#3. Don't change a thing! And I do love long-lens landscape shots!
Cheers!

#1Thank you for your suggestions !
#2 Time to shoot the flowers is crucial as they don't open unless it's a specific minimum temperature, nor if it is is even slightly cloudy. So later or earlier isn't an option at all. Mostly between 11 am and 2 pm - if one is lucky - to get the best and most open flowers. I do have low angle and high angle and in between angle and single flowers and mass flowers and bunch of flowers and out of focus flowers and in focus flowers and everything in between that too. This one was certainly not the best. I am still working on that
#3 thank you ! It was long lens or walk... so you can imagine how far away that was for all those trees to fit in the frame - on a mountain slope no less.

 

[Palouse]

#1Thank you for your suggestions !
#2 Time to shoot the flowers is crucial as they don't open unless it's a specific minimum temperature, nor if it is is even slightly cloudy. So later or earlier isn't an option at all. Mostly between 11 am and 2 pm - if one is lucky - to get the best and most open flowers. I do have low angle and high angle and in between angle and single flowers and mass flowers and bunch of flowers and out of focus flowers and in focus flowers and everything in between that too. This one was certainly not the best. I am still working on that
#3 thank you ! It was long lens or walk... so you can imagine how far away that was for all those trees to fit in the frame - on a mountain slope no less.

Thanks for reminding me of flower behavior! Yeah, it would be too easy if they kept the same hours we did!

 

[Wes Peterson]

1st pic the lighting doesnt match and the veg at the bottom needs to go Id also try to align the tree with the end of the milkyway.
2nd and 3rd are "snapshots".... no place for your eye to go and no real subject. They could use a foreground element.

 

[Winston Churchill (Sir)]

1st pic the lighting doesnt match and the veg at the bottom needs to go Id also try to align the tree with the end of the milkyway.
2nd and 3rd are "snapshots".... no place for your eye to go and no real subject. They could use a foreground element.

Thanks Wes for your input. Much appreciated

 

[K9Kirk]

I'm usually not too hard to please, I don't nitpick too much, so I think they look pretty good, except for that one flower in the 2nd shot about halfway up and a little left of center ... it needs removed.



Nice set, Elsa. My favorite shot is #1.

 

[Winston Churchill (Sir)]

I'm usually not too hard to please, I don't nitpick too much, so I think they look pretty good, except for that one flower in the 2nd shot about halfway up and a little left of center ... it needs removed.



Nice set, Elsa. My favorite shot is #1.

Can you be more specific with the flower, please?

Thank you - I am learning a lot already from the comments.

 

[K9Kirk]

Can you be more specific with the flower, please?

Thank you - I am learning a lot already from the comments.

It's the yellow one with a bee on it.

 

[Winston Churchill (Sir)]

It's the yellow one with a bee on it.

this one?

 

[pochito]

I like specially number 1, the lights and shadows. Milky way and tree
But the signature is very distracting.

 

[Winston Churchill (Sir)]

I like specially number 1, the lights and shadows. Milky way and tree
But the signature is very distracting.

Thank you for your comment and thoughts - it is appreciated.

 

[K9Kirk]

this one?

Ah, yes, that's it! Good eye, reeeeeeeally good eye! For a second there I thought you might have a little trouble finding it.

Very cool shot there, btw.

 

[jfredrick]

Beautiful area that you live Elsa! I like these! The first is great considering a single shot. Stacking 5 or 10 shots from a tripod would really make the sky pop. Astro specialist will shoot dozens of stacked shots with dark frames and even use star trackers! I like the comment about using a flashlight on the foreground tree. A few frames with the tree lighted and you can use or discard frames as you wish. Photo #2 is beautiful but I wonder how this would look if you moved into the road. If you had a tripod then you could shoot a focus stack shot down low at the road or in the flowers. The road would give the viewers eyes a place to follow through the image into the distant field of flowers. Beautiful sky and awesome trees in the third image. A tripod with 5 to 7 exposure bracketed shots may improve dynamic range. I also prefer the freedom of shooting handheld when out and about.

 

[Winston Churchill (Sir)]

Beautiful area that you live Elsa! I like these! The first is great considering a single shot. Stacking 5 or 10 shots from a tripod would really make the sky pop. Astro specialist will shoot dozens of stacked shots with dark frames and even use star trackers! I like the comment about using a flashlight on the foreground tree. A few frames with the tree lighted and you can use or discard frames as you wish. Photo #2 is beautiful but I wonder how this would look if you moved into the road. If you had a tripod then you could shoot a focus stack shot down low at the road or in the flowers. The road would give the viewers eyes a place to follow through the image into the distant field of flowers. Beautiful sky and awesome trees in the third image. A tripod with 5 to 7 exposure bracketed shots may improve dynamic range. I also prefer the freedom of shooting handheld when out and about.

Thank you John - they say hindsight is 40/40...
I am learning a lot - and maybe I try it again next year I also now have the Photopills app - maybe I can even use that!
Flowers - to be honest- that photo was purely to show the amount of flowers - it aint going to win me any awards. Next year...
Absolutely agree with you and others that commented in that direction - thank you - next year

 

[Winston Churchill (Sir)]

Ah, yes, that's it! Good eye, reeeeeeeally good eye! For a second there I thought you might have a little trouble finding it.

Very cool shot there, btw.

you underestimate me...

 

[jfredrick]

Thank you John - they say hindsight is 40/40...
I am learning a lot - and maybe I try it again next year I also now have the Photopills app - maybe I can even use that!
Flowers - to be honest- that photo was purely to show the amount of flowers - it aint going to win me any awards. Next year...
Absolutely agree with you and others that commented in that direction - thank you - next year

That Photopills app is pretty awesome! Great way to orient yourself to find the milky way and other sky things. I also have that as well. I think you just motivated me to get out and shoot some late evening sky shots!

 

[markymark]

I am not known as a landscape photographer - and I doubt I will every be - but when the flowers flower - and the stars align - I try

I keep thinking the sky in the Milky way is too dark - but making it lighter it looks crap - what am I missing?

Last photo - too saturated?

Whatever you have to add - thank you

South Africa has some of the most beautiful flower displays once a year - and people visit from all over the world to see and photograph it. You might notice I am not a good flower photographer either

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I think you’ve done a great job, but I really like No1.
I want to do a bit of Astro photography when I get into the new house so will come a knocking for some tips.
Well done

 

[Winston Churchill (Sir)]

I think you’ve done a great job, but I really like No1.
I want to do a bit of Astro photography when I get into the new house so will come a knocking for some tips.
Well done

Thank you Mark. I think - as with all things - the more we put in, the more we get out. I really need to work on my landscapes
I do have Photopills now... of course after the fact

BTW - I thought the UK has clouds 24/7 bar 3 days a year...