The Photograph Thread - Own Works Only! [900 pixels longest side]

[laoislad]

You need to get yourself a polariser and a tripod DK if you want to do landscapes. One exposure for the sky and one for the foreground, then blend (eg in Photoshop)

Was just about to say something similar.Though I'm not a fan of photoshop. You can get filters than attach to the camera that allow the sky to be exposed different to the forground. I prefer doing as much with the camera as I can rather than using software.
Also in the above photo I don't think there is a need for the wall to be in the shot,it takes away from the scenery behind imo.

[David McKeown]

Pretty sure there was a polariser used on that one although Id need to check, the sky was a horrendous and boring grey which is why I included the wall.  Definitely did use a tripod though as I say I am just starting out so I appreciate the tips

[theskull1]

Maybe the polarizer wasn't set/twisted to the correct position. Shouldn't see the lake as blown out with the reflections from the sky if t was set properly

[David McKeown]

Ahhh I see that must be my mistake.  Its the only time i have used the polariser so obviously I wasnt doing it right.  Is there something I should be looking out for when twisting it in?

[Maguire01]

Or you could shoot RAW files and use highlight and shadow recovery in Lightroom.

[laoislad]

Pretty sure there was a polariser used on that one although Id need to check, the sky was a horrendous and boring grey which is why I included the wall.  Definitely did use a tripod though as I say I am just starting out so I appreciate the tips

I'm by no means an expert and I wasn't criticising your work!
It's just to me all I see is the wall,the eye is just drawn to it.
If you wanted the wall in it you could have used a shallow depth of field and blurred the wall out a little,the wall would still be there but wouldn't be as distracting.
To do this you use an aperture like f2.8 and manually focus on the background,this will blur out the foreground.
The pic I took below is sort of an example of what I mean.I couldn't find a picture with a wall but can you see the way I blurred the grass at the front giving the picture a bit of depth?

[theskull1]

Ahhh I see that must be my mistake.  Its the only time i have used the polariser so obviously I wasnt doing it right.  Is there something I should be looking out for when twisting it in?

Look through the view finder and see what happens........glare/reflections should be minimizedso the lake in your photo should darken as you twist it to the correct position. You'll also pick up much more cloud detail.

Maguire....as good as modern sensors are these days only at certain light levels will you be able to do shadow and highlight correction without loosing detail. Normally there to much dynamic range between the sky and  foreground......that's if you want to print a decent sized HQ image

[laoislad]

I found these videos very helpful when I was learning.

http://www.cameralabs.com/photography_tips/camera_tutorials_guides_books.shtml

Here's one for using a polariser

http://www.dslrtips.com/workshops/How_to_use_polarizing_filters/reduce_haze_deep_blue_sky.shtml

[David McKeown]

Sorry Laoislad I didnt think you were criticising I was just explaining why I framed the picture the way I did so I could get feedback on it.  I appreciate the advice I had never thought of using a low aperture to blair foreground I have only ever done it to blair background when taking a portrait so I must try that one next time I am out.

[theskull1]

Suppose I'd better post something after mouthing off 

[Hardy]

I know nothing about photography but even I can see that's pretty special. You can even see his teeth.

[laoislad]

Very good skull. What Macro lens have you got?

[theskull1]

100mm F2.8 Macro

Works pretty good for portraits as well

[laoislad]

A dedicated macro lens is my next purchase. I have a 70-300mm Tamron lens with a Macro function but it wouldn't be as good as a macro only lens.

[theskull1]

Yeah...nice to have... there's a bit if tweaking needed to get your hot shoe flash setup properly but I'm sure you know that