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Permalink Reply by Sean on January 15, 2009 at 6:57pm

Play with your white balance possibly...try fluorescent...it will make it look colder...it will lean towards the cooler blue. Or mess with your contrast. Like I always say...it is digital...experiment it doesn't cost you anything except time. Break some of the rules and see what happens.

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Permalink Reply by Dan on January 15, 2009 at 10:01pm

Good composition. I agree with the last reply, use photoshop to give the pictures more contrast. And just play with it to try and bring out the fog a little bit more to give it more mood

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Permalink Reply by Christine on January 16, 2009 at 4:25am

The 2nd shot composition is very nice.

On the 3rd shot maybe having increased the depth of field (higher f number) would of made the trees in the distance clearer.

Hope this helps.

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Permalink Reply by CameraClicker on January 16, 2009 at 7:56am

The third shot seems to have the foreground in focus but the depth of field is too shallow. A smaller aperture would have been better but would also have probably required a tripod or placing the camera on one of the rocks.

The first two are just soft.

On the first (path and trees -- First_Unsharp-220squareCrop.jpg,), I used the Unsharp Mask in Photoshop Elements at 220%, 0.5 pixels and 0 levels. Then I cropped it square which removed the greenery on the right and a dark tree on the left.

The second (boat -- selected_unsharp.jpg,) I deselected the sky before sharpening using the same Unsharp Mask settings. I tried a number of other sharpening methods but liked this result the best.

I think this improves the photos, but as Sean said, experimenting just costs time. Remember to save your originals and work on a copy, that way you can always go back to the original to get more copies and try different treatments.

Attachments:

• First_Unsharp-220squareCrop.jpg, 1.2 MB
• selected_unsharp.jpg, 541 KB

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Permalink Reply by Keith Aldrich on January 16, 2009 at 9:36am

Here are 7 tips that might help. Why 7? It just sounded good.

1) If you don't already own one, invest in a good tripod. For landscape and portraits a tripod is essential.
2) Make sure that your photos have a subject.
3) HAVE FUN.
4) Read, read, read. The best way to learn is to pick up a few books. If you like Landscapes/Nature, I highly suggest John Shaw. Check Amazon, usually you can find his books for a steal used. If they are film era books don't worry because 95% of the concepts still apply to digital.
5) Shoot in raw. This will allow you to change things like white balance, exposure (though it is best to get it right in Camera), temperature, etc in post processing
6) Spend some time shooting on "M" (full manual) and learn to use your spot meter effectively (it looks like you may be doing this, otherwise your snow would be more grey). I really prefer Spot Metering over Matrix Metering for landscape work, especially on Nikon cameras (because they tend to blow out highlights when Matrix Metering)
7) If you can pick up a copy of Lightroom, Photoshop, or Elements, you'll be amazed at what you can do post-processing. Once you delve into Photoshop you can really do a lot to make your photos "pop".

I hate to make suggestions that involve "buying more stuff", but a good tripod really is something every photographer should own. As far as Photoshop goes, if you aren't already using it, once you do you won't know how you lived without it!

Best Regards,
Keith in MT

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Permalink Reply by Otilia on January 16, 2009 at 5:01pm

Sean, Dan, Christine, Keith, and CameraCliker,
Thank you so much for all the great recommendations. You guys are really helpful. I'm just starting to take photography seriously. It's always been just a hobby, but I have now enrolled in a photography program at a community college.

I have a tripod, but I did not have it with me at the time. I don't have Photoshop but do have Elments 6 which I'm still learning to use. I'm also looking into getting LightRoom. I've just recently started shooting on manual and in RAW which when I download the photos onto my computer it takes so much memory that I'm just waiting for my computer to crash. But no worries I save my work on an external hard drive, but for whatever reason Picasa stores a copy as well. I don't understand this and have to look into it.

CameraClicker: thank you for editing the 2 photos - they do look much sharper.
Keith: thank you for the 7 tips - I didn't know that spot metering works best for landscapes (I must admit I can't rmember where I had it set at).

Once again thank you for the great feedback. It is very much appreciated.
Otilia

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Permalink Reply by A. D. Stone on January 17, 2009 at 2:08pm

I like the shot with the tugboat - the side added much needed color...

All the tip provided are great ones- let me add one or two- possibly 'way out there'..

1) Try doing these in HDR ( take the same photo with multiple exposures, then merging)- you CAN do this in Photoshop, but another package , Photomatix, is superior for this... I hate suggest more purchasing as well, but this one has been well worth it for me...plus they provide a free trial...

2) Use Photoshop (or any other package that lets you work with layers- like the free, Open Source package called 'GIMP')
to makea 'soft focus' view...more romantic view- you reproduce the picture on a top layer, apply gaussian blur to it, and then lower the opacity until it has a 'fuzzy' feel.. a fun alternative..

OK I've blathered too much..enjoy!

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Permalink Reply by Otilia on January 19, 2009 at 7:01am

Thank you for the additional 2 tips.
I downloaded GIMP but have to learn how to use it. HDR is new to me - I've just recently started hearing about it when I joined PictureSocial. I have Elements 6, can HDR be done using this? I'm not ready to purchase another package yet.
thanks again.

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Permalink Reply by CameraClicker on January 19, 2009 at 7:00pm

It depends on the effect you want and the time you are willing to spend. Elements will let you layer photos and employ masks so only the desired portion of each photo appears in the final image. With a little practice this can be done quickly. Getting that luminous appearance you see in some HDR photos takes more effort.

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Permalink Reply by Otilia on January 25, 2009 at 12:50pm

Thank you CameraClicker! you are a great source of information.

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Permalink Reply by Adam Bell on February 17, 2009 at 3:29pm

Looking through the photos, they dont seam very sharp and dont look focused, but i dont think tis is anything to do with when you took the photo.
Just that the file size is very small, and when i click ona picture, it appears washed out becouse of this, plus if you click on it, the picture is big, and with a small file size the picture doesnt look as great as it could be, but this aside, i think there nice shots, and nothing much you eed to change about the just as long as you like them, then your fine.

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Permalink Reply by Adam Bell on February 17, 2009 at 3:33pm

btw, i wouldnt hdr the shots, its too alse looking and is mostly done to make a bad shot look good, in a cheesy way, now i'm al for editing, but you really want to do as little editing on your photos as possible, so get it as good as you ned when your shooting, HDR is only god when you do it proparlly, and not many people do do it that way.

Just my suggestion

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