My Handywork

[Milli]

Hey folks,

Just thought i'd post up my photography skills to date



My Favourite one is probably the Glencoe album

But others:-

Dalswinton Estate, Dumfriesshire

Roucan Bridge - Irongray, Dumfries


Individual Pics That I love

Dalswinton Loch

Loch Tulla, Glencoe

[Whitey]

Very nice, I have a couple of Roucan Bridge pics in my Google+ album as well.

[smilodon]

Wow, not sure how I missed this post. My landscape skills are more or less non existent so I'm always impressed by anyone who can take shots like these. I guess having stunning scenery helps as well.

Now you just need to get up at 4am to get some of those stunning dawn shots when the sun is just rising over the horizon

[Luminance]

Nice work mate. Matches my own style.
I just started doing landscapes though, with a couple shots on my trip to Japan in the style like you did (so with trees in front, or part of bushes in the corner).

I really like the mountain/water shots, you have them all nicely colored and light enough, combined with the visible clouds, really nice.

I spotted a picture with a bit of waterfall.
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I'm not experienced with guessing the shutter speed, but my guess is really a long/slow one like 1/4ish but I might be mistaken. Personally 1/15 or 1/30 would have been nicer next time (or if you did, even faster), because then the waterflow will be less blurry white, and more waterlike with white heads and clear bits like:
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Now the above one might not be the best example, since it isn't that rough (fast current wise) as your picture.
So below you can see the effect with a very rough river (fast paced) at 1/1000 to give an idea what I mean:
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(for those interested, the middle one is the first bit of garden at Nijo Castle in Kyoto and the one below is the holy Shinkyo bridge in Nikkon (between Tokyo and Fukushima)

[DrunkenZombiee]

Awesome photos.

I love the photo of the bridge with the Myst and Haze coming in off the mountains. Really nice with the water and lush vegetation backdropm

Do you use a Graduated Natural Density filter for your landscapes? I am thinking of getting some but a friend had told me to just use post process to get the same effect.

[Luminance]

What is a graduated natural density filter?



When I bought the camera (Canon EOS 1000D), I got the Hoya high quality UV filter in my pack (green line) for the bulk 18-55 lens.
I put that one on the same 18-55 bulk lens, but with IS I have now (which was used for the photo's).

for my Tamron tele/macro lens I always had a HMC filter (grey line) which was cir-polarizing. And with my zero knowledge at that time, I always combined that witht the Green Hoya UV filter.

For the 70-300 IS USM EF-II canon lense I now use instaid (not for landscapes really, but great for animals and insects) I bought the same brand, but then the HD (unprofessional line )

[DrunkenZombiee]

Info here.

It helps you to not overexpose the Sky or under expose the landscape. This coupled with a polarliser can get some awesome effects as the eye can be emulated more easily.

[Luminance]

Oh, I have had the upmost trouble with stabilizing the sky and landscape, so that sounds awesome, think I'll start shopping now ^^
after dinner that is.

[smilodon]

I think you can fix the difference in brightness between sky and land in post processing but isn't it best to get it right in the camera (oohh that's rich coming from a self confessed Photoshop whore).

There are a few things to consider when buying a polarising filter. First get a circular one and not a linear one. Light that is linearly polarised won't work in most modern cameras (i.e. all DSLR's). If you buy the cheap linear ones you'll have to manually focus and work out exposure yourself.
Second polarisers screw into the end of your lens. You rotate the filter to get the desired polarising effect. If your lens physically rotates when you focus or zoom then the filter will rotate as well and you'll loose the polarising effect. So check and see what sort of lens you have. Polarisers also cut two or three stops of light so you'll need to shoot longer and this might mean a tripod is needed. They also go a bit wonky around the edge of the frame if you use them with very wide angle lenses. Finally it's not that easy to see the effect they are having through the viewfinder on on the LED screen. So sometimes you can come home and see some odd and unplanned effects when you view the images on a computer screen.

ND filters are less of an issue. I use square ones that slide into a holder that screws onto the front of my lens. I just slide the filters in and out. The nice thing is that you can combine filters together to get more effect. I use Cokin filters and stick to the P series. Cokin do something called the Z Pro series which just means they put 'Pro' in the name and charge an extra thirty quid. Unless you're shooting landscape for Nation Geographic stick to the mid range version. That being said don't waste money on real cheap stuff. Stay with Hama or Cokin and spend a tenner or more on each filter and you can't go far wrong.

[Luminance]

Well I bought the pro because in England, that one was cheaper then the green line in Holland... Plus, the pro version effectively let through 25% more light then the green line, so 1 it was cheaper then the one I would have bought, and it lets through more light

My dad just showed me one of his old square one he used back in the days, also with different sliding filters. I though it was very old fashioned lol.

[DrunkenZombiee]

I was thinking about getting a circular slot in Polariser for the P series mounting system as £70 a bit is expensive per for each lens compared to £70 for the slot polariser and £10 for an adapter mount for the P system per lens you want to use.

Corkin have gone into administration so its hard to get hold of the filters for a good price as they are highly in demand.

Thinking about putting this on my Xmas list as its a good starter kit if I can get hold of one for a good price. Then a 72mm adapter ring and I am away at 18mm .