Fortnightly Challenge - Feb 5 thru Feb 18 - Topic: Picture Postcard

[JDDavis]

In the spirit of taking the shot during the time period....Here's a snowball postcard from my daughter.

 

[Indydenny]

I did too . . .

Everyone takes this shot in San Francisco , so did I.

But from a Different Perspective!

 

[Chappers]

 

[deep diver]

maddagascar - although I like your photos - the one with the plane taking off would have probably been better with a larger plane. This would have given more of a holiday feel in my opinion.

This is a really good example of how we each see the images differently. Simon sees a plane taking off in the sunset as the subject. I see the sunset and landscape as the subject with a plane intruding on that.

Here is one a little different. Mt. Mansfield.

I really like what you did with this in PP.

You know one of those HDR Postcard thingy-ma-bobs!

Don't be too harsh! It's a first attempt!

I am not a big fan of HDR, but this is not bad. I would do a couple of things differently. The color and lighting on the trees and leaves are very flat. You need to bring them up a lot. The 2 larger trees in the foreground and the sun are all right in the center, and everything else is the same on either side. Because of that, there really is no focal point and my eye doesn't want to go anywhere. I would reshoot this with greater attention to the composition and then play with the HDR (although I think this scene probably doesn't need it).

In the spirit of taking the shot during the time period....Here's a snowball postcard from my daughter.

Isn't it great how such innocence can make such a strong image. I just wish it hadn't been trash day.

 

[deep diver]

Sunset in Maui

This is the first time I ever shot into the sun (at least intentionally). This was harder than I thought and there were a lot of junk images that ended up in my camera that evening. (I have no idea who put them there. ) Help me with this one.

 

[JohnMC]

Sunset on the Prairie

 

[JDDavis]

This is the first time I ever shot into the sun (at least intentionally). This was harder than I thought and there were a lot of junk images that ended up in my camera that evening. (I have no idea who put them there. ) Help me with this one.

I'm no expert on shooting into the sun. It seems to be about timing with me. There's a certain point on the horizon that the pics seem to work out but it's more like luck when I get a good one. Did you use a filter for this shot? Most of the time I've tried a polarizer when shooting shots like this but then it can get too dark too fast if it is sunset. pdxflint had a great into the sun shut in this thread. Perhaps he will chime in.

 

[JDDavis]

Sunset on the Prairie

Very nice. The colors are very smooth and the silhouette is great. I like this one a lot.

 

[Phrasikleia]

Sunset on the Prairie

I rarely see silhouette photos that look successful to me; they usually leave me wishing the silhouettes had some detail instead of being black voids. However, I think this shot really works. It makes a nice, graphic image that I could see working well with text (perhaps as a poster or book cover).

 

[mtbdudex]

Holiday postcard:

 

[deep diver]

Maui

 

[someoldguy]

Japanese Garden at Golden Gate Park , San Francisco

 

[JDDavis]

Hyacinth from the kitchen table.

 

[pyth]

Taken in New Orleans during Mardi Gras.

 

[pdxflint]

Coastal rainforest, Oregon

Thought this might work as a postcard where someone would like something in backlit b/w which brings out the soft side of the forest.

Model: NIKON D50
ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/60 sec
Aperture: 4.5
Focal Length: 18mm

 

[pdxflint]

Sunset on the Prairie

This one works... I agree. It would be a worthy postcard. There's a certain simplicity to it that would make me stop and consider buying it in a gift shop.

I'm no expert on shooting into the sun. It seems to be about timing with me. There's a certain point on the horizon that the pics seem to work out but it's more like luck when I get a good one. Did you use a filter for this shot? Most of the time I've tried a polarizer when shooting shots like this but then it can get too dark too fast if it is sunset. pdxflint had a great into the sun shut in this thread. Perhaps he will chime in.

Model: D300
ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/8000 sec
Aperture: 6.3
Focal Length: 200mm

I don't really have a technique, and yes, many "into the sun" shots just don't work real well, so I just treat them like an "artistic" interpretation. If I don't get too much bad flare I count my blessings. For the shot I posted here, I was actually experimenting with a slightly longer lens (80-200) w/polarizing filter and thought I'd try to get a shot where the sun would appear larger than with the bare eye. In order to include the sun in the shot, I knew I had to seriously underexpose the overall scene, so I went for the silhouette idea. The shot doesn't look like the actual scene because the sun is still quite high yet, but the only way I could even hope to include the sun without blowing it out was to go for the more surreal look of twilight. The reddish cast of the sky reflected the actual color, but it was accentuated by the underexposure and a little saturation tweak in PP. I couldn't push the saturation much, though, because it would accentuate the halo around the sun, which I really didn't want.

Before this shot, I took several trial exposures as I sized up the overall scene toward the sun and did a quick check on the lcd screen to see if I was close at all. When the birds started lifting off en masse which I hadn't counted on, I quickly fired off a few exposures. If I hadn't been set up for the type shot I was trying to get, I never would have been able to react to the birds... which made all the difference and gave the image some dynamics/drama. It could have been better, no doubt, but I'm still looking for that perfect "sun in the frame" sunset shot.

 

[deep diver]

Clown fish

 

[pdxflint]

last rays...

Another sunset postcard... with the "nifty-fifty."

Model: NIKON D300
ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/400 sec
Aperture: 6.3
Focal Length: 50mm

 

[stagi]

from a mountaintop in switzerland

 

[Chappers]

Jesus Green Cambridge England.

 

[deep diver]

More Maui

 

[AndyR]

Taken on Lake Taupo, New Zealand.

 

[jayfire124]

First attempts at HDR in Tenerife

My first attempts at 3 exposures processed through Photomatix Pro.
All comments greatly appreciated.

Canon G9

 

[JohnMC]

Hi All,

The next topic thread is up and you can find it here.

John

 

[Designer Dale]

Greetings from Tacoma, Washington. Home town of Dale Chihuly and the Museum of Glass.

Dale

Tour Guide to the Great Pacific NorthWest