I Love Earth

[BroMiCs]

I had such a hard time with this shot, Either the sky was totaly blown out, or the ground was just a shaddow.

http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx130/BroMiCs/Perfectsunset-1.jpg

[Marko]

This is exactly why people play with HDR (layering/merging of bracketed exposures). In many situations like this one you simply cannot get good shadow and highlight detail in one frame. This shot isn't a bad attempt to get both.

[BroMiCs]

Yea, I just heard about that for the first time yesterday.. I will have to try it out some time... what program would you use to merge the shots?

[Marko]

Photoshop CS5 is really good for HDR. Many other people also use photomatix (http://www.hdrsoft.com/).

[Wicked Dark]

or you could try graduated neutral density filters. they worked back in film days and they work now. makes you more aware of your exposures and how little things create big differences in your photos.

[Marko]

or you could try graduated neutral density filters. they worked back in film days and they work now. makes you more aware of your exposures and how little things create big differences in your photos.

Totally true - thx WD!

[BroMiCs]

graduated neutral density filters.

Wow, thats a mouth full

No clue what that is, but I will have to look into it...
Just out of curiousity, what do they do and how do they work..

and ... cs5 eh... I just got that two days ago.. i was using cs2... what a difference... I feel like a newbie..lol

[Wicked Dark]

Here's some good starter info - Neutral density filter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutral_density_filter)

Basically what a graduated ND filter will do for you is reduce the light coming into your lens for a portion of your scene. Because they're graduated from full density on the top to no density on the bottom, you can place the line between them in your scene at or near the horizon. This will even out the exposure by physically darkening the parts of the picture that are too light and giving you a more balanced dynamic range. I use them for sunrises particularly so that the foreground gets the light it needs, but the sky doesn't get cooked.

here's an example if you don't mind my posting in your thread -
http://wickeddark.smugmug.com/Nature/Its-not-as-cold-as-it-looks/P1102387/761560764_DpQ3a-L.jpg

[BroMiCs]

Wow that is a fantastic shot!!!!!

I tend to take a lot of sunset photo's so maybe i should invest in one.
My house faces west and every night I get an amazing show..
I have been up on my roof a few times with this camera since i got it but haven't really been able to capture what it really looked like. One thing that I hate is there are 50 million power wires in my view... so its almost inpossible to compose a great shot unless i use that sky only which looks very empty.

[Wicked Dark]

powerlines are the bane of a landscape photographer's existence. :D
oh and thanks for the compliment. I used both a polarizer and a GND on that one. It's crazy.

[BroMiCs]

mmmmm..... polerizer.... so nice....so expensive :twocents::twocents::twocents:

[Marko]

Awesome landscape photographer Dawrin Wiggett (http://www.darwinwiggett.com/) did a podcast with us on polarizers and neutral density filters.

It's a really great podcast if i do say so myself and I recommend you take a listen.

77 – Neutral density filters – Graduated neutral density filters – Interview with D. Wiggett | Photography podcast - photography blog - Photography.ca (http://www.photography.ca/blog/2010/01/29/77-neutral-density-filters-graduated-neutral-density-filters-interview-with-d-wiggett/)

best!
Marko

[squirl033]

BroMic, you might look into ReDynaMix, as well. it's a cheap ($16 USD) downloadable plug-in for Photoshop that simulates HDR using a single exposure. i took the liberty of editing your original pic using it... spent all of about a minute on it, obviously with a more careful edit it would look even better. but this will give you an idea of what it can do..

http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz47/squirl035/Perfectsunset-1rdx.jpg

[squirl033]

or you could try graduated neutral density filters. they worked back in film days and they work now. makes you more aware of your exposures and how little things create big differences in your photos.

they do indeed. if you have no other filters in your bag, a grad ND and a polarizer are the absolute essentials...

[BroMiCs]

I have a UV filter. It came in a package with my camera bag and extra battery. I did some reading about filters and cheap ones may cause problems. I guess it depends on the coatings... Not really sure what the UV filter does... helps keep the lens clean though i guess...

redynamix... looks interesting. I downloaded a trial of lightroom yesterday ... I am pretty blown away by that program. Its a litte confusing at first but I think I could get the hang of it.

Thanks for all the tips guys!!!

[squirl033]

I have a UV filter. It came in a package with my camera bag and extra battery. I did some reading about filters and cheap ones may cause problems. I guess it depends on the coatings... Not really sure what the UV filter does... helps keep the lens clean though i guess...

redynamix... looks interesting. I downloaded a trial of lightroom yesterday ... I am pretty blown away by that program. Its a litte confusing at first but I think I could get the hang of it.

Thanks for all the tips guys!!!

a UV filter doesn't do a lot in terms of the image... some of them may impart a very slight warming cast to the light, and some can help to slightly reduce haze, but most people - myself included - keep them on the lens at all times to protect the glass. if something untoward should happen, i'd much rather replace a $40 filter than an expensive lens...

[BroMiCs]

Yea, thats kinda what i thought, Thats why I keep it on.. :)
thanks for the info :)