More landscape character

[cadcamslave]

Taken at Trinidad Head, California

[tirediron]

Dang, you really pick the tough exposure situations don't you??? This is a nice scene, but would definitely have benefitted from the use of a graduated ND to enhance the sky detail and a polarizer to 'darken' the water. As well, note the blown (or nearly so) highlights on the upper part of the lighthouse and the extreme darkness of the forest image right. I'm guessing you cover probably 8 full zones in this image. Like your broken window capture, I think HDR might well have been the way to go here.

From a compositio standpoint, I'm not fussed on the bits of hand-rail trailing down the steps. Perhaps consider cloning them out?

[Mad Aussie]

Hard to add much to TI's critique here.

I agree with the railing ... moving forward to eliminate those would have been a good idea.

Without decent post processing skills you are going to struggle to right a shot like this technically great because of the dynamic range (bright whites battling with dark darks) so the best advice for now is to shoot slightly darker than normal to retain more detail in the white areas and then lighten the dark areas later.

[cadcamslave]

Hard to add much to TI's critique here.

I agree with the railing ... moving forward to eliminate those would have been a good idea.

Without decent post processing skills you are going to struggle to right a shot like this technically great because of the dynamic range (bright whites battling with dark darks) so the best advice for now is to shoot slightly darker than normal to retain more detail in the white areas and then lighten the dark areas later.

I have the orignal .nef around here somewhere, i'll try what I can.

I was simply using the multimeter Nikon exposure.

[tirediron]

...I was simply using the multimeter Nikon exposure.

I assume you mean "Matrix" metering? That's your best bet for evenly lit scenes, but in this case where you cover almost the whole exposure range (well beyond the latitude of your camera's sensor to record) from pure to white no near black, it's perhaps not the best choice.

As MA indicated, a little under-exposure to maintain detail in the white/bright areas is preferable. When you encounter a scene like this, try your spot-metering and meter off of the brightest areas, make an exposure, check for blown highlights (The "Blinkies") in the rear LCD and adjust accordingly.

I would also suggest reading up on High Dynamic Range Merge photography (HDR or HDR Merge), a technique where several identical images taken with different exposure values are merged with software to preserve the best aspects of each.

[cadcamslave]

I assume you mean "Matrix" metering? That's your best bet for evenly lit scenes, but in this case where you cover almost the whole exposure range (well beyond the latitude of your camera's sensor to record) from pure to white no near black, it's perhaps not the best choice.

As MA indicated, a little under-exposure to maintain detail in the white/bright areas is preferable. When you encounter a scene like this, try your spot-metering and meter off of the brightest areas, make an exposure, check for blown highlights (The "Blinkies") in the rear LCD and adjust accordingly.

I would also suggest reading up on High Dynamic Range Merge photography (HDR or HDR Merge), a technique where several identical images taken with different exposure values are merged with software to preserve the best aspects of each.

Yes, I meant matrix metering.

I looked it up a little today HDMR (will definitely read up on it more), what software do you recommend for a raw newbie? I have Corel Paintshop Prophoto, Nikon image and Camera Control Pro.

[tirediron]

Qhat software do you recommend for a raw newbie? ...

To be honest, I'd suggest Googling "HDR Software" and downloading the various trial versions and finding one you like. There are quite a few different versions, and they all have strengths and weaknesses; it's really a matter of finding one that works for you.