Sunrise @ Chek Jawa

[soloanvi]

Hi Guys,

Took this pix @ Chek Jawa during early morning. As I'm still new to DSLR photography thus will any advise and tips will be greatly appreciated.



Cheers
JC

[night86mare]

1) The sky's highlights are blown out, which is quite a waste, since it does look pretty dramatic.

2) While the reflection is an interesting one, other than that the viewer would probably lose interest pretty quickly. I looked at it, thought "nice reflection" and moved on. Try putting something more interesting in the foreground, have never been to this spot before; so I have no idea. A seashell? A rock? A dead crab? A companion who can pose? Abuse your wide angle to provide an interesting touch to the photograph.

3) Horizon is too 50-50 - not that this is wrong all the time, but in this picture it is especially obvious for whatever reasons, possibly because the exposure difference between the sky and land is so distant that it becomes glaringly and painfully present.

I would suggest getting a Graduated Neutral Density filter, to me they are one of the most essential tools in shooting any sunrise, especially when you are shooting a scene when the sun is already up and blazing in the sky. Also, try a few different angles, find interesting foreground, keep it simple. =)

Keep shooting! =)

[soloanvi]

Tks for the advises.

May I ask how do I prevent the pix been blown out? Using the Graduated Neutral Density filter? I actually shot this pix with a circular polarised filter.

I was also asking myself whether should I keep the 50/50 composition, cos I'll like to show the wetlands and the nice skyline with clouds formation at the sametime thus decide to juz keep to 50/50.

Will keep in mind about having some foreground image. Do u think a plane will do the trick?

Thanks
JC

[skopio]

er.. like what he suggested. something that is on the mangrove itself. in the foreground, not background. anyway, i don't see a need for the CPL. what were you trying to achieve with the CPL?

[soloanvi]

Was hoping that the CPL can reduce the water reflections cos the main purpose of the trip is to view the animals in the wetlands (underwater).

Cheers
Jc

[eikin]

i thought this is quite a nice shot, conservative framing but nice balance. hope you don't mind but thought i'll just give it a try on post processing, will remove upon request



basically what i've done in postprocessing

1. duplicate the background layer and multiply to ''regain'' some details in the sky, but adjusting the opacity of the lower half with eraser
2. created a radial gradient layer to stimulate vignetting with selective erasing to control the opacity
3. applied a curve to make the picture brighter but maintaining this slightly underexposed mood for the wet scene
4. desaturated the overall a little to emphasize the wet morning and underexposed feel

the original picture is a little flat so the idea here is to increase the dynamic range so that the perception of spatial depth is enhanced, the rest is just finetuning to get the mood you want

[soloanvi]

Interesting. I must admit, I still know nuts about postprocessing. Somehow the underexposed mood gave me a night feel.

Tks for sharing.
JC

[lastboltnut]

Next time if you shoot sunset with reflection from water, try to meter the area close to the "Sun" in the water, it helps me when I shoot.

[soloanvi]

Originally Posted by lastboltnut Next time if you shoot sunset with reflection from water, try to meter the area close to the "Sun" in the water, it helps me when I shoot.

Tks for the tips. Will keep that in mind.

Cheers
JC

[ortega]

i kinda agree with eikin
this image has got potential

[hirowen]

Originally Posted by soloanvi Interesting. I must admit, I still know nuts about postprocessing. Somehow the underexposed mood gave me a night feel. Tks for sharing. JC

With the add of photoshop photo filter, it will change the mood to sunrise again.

[catchlights]

just like to add a few points..
#1, CPL don't work in this situation here.
#2, for sunrise, sunset, zoom in your lens, or change to spot metering, take metering reading around the sun but not including the sun, best is use manual exposure mode, look at your LCD to fine tune your final exposure.
#3, you can change the WB, to create different kinds of mood.

[skopio]

Originally Posted by catchlights just like to add a few points.. #1, CPL don't work in this situation here.

yup. the sun is directly at you. CPL is useless in this situation. the sun must be 90 degrees from you, or across you face, for max effect.

[soloanvi]

Nice work there with my lousy pix, ortega & hirowen. Now I'm convince to read more book on how to do post processing.

Tks for the tips, catchlights & skopio.

Cheers
JC

[lastboltnut]

Yea, PP is the 2nd part of fun after you press your shutter!

Originally Posted by soloanvi Nice work there with my lousy pix, ortega & hirowen. Now I'm convince to read more book on how to do post processing. Tks for the tips, catchlights & skopio. Cheers JC

[catchlights]

Originally Posted by soloanvi Nice work there with my lousy pix, ortega & hirowen. Now I'm convince to read more book on how to do post processing. Tks for the tips, catchlights & skopio. Cheers JC

you are welcome, you should learn to get the image right or close to what you want at the time you release the shutter.

post processing is able to enhance / refine your image.

[ortega]

Originally Posted by soloanvi Nice work there with my lousy pix, ortega & hirowen. Now I'm convince to read more book on how to do post processing. Tks for the tips, catchlights & skopio. Cheers JC

actually it is mostly the composition
the sky just does not work for me.
the main attraction of your composition is the reflection on the shore
the sky does nothing to add to the composition

i suggestion reading up on composition first b4 post processing

[Artosoft]

Wrong forum I guess. There is a proper forum for asking/comments/critique. Use it!

Regards,
Arto.

[megaweb]

Try my digital ND method.

[jbma]

What the guys did to your pic shows that not all is lost when shooting digital. There is no right or wrong. I think it turns out pretty well.