To get better definition

2 years 1 month ago - 2 years 1 month ago #709979 by cowboyup3371
The waterfall picture I took this morning and posted earlier had some really nice icicles hanging from the rock ledge.  Since I couldn't really get to the front very easily without risking slipping down the riverbank, I grabbed my 55-200mm f4-5.6 zoom lens for a close up shot.  However, I couldn't get the definition in the ice that I really wanted even with post-processing.

  I think one reason might have been my failure to zoom in further than I did (98mm) but I also didn't want to lose the perspective from the rest of the scene.  Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do differently next time?




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2 years 1 month ago #709987 by Nikon Shooter

cowboyup3371 wrote: … I think one reason might have been my failure to zoom in further than I did (98mm)… 


A higher end gear would better capture the available details given
the light conditions but the problem was not there.

The subject has a higher indexes of transparency and reflectance,
both coming with + and - in terms of recording quality. Here, I think
that specular light — read sparkles — are missing in regard to the
reflectance, the level — read quantity — was not sufficient, and the
penetration — read angle of incidence — did not pull out the trans-
parency feature of the subject. In one short answer? DR expression.

The trap here is your brain!!! If I say diamond, your brain "sees" the
properties of it, and that's nice for poetry for example but waaay not
enough for a picture — the shine, sparkles, and transparency should
all be there.

Light is free… capturing it is not!
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2 years 1 month ago #709988 by Nikon Shooter

Example.


Light is free… capturing it is not!
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2 years 1 month ago #710388 by cowboyup3371
Would you say this one was better?  From today at First Creek Falls; I left the background darker on purpose to make the ice stand out better




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2 years 1 month ago #710389 by Nikon Shooter
You did some progress already:
WB is ok,
Transparency and reflectance are ok too.

However…
The focus point and DoF are not adequate. 
The specular highlights are absent.


Light is free… capturing it is not!
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2 years 1 month ago - 2 years 1 month ago #710390 by cowboyup3371
Well, I think this highlights some major differences in my pictures then.

First, the top photos were taken around noon time. I changed the white balance in Lightroom only from AS SHOT to a custom cooler setting to match the weather that day because we had a snowstorm coming in. In fact, it started snowing shortly after I took them. I will admit that was probably too much and something I chose not to do today.

Today's photos were taken around 3pm on a sunny day and few clouds in the sky. I left the white balance settings to as shot, did not touch any of the saturation or luminescence sliders, and only slight changes to the others. However, I was also standing on a frozen creek so I was in more of a hurry to get my shot and leave before anything happened to me. Maybe I'll have to find my fly fishing waders and have them on for next time just in case ;)

Thank you and I appreciate the words. I will need to do some further reading into what you brought up about specular highlights since I'm not quite sure what you mean by that.


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1 year 11 months ago #714429 by fmw
I think we sometimes lose sight of the fact that we are capturing light and the quality of the light has the single largest effect on the image.  Different times of day, different camera locations, different kinds of light can all affect how the image comes across.  Sometimes it takes several trips to the subject at different times and in different light to get what we want.

As an example, I have made several trips to Death Valley.  I have dreamed being able to catch some images while it is raining.  So far so bad.  Maybe one day.


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