Evening sky

[butcher]

hi, here's a picture of the sky in my home town.

I'm very new at this so I don't know if it's a good pics or no.

What do you think?
Eric

[navcom]

Hi there! We need a bit more information here in the critique section. Check out the forum rules and update your post accordingly so we can give you a good critique. If you just want to share your shot, you can post it in the landscape "share your shots" section. Thanks!

[butcher]

Originally Posted by navcom

Hi there! We need a bit more information here in the critique section. Check out the forum rules and update your post accordingly so we can give you a good critique. If you just want to share your shot, you can post it in the landscape "share your shots" section. Thanks!

ok, I read the rules, so here it is.. hopefully..

Do you think that the bottom part is too dark, or is this what I should be looking for? Also, do think it would look better if I cropped it so that we only show the sky?

Eric

[navcom]

Exposure of the bottom is just fine. The black foreground pushes your attention to the sky. You might try cropping out a bit of the foreground and also a bit of the sky. That might help a bit.

What was your EXIF data? The image looks a bit fuzzy. Not sure if that is camera shake, large aperture, or a windy day.

[butcher]

Originally Posted by navcom

Exposure of the bottom is just fine. The black foreground pushes your attention to the sky. You might try cropping out a bit of the foreground and also a bit of the sky. That might help a bit.

What was your EXIF data? The image looks a bit fuzzy. Not sure if that is camera shake, large aperture, or a windy day.

Aperture:f5.8
ISO:80
Exposure: 1/250
Focal Length: 58.5mm

[navcom]

A smaller aperture might have helped the fuzziness...maybe an f/8 or f/11. With an f/5.8 you have a very narrow depth of field. ISO of 80 is great.

[butcher]

Originally Posted by navcom

A smaller aperture might have helped the fuzziness...maybe an f/8 or f/11. With an f/5.8 you have a very narrow depth of field. ISO of 80 is great.

Can I ask a question about aperture? If I use a smaller aperture, I would have had to use a faster shutter speed to get the right exposure, right?

[navcom]

Ask away! That's what the forum is for.

Good question. It's actually the other way around. Smaller apertures require slower shutter speeds. The smaller your aperture gets (the larger the f/number), the less light is allowed through the lens. Therefore, in order to get the same exposure, you need to keep the shutter open longer to allow the light to "expose" the image the same as you would for a wider aperture...thus you need a slower shutter speed.

In landscape photography, the aperture setting is quite important. Most landscape scenes require a very large depth of field, that is, as much of the depth of the image in focus as possible. The smaller the aperture (the larger the f/number), the greater the depth of field. But there is a limit. When you start getting up to around f/16 or f/18, a little demon called diffraction starts happening due to the very small "pinhole" opening. This actually makes the image a bit fuzzy as well depending on the scene. It's more noticeable as you get smaller and smaller and varies from lens to lens.

So aperture is important. Shutter speed is not always so important (depending on the scene of course). Therefore I almost always shoot landscapes in aperture priority mode. I set the aperture for the scene and let the camera decide what shutter speed to use. Of course, you should also always use a tripod. Then it really doesn't matter what shutter speed you use.

Hope that makes sense! If not, ask away.