Yellowstone

[dacotrac]

Here's another newbie...

This picture was taken in October and the only PP done was some cropping & level adjustments...

EXIF:
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT
18.0 mm

Shutter: 1/250 sec
Aperture: 6.6
ISO: 100

Date/Time: 10/03/10 14:14:12

[curelightwounds]

I like it.

My only critique is that the middle area is grayish/white. I might suggest increasing the contrast to mitigate that.

[monkeygirl123]

It's a beautiful shot. I love it

[dacotrac]

Thank you for critique. Now I realize that the middle area is grayish. The landscape itself was white calcified formations, and I did have some problems taking this shot, and keeping some level of details on that area. Any suggestions for the future, regarding capturing the details on a white surface?

[dandellion]

Lovely shot. But I'd stress rule of thirds here, both for the tree and for the horizon.

[windrider86]

Please try and ask something specific that you want help with. Gives us something to go on. txs

[EOBeav]

The two best times to shoot landscapes like this are between about 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after sunrise, then again 30 minutes before to 30 minutes after sunset. This would have been a fantastic shot if it had been taken at one of those times.

[curelightwounds]

Originally Posted by dacotrac

Thank you for critique. Now I realize that the middle area is grayish. The landscape itself was white calcified formations, and I did have some problems taking this shot, and keeping some level of details on that area. Any suggestions for the future, regarding capturing the details on a white surface?

This comes up a lot for me because shooting white is ridiculously unforgiving.

My suggesting when shoot white is to take a picture at whatever exposure you normally do and another one or two stops darker to bring up the details. You can also try to bracket and blend but that requires a bit more equipment and a little more know-how.

As for the graying it could be one of two things; haze coming off of the calcium deposits (which is what I'm guessing it is) in which case you're probably out of luck and you'd have to shoot when the light is a little less intense so you don't have as much reflection off the calcium particles -- or it could be pollution off in the distance. A polarizer reduces light in general and might be able to mitigate both of those, but I've never shot over calcium deposits so I don't know how that would work.

[Krusty79]

I agree with EOBeav that shooting in the "golden hours" will give you better results, as I believe you need a more interesting sky in this shot. It's a good general rule anyway. A more colorful sky will also help to offset the washed out terraces.

[dacotrac]

Thank you all for your input. It will help me in the future. All the bracketing and HDR stuff is still too new for me, but I will start digging in this direction...

I will have a new post (pretty soon) regarding "The golden hour rule" that hopefully will clarify few things for me...