New Here! Cemetery Landscape

[Nicole Hanna]

I'm very new to manual digital photography. I'd been using a Cyber Shot DSC-H1 point and shoot (entirely in auto) until a month ago when I bought a Nikon D90, which is my first DSLR. I'm still learning the lenses and functions, and it's a slow-going process. What better way to improve, however, than to get advice here! I have some issues with landscape photos including more than minimalist "clean lines". Trees are forever a frustrating thing in any photo of mine because I think it just looks... confusing and messy.

In this photo, I removed some background grave markers with a photo editing program, to clean it up some, since the main subject is what I would consider a collection of confusing lines,and I didn't want any sensory overload. I also cross-processed it, because I just like the color you get. The white-washed processed look is not for everyone, I know, but I was going for stark.

Anyway, here are the specs.

Nikon D90
Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro lens
Shutter Speed 1/1250
Aperture f/2.8
ISO Manual (which means I didn't pay attention and have no idea where it ended up lol)

PS I'm also still learning to TAKE NOTES on my camera settings before deleting photos from my cards. This is a problem for me. I take a picture, don't like it, but don't remember what the settings were because I deleted it and now don't know where to go from there to correct the problems.

Any advice on composition, post-processing and camera settings would be greatly appreciated. As I said, I'm a babe in the wood as far as DSLR's are concerned.

[sourav]

The properties of your pic will give you the entire detail. You can also upload it to picasa or flickr to get the details.
As for the pic, the yellow flowers distract me and the pic seems overexposed.
I like the green tone though.

[EOBeav]

It's an interesting subject, although that headstone does seem a bit disembodied because of the snow around it. Maybe that's appropriate, though. Snow can be tough to shoot in. You need to keep the details in it without underexposing everything else. As it is, I'm not seeing a lot of detail here.

Also, at 1/1250 s. exposure time, I suspect your ISO might have been a little higher than it needed to be. Maybe 400 or so? Just a guess.

[Krusty79]

Congratulations on getting the DSLR. Interesting concept here. I would also like to see some detail in the snow. Also, it feels like everything is about to fall over to the right. Right now, the tree on the left kind of merges into the background. How about a shallower DOF to make it and the tombstone stand out more?

[Nicole Hanna]

Originally Posted by sourav

The properties of your pic will give you the entire detail. You can also upload it to picasa or flickr to get the details.
As for the pic, the yellow flowers distract me and the pic seems overexposed.
I like the green tone though.

Thanks. I move all the photos from the memory card to my computer hard drive and then usually delete it from the memory card. I only have 2 8GB memory cards and they'd fill up fast if I kept all the images stores on it. So, when it's deleted from the card, I can't pull up the specs. I need to make more of an effort in writing these things down before I delete the pictures. lol.

The green tone is from cross-processing in the photo editing software... so is the over-exposure, unfortunately. I couldn't find a nice balance in my software. It's something I'm still trying to figure out. Thanks for the opinion!


PS I totally misunderstood what you said when I responded originally. LOL. But I get it now. Thanks!

[Nicole Hanna]

Originally Posted by EOBeav

It's an interesting subject, although that headstone does seem a bit disembodied because of the snow around it. Maybe that's appropriate, though. Snow can be tough to shoot in. You need to keep the details in it without underexposing everything else. As it is, I'm not seeing a lot of detail here.

Also, at 1/1250 s. exposure time, I suspect your ISO might have been a little higher than it needed to be. Maybe 400 or so? Just a guess.

Snow is incredibly tough to shoot, and unfortunately that's all we have here right now! lol I'm so ready for GREEN. I lost all the details in the snow, but not sure I mind entirely. I don't like anything that looks too busy and adding more to this photo might have... or I fear it would have. The overexposure was intentional because I just couldn't find a balance of exposure and detail that I liked otherwise, but I think I was relying too heavily on editing software and less on the original image. Still learning how to shoot in natural light though. Thanks for the opinion and pointers. I think you're right about the ISO. I'll try taking it off auto and manually adjusting it when needed.

[Nicole Hanna]

Originally Posted by Krusty79

Congratulations on getting the DSLR. Interesting concept here. I would also like to see some detail in the snow. Also, it feels like everything is about to fall over to the right. Right now, the tree on the left kind of merges into the background. How about a shallower DOF to make it and the tombstone stand out more?

The aperture was set to it's largest, so beyond that, I have no idea how to achieve a shallower depth of field. It's a fixed focal length lens, as well, so I can't play with the zoom and aperture settings together. Any closer to the subject and too much of it would have been out of frame. I think I'll head out there in a day or two and try to take another shot of this particular scene and see what I can do with the DOF. I like strange angles in photography, which is probably why everything looks like it's leaning. Perhaps if there was detail in the snow that didn't get lost in over-exposure, this wouldn't seem like such an issue in the finished piece. Your opinion gives me a lot to think on! Thanks!

[OceanHorizons]

Originally Posted by Nicole Hanna

So, when it's deleted from the card, I can't pull up the specs.

Hi Nicole! I'm new to dslr shooting, too. Like another poster said, since your pic is on Flickr you can see your settings - if you select the "Actions" above the pic, then select "View Exif info", you can see your shot settings. (Your ISO was 200, btw). That helps so you don't have to try to remember them!

I'm not familiar with your editing s/w, but I in the program I use (canon's digital photo professional) can select "detailed thumbnails" and it shows the settings.

As for your pic - I find it interesting. Personally I like straight horizon lines, but I'm a bit obsessed with this right now because I'm really struggling to get my horizons straight! (my editing s/w can correct this - not sure about yours). To my eye the horizon in your pic isn't far enough "off" to look intentional. That being said I do like the "feel" of your shot.

[Nicole Hanna]

Originally Posted by OceanHorizons

Hi Nicole! I'm new to dslr shooting, too. Like another poster said, since your pic is on Flickr you can see your settings - if you select the "Actions" above the pic, then select "View Exif info", you can see your shot settings. (Your ISO was 200, btw). That helps so you don't have to try to remember them!

I'm not familiar with your editing s/w, but I in the program I use (canon's digital photo professional) can select "detailed thumbnails" and it shows the settings.

As for your pic - I find it interesting. Personally I like straight horizon lines, but I'm a bit obsessed with this right now because I'm really struggling to get my horizons straight! (my editing s/w can correct this - not sure about yours). To my eye the horizon in your pic isn't far enough "off" to look intentional. That being said I do like the "feel" of your shot.

Thanks on all fronts! lol I had no idea you could see the details of your shot on Flickr. I'm brand new to that website as well. In fact, I've hated Flickr for years and have refused to post there until joining this site. (I prefer RedBubble personally).

I use Photoscape, which is free and all I'm willing to invest in right now. Photoshop and Gimp are just way too confusing for me. I like EASY. lol. But, I can shift the horizon in my software, I've just never though to use it. I realize now, though, the problem with the horizon and "leaning tree and tombstone" in this photo. The horizon inclined naturally.... but when I tilted the camera, the horizon inadvertently straightened a bit. Not a lot, but enough to make a difference in the final look. Go figure. I'll try different angles around the tree. But you're right... it doesn't look intentional enough. I guess I'll be playing at the cemetery over the next few days (it's a macabre little obsession of mine lately).

[SwissJon]

I haven't read through this post in its entirety, so forgive me if I repeat something someone else has said.

I'm not keen on the filter you used, I'm sorry.
I feel like the headstone is the wrong way round. I would like to see this photo flipped (Mirror image) with more space in front of the headstone and less behind it. You have shown a gravestone, but cut out the grave.
Next time, when you have a problem with balancing exposure, bracket your shots.. Take 3 at different exposures, it'll give you more options when you process the pictures. Remember also that if you shoot in RAW format, you'll have detail in everything from around +1 stop over exposed to -2 stops under.. It's therefore better, itn a photo like this where there's lots of white around the subject which is mid toned, to under expose the shot by about 1 stop and retrieve that in post-processing using mid range adjustments. You'll then have a little detail in the white, which will bring the subject into context..

Keep clicking, I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work, I think you've got a good eye.