Old school

[mark 66]

I took this on a back road. I am using a nikon D90..lens nikon ED 80-200..f\13...ISO 200...please tell me what i could have done better...To me the colors are not very good....Thanks

[IABoomer]

This is a common situation where the dynamic range, or difference between light and dark areas, exceeds the range of your sensor. There's a couple different approaches you can take to this.

1. Shoot more than one shot at different exposures and combine them in software. Google "HDR photography" or "exposure blending" for examples and tutorials.

2. Do something to compress the dynamic range of the scene so you can get it in one shot. You could use a graduated neutral density filter to darken just the sky. You could expose for the sky then add lighting to the barn using spotlights, flash (on-camera won't be enough), or other means.

If you shot this image in RAW, you might be able to pull a bit of the sky back toward something resembling blue, but chances are, it's gone beyond what the sensor could record and white is it.

[Doug Sundseth]

If you were to shoot this in RAW (assuming you didn't already), you might be able to pull back more color from the sky and push the shadows on the building to where the detail shows better.

Alternatively, if you could manage to be at the building at sunrise or sunset (whichever would light the side you want to show), you might be able to compress the dynamic range enough to get a very nice photo. Plus, the golden light and bluer sky would, I think, work well with the composition.

FWIW, I'd try to get up a bit higher so that the grain isn't obscuring quite so much of the bottom of the building, but that's an artistic choice not a technical choice.

[BrendelMamaNV]

Doug: "Alternatively, if you could manage to be at the building at sunrise or sunset (whichever would light the side you want to show), you might be able to compress the dynamic range enough to get a very nice photo. Plus, the golden light and bluer sky would, I think, work well with the composition."

This is totally what I would have suggested! Unfortunately, we can't always be where we want to be at the right time of day... However, I think with the light you had, you did a wonderful job! Some scenes are just not shootable and HAVE to be processed in software.

great work - keep it up!

[EOBeav]

Originally Posted by BrendelMamaNV

Unfortunately, we can't always be where we want to be at the right time of day...

Landscape photography is all about opportunity. When I'm out driving around, and I see a great rural scene, I make a note of it and make every effort to go back some time to catch it in better light, more clouds, etc... This photo has great potential, but unfortunately lacks light quality and direction. That's something you can only get at certain times of day, and you can't use photoshop to fix.