Newby looking for opinions

[JohnJ]

I became interested in digital photography about a year and a half ago after a lifetime of taking "snapshots". In the past six months or so I have started getting serious about the hobby. I found this forum this week and this is my first post. I took the photo of Mt Raineer while traveling this summer. It was a reasonably clear day with occasional clouds passing over the mountain. I am looking for honest opinions of this photo and how you would improve it.



The photo is from the camera without any tweaking. I shot with a Canon Digital Rebel (300D) using a Canon 28-135 zoom. Unfortunately I did not record the settings.

Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 53 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

[autofocus]

Let me start by saying I like the composition and the photo overall. I like the way you positioned the top of the mountain between the two taller trees in the image...almost like "book ending" which draws your eye up to it. The only thing that I would try, and like to see is a little more detail in the trees and the foreground. If you have Photoshop, you might try Shadow / Highlights to bring up that darker area. That said, the photo as is still works well for me. I also like the diagonal line of the foreground...makes it a little more interesting than if it were parallel to the frame

Vince

[barabe]

Hello and welcome to DPS,

Here are your camera settings, you just have to click on more properties on flickr and copy.

Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 53 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

I have for a long time now wanted to go and climb this mountain. In your shot, the mountain could be just a snow covered hill with a bit of fog. There s nothing here showing us the size of the mountain due to the relative size and DOF with the threes in the foreground. A higher vantage point to me would have worked better. I do agree with autofocus about getting more details out of the threes.

[JohnJ]

Thanks for the comments guys. Martin I particularly appreciate the info about getting the info from flickr. I am new to flickr and was not aware of that function. I have a few other views of Mt Raineer and will post another in a day or so. Hopefully it will be more to your liking. Once again, thanks for taking the time to evaluate my photo.

Sorry for being so long answering, but my wife had to have surgery and this is the first chance I have had.

John

[kencaleno]

Here's my take:

[JohnJ]

Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/10.0
Focal Length: 47 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

Here is another shot of Mt Raineer taken from a different location the day before. The shot has been cropped and some color correction was done in PSE7. I would appreciate any thoughts on this one.



Thanks, John

[JohnJ]

Kencaleno: I see what people meant by wanting the trees lighter. This and the change in the sky makes it a much better photo. Thanks.

[kencaleno]

Here's my workflow on Mount Ranier:

#1.Contrast Adjustment:

Image>Adjustments>Shadows/highlights-

Shadows-
Amount 50%
Tonal width 45%
Radius 44pxls

Highlights-
Amount 67%
Tonal width 65%
Radius 46pixels

#2. Tidy up:

Image>Adjustments>Auto levels
Ctrl+J
Image>Adjustments>Equalize
Blending mode-soft light(adjust opacity slider to taste)

#3. Color boost:

Ctrl+J
Image>Adjustments>Match color
Luminance...................119
Color Intensity..............126

#4. Sharpen:

Ctrl+J
Filter>Other>High pass- 4 pxls
Blending mode-Soft light

Flatten/save

Regards, Ken