Beach Road Dunbar

[GaryMoffat]

This was taken on my second trip out with my camera.

I was keen to find out what was round the corner and go inspired...

The picture was taken on the beach are at Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland.



Comments most welcome.

[neilwood]

I like it.

The road and wall combine to draw your eye into the picture and theres just enough interest in the horizon to keep it interesting

Good location well shot imho.

[windrider86]

I like the way you filled the frame with the road at the front and led the viewer off. Makes you wonder where it leads

[ELAY]

I like the dramatic sky, and the interesting colour combininations and contrasts, especially on the left side where you have blue sky meeting those orange-red rocks.

Two thoughts.

First, relates to perspective. I wonder what 1) a variation with you shooting from a lower perspective, and tilting the sky/land balance toward sky and 2) a variation with you moving to your right a bit and shooting so that the left edge of the road is more centred (giving you a bit more blue sky, sea and red rock), might look like. When shooting landscapes, it can be useful to take a number of perspectives.

Second, the clouds are a wee bit blown at the top of the frame. I am not somebody who thinks that blown highlights ruin a photo, but it is something to be aware of. I suspect that the cost of getting some detail in road and wall was a bit of blown highlight, and if so the tradeoff is the right one in my view. It's a bit more work, but if blown highlights bug you, then you can try taking a shot exposed for the sky, and then brightening up your land in post, or you can consider exposing the shot twice, once for the sky and once for the land, and then combining them in post-processing with a mask. If you are interested, I can point you to a tutorial or two.

EL

[GaryMoffat]

Thanks for the comments.

ELAY "If you are interested, I can point you to a tutorial or two."

Yes please that would be very kind. (I am still getting to grips with PS and photography).

I will also try and put some of the tips you have mentioned into my next outing and try bracketing some shots for different exposures.

I have seen mention of using ND and polarising filters etc, would these help or would I only be bring more confusing in?

Regards,

Gary.

[ELAY]

I don't think polarizing filters help particularly with differential exposures -- they are very nice for cutting down glare and getting nice blue skies, but won't make much difference re the sky/land exposure problem.

Graduated neutral density filters can help. They work kind of like the tinting at the top of my windshield -- dark at the top to let less light through, and an area in the middle of transition. As the transition on the filter is linear, you kind of want a linear horizon though -- might not work all that well with your shot, since you have that wall rising mid-frame.

With digital though, you can make your own grad ND filter in post-processing. you can do it with two different photos, exposed differently, like this or this. You will need to use a tripod though to get best results here, so the photos are identical.

You can do it with a single shot too. Just process the shot twice, once for your sky and once for your land, and then go through the process outlined above as though they were separate exposures (best to use RAW for this, as it gives you a better range of potential exposures for your shot).

If you haven't worked with layers or layer masks yet, this is an excellent way to get comfortable.

EL

[pcarfan]

Gary I like this shot, I like the colors and the composition. Having read Elay's comment I can see how improving the blownout area in the sky could make it better. Irrespective of that, learning layering and masking will indeed be a great idea as it increses the effective dynamic range possible.

Was the shot taken with your 18-55, and was the shot at 18mm ?

How do you like the K10? is this your first DSLR ?

Thanks.

[GaryMoffat]

The K10D is my first ever camera!

It was recommended by a friend who is a very good photographer. (http://www.pbase.com/mcbrian)

I have only been taking pictures with it for two weekends now and reading up on photography between times as well as learning Photoshop and Lightroom.

I used to use Photoshop 5 some years ago when I did some graphics work in conjunction with Lightwave 3D on the Amiga 4000 Probably 10+ years ago now.

I decided I wanted to do something creative and constructive and combine my enjoyment with graphics, photography and Photoshop meets both these and I am now on a very enjoyable learning curve.

Regards,

Gary.