Camera Labs

No, not Dartmoor Zoo for a change. This is proper Dartmoor. With ponies, sheep and rain! I was well equipped, with non waterproof footwear that had no grip on wet grass or rocks that at one point I slipped into a pile of wild pony poo. Lovely.

I did get a "what am I doing" thought for... about 80% of the time I was there, but tried to make the most of it regardless.

Anyway, my main objective on that day was to have a go at landscapes, which is a traditionally weak area for me. I can't get what my eyes see into what the camera outputs.


Burrator Reservoir by Crestie Crazy, on Flickr

EXIF has been eaten by all the processing, but in short it was 5D2, 35mm f/2 at f/8, ISO100 1/500s. My first mistake at the time was trying to use only 24mm, which while wide, I just couldn't compose with. Every subject just became too small. I saw things perk up a bit when I went up to 35mm here.

So here is my crappy attempt at landscape, based on what I've seen others do.

Part 1: have lots of stuff in focus practicably to my feet - check.
Part 2: have something kinda interesting in foreground. Those rocks to the right will do there. It's actually part of Leather Tor I think...
Part 3: have something kinda interesting in background. The reservoir and surrounding will do there.
And the sky didn't totally suck either.

In the comfort of my home I'm thinking maybe I should have taken a few steps to the left to separate the reservoir from the rocks. Would me getting lower down to bring the foreground even closer help this or not?

Yes, this is HDR. I wish I remembered to bring the GND, but I didn't. Without HDR, I have have a nice sky dark foreground, or nice foreground white sky. As a single RAW HDR, the noise is rather chronic but not too visible at this scale (pixel peep the background trees). Oh, if I wasn't totally lazy I probably should have taken a tripod too.

Any constructive criticism welcome. If I hadn't already submitted into this month's challenge I might have put this in instead...

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Nice one Popo, it's got all, vertical and diagonal lines, and curves of the water.

Cheers

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Nikon D7000, D40X, Nikkor 18- 200 VR II, f3.5-5.6, 70-300 AF non VR, Kit Lenses.

I love it. I know I still have a long way to go and you have a lot more over me in photography but I'll give you my thoughts. Your fore-ground elements are beautiful and great color contrast, the sky is wonderful and gives the picture amazing depth. Something is missing across the middle. I don't know what that might be though I don't know if the color in the front takes away from the middle? Hope that helps. Oh, by the way, Keens! Those are the only shoes I wear, just in case you need something with a little more grip before your next outing and poo resistant Just saying...

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Mike "The Squirrel"
Canon 550D | Canon EF 35mm 1:2 | Canon 50 f/1.8 II | Sigma 18-125mm DC OS | Tamron SP 70-300mm Di VC USD | Canon 430EX II
Military Issued Canon 40D | Canon 55-250mm IS

I agree with Mike - I feel like the centre is lacking color and pop when compared to to the foreground and the sky. Perhaps upping the contrast and saturation a little in the section would help. I also feel that while the rocks to the right are really really nice, there is just too much foreground. Having said that, I really love the exposure of the foreground, despite the fact there is too much of it.

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Trevor Harris

Nikon D200
SB-600
YN-560 II
YN RF 603 x 4
Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8
Nikon 50mm f/1.8