Join Now
Join ePHOTOzine, the friendliest photography community.
Upload photos, chat with photographers, win prizes and much more for free!
I headed to Ashness Gate on Derwent Water on the evening of the solstice as I knew it faced right into the setting sun. I wasn't disappointed either as it was a beautiful sunset, a fitting end to the longest day 
I'll include a screen grab of the RAW file in Capture One so you can see exactly how much (or little) processing I've done and also the camera setting and what grads I used. I'm going to do this on all future uploads as I think it's time someone demonstrated to the beginners on the site that with a little perseverance it is possible to get images right in camera, without the need for lots of post processing.
Thanks for taking the time to look and LARGE might be worth a little peak if you got this far
Den
| Title: | Solstice Fire |
| Username: | 
Dennis_Bromage |
| Uploaded: | 28 Jun 2010 - 5:29 PM |
| Camera: | Canon EOS 5D MkII |
| Lens: | 17-40mm F4 L |
| Recording media: | RAW (digital) |
| Tags: | Landscape / travel |
| Votes: | 51 |
 | Variant - Before and After |
Comments
A very beautiful image Dennis. I'm not sure a real beginner would be able to entirely interpret your V2, but it's a good idea I'm sure. (I have to say in the screen grab of capture one the image seems to have slightly more punch than V1)
Its a superb image thats very pleasing to the eye Den. I know you don't overcook ya stuff and this is a prime example of your skills.
I for one will look forward to seeing these before/after jobby's and I am also keen to know how you find capture one.
Very appealing and sellable if I may say so.
Ian
Thanks guys. V2 does certainly look more saturated. Strange as the only thing I did once I exported from Capture One was dust bust in Photoshop. I think it's probably a combination of the smaller size and the 'print for screen' grab screwing around with the colour profile. You get the idea anyway
If you're a beginner and it doesn't make sense and you are interested please feel free to ask me questions
Den
Thanks Ian/Colin. I'll try a print tomorrow but interestingly in my experience prints like this don't sell that well as most people want something a bit more relaxing hanging on the wall
Superb image, and the second grab is a superb idea. I am not familiar with Capture One, I tend to use adobe camera raw, which comes as standard in CS4 etc. (I'm very sure you knew that) Do you feel capture one processes better...Anyway off for a run, see you about.
Jerry
Quote: Superb image, and the second grab is a superb idea. I am not familiar with Capture One, I tend to use adobe camera raw, which comes as standard in CS4 etc. (I'm very sure you knew that) Do you feel capture one processes better
Hi Jerry. I don't want to sound like an advert for Capture One and the only reason I showed it in V2 is that it's what I use. Having said that I do prefer it to Lightroom or Adobe Camera RAW. The main reason is that you have proper levels & curves controls which are what I use to do 90% of my adjustments and it's nice to do these bigger (relatively speaking) adjustments at the RAW stage rather than later in Photoshop.
If you use Lightroom or Adobe Camera RAW you can get an almost identical result by adding the 5% saturation and slight highlight recovery in these programs then either do the curves tweak in Photoshop afterwards or play with the contrast and vibrancy slides to get a similar result at the RAW stage.
I nearly went here after taking the boats, but felt I already had enough cliches for the night 
As one who does most of the work in camera (most of my stuff takes about 3 mins to process) glad to see the same approach. A great idea for the screen grab for helping beginners too
Quote: A great idea and help with v2, just wish i could afford a reverse grad.
v1 is a cracker.lesley
Hi Tech make them now. Can't vouch for how good they are but they are a fraction of the price and from what I've seen from people on my workshops their standard grads don't look to bad.
This is very nice Den, the clouds lead very nicely to that fantastic sunset.
Hope you don't mind me adding some advice here Den,
One idea if people don't have a reverse grad is to use a second grad from the bottom to overlap the top grad slightly, you will need to increase the exposure for the foreground, however the overlap will still help to deal with the brightness.
Eli
Tranquil image Den, like the way you've kept the posts in the light area of the water.
Quote: Hope you don't mind me adding some advice here Den,
One idea if people don't have a reverse grad is to use a second grad from the bottom to overlap the top grad slightly, you will need to increase the exposure for the foreground, however the overlap will still help to deal with the brightness
Thanks Eli. Good point, you could do that using a 1 stop hard grad and is some cases it can work well but here because I'm already using 2 filters it would mean adding a 3rd which is quite a lot and it's also getting very complicated.
I only used the reverse grad because I have one. If I didn't I'd have used 2 standard hard grads and lived with the top of the sky being a touch darker.
For reference Hi-Tech now make Reverse Grads so there is an alternative to the silly Singh Ray prices. I don't have any Hi-Tech filters myself but from what I've seen from clients on my workshops they seem okay. They show a slight colour cast at the higher strengths or if you stack say a 3 stop ND and 2 stop grad but if you used their 2 stop reverse grad on its own or stacked with Lee filters I don't think you would see too many problems. The Singh Ray's aren't perfect anyway and certainly aren't as good as Lee's so the Hi-Tech's have got to be worth a go???
Quote: Quote:Thanks Eli. Good point, you could do that using a 1 stop hard grad and is some cases it can work well but here because I'm already using 2 filters it would mean adding a 3rd which is quite a lot and it's also getting very complicated.
The advice wasn't aimed at you Den, as you quite rightly point out a 3rd filter in your case would not work for various reasons, ( good to point out though). It was more in response to Lesley, as another option to test.
The Hi-tech filter does look like a good affordable option, I have used their grads with very good results.
Eli
Add a Comment
ePHOTOzine, the web's friendliest photography community.
Upload photos, chat with photographers, win prizes and much more.
Got A Photo You Want To Share?
Login or Join Now
New to ePHOTOzine? Join ePHOTOzine for free!
Related Content
Join Our Free Newsletter
Awards
Current Competitions
foliopic 'Movement' Competition
1st May 2012 - 31st May 2012
This month's competition theme is 'Movement' which can be interpreted in a number of ways. You could photograph an animal running, a person walking or a car speeding...Featured e2 Photo
Featured Directory Listing
May's Photo Month
Check out ePHOTOzine's inspirational photo month calendar! Each day click on a window to unveil new photography tips, treats and techniques.
Interact
Photography Gallery Photography Forums Recent Forum Activity Members' Meetings Members' BlogsSearch ePHOTOzine
Having trouble or would like to make a suggestion? Create a report
Calibrate your monitor so you can see 16 different shades.
ePHOTOzine © 2001 - 2012 Magezine Publishing | Contact Us | Site Map | Top