When I'm Not Shooting Cars... Newport Beach Sunset
 

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2774/...0991a710_b.jpg

C&C Welcomed :)

:eek: That's a sick shot!!! Very nice.....I wish I could take pics like that :(

Thanks.

Landscape photography stuff like this has alot to do with luck as well. You have no control over where the clouds are and the type of clouds. Unless you live across the street from the street, it is really a hit or miss.

great picture! good job

Don't like it too much cuz its kinda flat and boring. The color is nice but theres no main focus.

Nice pic! Colors in it are fantastic! Could you shed a little info on camera used and maybe your settings? :thumbup:

Judging from your auto pics, I feel I don't have the authority to give you C&C. I don't mean to nuthug, but again, I must say that your watermark- "the perfect exposure" really does your images justice.

Great reflection shot. I'm sure it would be even more spectacular if the weather worked out and had been more menacing.

Thanks.



1. I shot in it Manual Exposure and in RAW mode with a tripod just to be safe since it was getting dark really quick.

2. To the best of my memory, I underexposed by 1/3 or so stop just because it was a pretty dimly lit scene. Not a big deal since I am shooting in digital and in RAW mode. Just look at the histogram and re-shoot accordingly if necessary. Should the exposure be off still by the time I get home, I still have leeway during the converting the RAW files.

3. No fancy Graduated Neutral Density filters were used. I can't afford a set at the moment and it is not necessary for the shot. The foreground is uninteresting so it doesn't need to be properly exposed.

4. Here are the EXIF:

Exposure: 0.04 sec (1/25) (Any slower would make the waves blurry due to motion but the waves were far away so this isn't an issue)

Aperture: f/5.6 (Ideally, for landscape photography, smaller apertures such as 8.0 or higher is preferred for a deeper depth of field. Moreover, most lens' sweet spot for image quality / sharpness starts is roughly at about f/5.6 or smaller. The best lenses, can be almost as good wide open at f/2.8 as it is closed down to f/8. For this image f/5.6 worked best as it allowed me to have a fast enough shutter speed and a decent ISO as well. Not much focus in the picture other than the colorful sky)

Focal Length: 12 mm

ISO Speed: 200 (Lowest possible for lowest noise. This is critical since it was getting dark so a lot of shadow areas at higher ISO equals a lot of noise)

5. RAW Conversion Process. According to the histogram, the exposure is good so I left the it unchanged. One thing I did that was pretty unorthodox for shooting sunsets is that I chose a really cool color temperature of 5000k for this particular sunset. Usually, what most people do is that they intensify the red glow by using higher kelvin number like 7000k or even 8000k for white balance. The old-school pros would use colored filters for the similar effect.

I chose 5000k because only at such number allowed me to keep the blues in the skies. The reds are already as fiery as it is so I did not need to make it any warmer.

Last but not least. I bumped up the saturation and contrast more that I usually do with daylight because shots at dusk or dawn gets a little more washed out, lacking contrast, than during the day. Hope that helps :)

Thanks for the kind words. I think my niche is event photography, especially with motorsports stuff. But for everything else, I think I am as green as most on here :)

Landscape photography will be next pursuit once I am financially established and have time to travel allover. Its tough to be the jack of all trades since covering events can get really hectic at certain times of the year. It seriously feels that I am at some sort of meet, show, or race every other week throughout the year.

Nice shot man! I love the location and colors of the sky :icon38:

Is this a bad thing? ;)

I tried landscape stuff a few years ago, after reading about it and seeing some awe-inspiring stuff. Yes, it seems like it truly is luck... or persistence in getting the skies that you want, which is usually a dark, stormy look.

Besides luck and persistence though, I think the biggest thing in getting that "sky" will be GUTS. All of the pros talk about tracking weather and waiting right before a storm, and it'll mean probably getting your equipment wet.

Also, just dabbling in some landscape stuff made me rethink about my 055xprob Manfrotto, and trading that in for some Carbon legs from Manfrotto. My gear was weighing on me just getting to a beach. I can imagine finding some remote area going hiking.

Good luck and looking forward to seeing your future attempts.

Love the idea, but I think it could have been executed better with multiple exposures, or maybe even a graduated ND. The symetric composition works for the shot, however it would be great if there was a solid subject as mentioned previously.