sunrise

[subneural]

I'd appreciate comments on this one. It comes straight off the camera with no post processing whatsoever. I find it hard to hit the exposure balance when dealing with extreme light & dark in the same frame.

http://www.subneural.com/index.php?showimage=20

I'll probably try experimenting with curves to see if I can improve it. I did make (at least) one mistake when taking the photo - I left the camera set to ISO 400 :(

[davenewt]

At this size, you don't notice much (any) noise from the ISO 400 setting, so I wouldn't worry about that. As for exposing, you could try exposing for the sky first - take a shot - then expose for the ground - take another shot. Blend the two in Photoshop, for example.

A quick google search gives one tutorial page out there -here- (http://www.prime-junta.net/pont/How_to/m_Mastering_Wide-Angle/m_Mastering_Wide-Angle.html?page=5) but there's plenty more around if you do some digging! Just a case of experimenting! Not tried this technique myself yet. Just getting started, like you :)

Keep at it!

Take it easy,
Dave.

[davenewt]

Hey, one other thing... I notice the images on your site are quite big (in terms of file size). Are you saving as JPG with Max quality? (12 in Photoshop)?

e.g. this one (http://www.subneural.com/images/20051231221320_dsc_0818s.jpg) is 484kb. I just opened in Photoshop, saved out at 8 quality from PS instead of 12, and got it down to 100k with no discernable difference in the image. Would save you some bandwidth - just pointing it out, should it be of any help to you!

Don't flame me if you don't care :)

Take it easy,
Dave.

[subneural]

Hey Dave,

Thanks for the link on blending techniques. It's something that I want to try but currently lack the experience in :)

I've also taken your suggestion to cut down on the quality of the saves in PS to an 8. I've re-uploaded all my images with the smaller size, so hopefully they'll load faster!

Take care,
Marc

[davenewt]

Cool, no worries.

Take it easy,
Dave.

[jkn]

It's a nice shot. I'm not sure I could improve it (since I lack the experience to help with the light/dark question) I like the tree - although maybe more of it would be have been nice? Eh - maybe not.

Warm winters... so unbelievably warm. It's raining here this morning. It was nearly 60 degrees fahrenheit the other day... yikes. We're down below 10 often in January - or hitting below 0. I'm much further south than you are (middle of Illinois...) but wow - this is just ridiculously warm. I keep waiting for a big winter storm - but I think mother nature's going to hold back and just pummel us come spring storm season!