Garden of the Gods & Introduction

Hello.

I am a VERY amateur nature photographer, and have lurked here for a few days, and decided to jump in with both feet, and get some honest C&C on a shoot I did this last week-end at Garden of the Gods at sunset.

A little about me/Introduction: I started a few years ago in the DSLR world with a Canon 10D while I was in the USAF stationed in Guam. I learned a lot, and eventually grew into a 20D, then 40D, and recently upgraded to a 5D Mark II. I have read a lot, and am constantly learning new things. In my camera bag is a Canon 40D, 5DII, 24-70 2.8L, 70-200 F4L, 100 Macro, 24-105 F4L, and a 1.x converter. I am also a heavy Mac user, and prefer Apple Aperture, NIK Software Tools, and other Mac tools for PP.

I am in Parker, CO. 43, and married with 3 daughters, and am very interested in tagging along for local shoots, and getting to meet some of you here. I have a flexible schedule, and been to RMNP, Mount Evans, Garden of the Gods, etc -- but mainly just shooting the Tourist locations.... need to expand my locations :)

This was my first outing with the 5D Mk II -- and I still have a lot to get used to with this camera -- but I am in Love with the Full Frame -- I have thick skin, and really desire honest feedback so I can improve my skills.

Nothing like jumping into the deep end of the pool -- Fire away :)

I got a few other shots that can be seen here: http://vanphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/7187358_q6xTr/1/461505936_z3g7x

Dave

Welcome, Dave!

I think you will learn a lot around here as there are some tremendously talented photographers here (and NPN in general). I looked at your shots on smugmug and the first thing that strikes me is that they all appear a bit on the dark side ( Star Wars pun not intended ). Is your monitor calibrated? It might be running too bright which would make your images look a bit dark on a calibrated display. Also, are you shooting RAW? If so, you should be able to open up those shadows a bit in your raw processor.

Anyway, welcome to the forum!

I agree with Phillip. However, there is a chance that the shadows were simply to dark here, and they will not look very nice if you brighten them. In this situation, I would have taken a couple of exposures and blended them in PS.

I do like the composition and the light here. Thanks for posting.

Phillip,

I noticed that when I uploaded from work -- The images definitely look lighter on the home screen which is a 24" iMac -- I will try and calibrate it tonight.

Yes I shoot in RAW -- almost exclusively

Thanks

Dave Van

Welcome to the forum, Dave! It's a great place to learn and to meet some great people.

I like the composition of your image. Very unique angle on GoTG. I think Phillip and Momo have made some excellent suggestions to improve this image.

Looking forward to your participation in the forums!

Dave,

First of all, welcome. I recently joined myself and couldn't be happier to be a member here. I like the shot...GOG is an awesome place to shoot! If you're wanting honesty, I would say that there isn't particularly anything in the image that catches my eye. It looks like the left rock slab on its south-facing ridge has three trees on it...this looks like it could have made for an interesting subject/composition. Overall, the image looks good. Again, welcome!

Justin,

Thanks for the welcome, I have seen some of your work here, and was impressed. On Sunday it was a terrible Grey and cold day, so I did some PP and re-read Scott Kelby's books on Photography. One of the things that he stated was that in order to have a good landscape shot you need a subject, a foregrond and a background -- your right, I am missing a subject/foreground element.

Dave

Welcome, Dave, congrats on the new toy!

Great evening light on the rocks, but I agree the deep shadows detract from the image foreground interest. Have you tried anything to open them up in post processing? You should have quite a bit of latitudue with a raw file from the 5D2. If you already have, then I agree with Momo that this might require blending multiple exposures.

If you are looking for a trip, you might consider taging along on the Mayflower snowshoe at the end of this month.
http://www.npcolorado.net/forums/showthread.php?t=616

I am also on a 24" iMac and I have had some problems with the brightness of the display and the lack of controls provided by Apple. You might want to see this thread.

Welcome aboard, Dave!

Welcome to the group! Over the years that I have been a member of this very fine collection of great photographers and people, I have come to learn that no matter how much you know about something, there's always something left to be learned. Also over the years the people of this group have helped me in many ways in becoming the photographer I had hoped to be. I hope you find this true for you and make some great friends along the way!

Justin,

Thanks for the welcome, I have seen some of your work here, and was impressed. On Sunday it was a terrible Grey and cold day, so I did some PP and re-read Scott Kelby's books on Photography. One of the things that he stated was that in order to have a good landscape shot you need a subject, a foregrond and a background -- your right, I am missing a subject/foreground element.

Dave

Welcome aboard, Dave! Compositionally, I like this shot. The repeating verticals in the rocks and trees is quite eye catching. I also like the soft light on the trees. I would like to see a bit more detail in the foreground area. Maybe the shadow/highlight tool, or a double raw process would help you there. To me, the sky color is off. Maybe a bit too much cyan. I look forward to seeing more of your work.
Also, if you have a look at the text style menu, you'll see how to embed a hyperlink -
http://vanphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/7187358_q6xTr/1/461505936_z3g7x

Hi Dave, welcome aboard! That's a nice shot of the Gods, i like the way you laid out the bg features. Ive been the the Garden a few dozen times and i still don't know the names of those formations-- i really should learn them! The sky color looks pretty good to me, maybe a touch cyan. I think a "good landscape" doesnt require a strong fg and bg, it depends on the subject. Here, if you had a strong fg object i think it might compete with the broad bg here and make it look too busy. Personally, id crop the extreme fg here so that the evergreens all line up like hills. The GoG has been shot so many times from so many angles that i think the most effective shots are either very unusual comps, or very unusual conditions. I might head up there tommorow if they can get enough snow this eve (not looking too good right now)

Folks,

Thanks for the warm welcome, and advice!

I ran SpyderPro2 on my iMac and it did a great job of color calibrating my iMac screen -- Phillip, I also read your thread on the brightness of the iMac and will try the screen shade, but it seems just turning down the brightness before the calibration made a big difference. (I have a 30" Cinema Display at work -- will look at it tomorrow, before I adjust brightness again (May have to bring the Cinema display home to "test" hee hee)

So with the new calibrations I started over on my PP -- and the link below is the second effort. (Thanks Paul for the lesson in embedding links).

http://vanphoto.smugmug.com/photos/462547469_kxKQn-X3.jpg

BTW: One thing I left out of my profile -- I was a meteorologist for 23 years in the Air Force, and currently run a weather software visualization company https://weather.meteostar.com -- So I can contribute to the pre-planning forecast before shoots :) -- Although my "mountain forecasting skills need work.

Welcome to the fold, Dave! This is a great community and I know that I've learned a lot in my little over a year of membership. I really like the improvements you've made on your rework. Opening up the shadows has made a world of difference, IMO.

I like the rework. Having more detail in the not-so-dark shadows really helps I think.

Welcome Dave! I'm sure you'll enjoy the associations here. I'm retired Navy. Between military and meteorologists, you'll find plenty of company here!

Welcome, Dave! Thanks for jumping in! I'll add my two cents - I think the re-worked image looks better, but I'd be tempted to crop quite a bit off the left and some off the right to tighten in on the main rocks. The empty sides don't seem to add much to the main image.
Looks like you got a pretty good shot for what could be a difficult exposure with the shadows in the fg and bright skies.
I'm in Highlands Ranch - we'll have to try to connect sometime soon and head out together.

Hello Dave! Welcome. Your second post is an improvement, but I would find something in between the two versions - technically speaking. But keep exploring and shooting around the GoG. Building up a familiarity with the area can only lead to far more compelling compositions.