After lurking around this site for a couple of years I decided to join and share my photos. Looking for good feedback to improve my skills. For my first post I chose the wild flowers in Albion Basin. If you are going to be near Salt Lake in the next week or two you need to get up there to check out the color.
Canon 5D II
17-40 f4
Posted by John Mumaw on August 22, 2011 at 12:18 AM
Welcome!
This is a good start...nice field of flowers!
While your camera exposed for the flowers well, the mountains are slightly underexposed while the sky is slightly overexposed.
About the only way that your sensor can handle this large of a dynamic range correctly is to make several bracketed exposures and then blending them in your image editor during the postprocess phase. You can read a good tutorial on exposure blending here if you're interested in trying this technique.
Posted by Todd Caudle on August 22, 2011 at 10:14 AM
Welcome to the mostest awesomest photo forum in the known universe, Michael! Would I be correct in guessing that you used a flash to light the flowers here? It gives the flowers a very flat look, similar to shooting in cloudy or shaded conditions, but adds garish shadows behind each and every one. Also, Canon digital does a funky thing with flowers of this color, and I usually slide the color tone slider a click or two to the right in post-processing to make them more straight yellow instead of yellow-orange. And ditto all John's comments.
Posted by Mark Nobles on August 22, 2011 at 3:48 PM
Welcome aboard Michael. You're on the right track but I have to agree with both John and Todd's assessment. Listen to what they say and take advantage of the numerous tutorials available and keep shooting.
Mark
Posted by Lance Burch on August 22, 2011 at 4:03 PM
Welcome Michael. Definitely looks like it has the potential to be a cool scene.
John,
Thanks for posting the tutorial.
Posted by Lynn Scott on August 22, 2011 at 4:57 PM
Welcome and I would agree with Todd it is an awesome forum to join in and have some fun. Along with learning a ton from some talented photo guys!! Follow thier suggestions and you can't miss.
Welcome to RMNP, Michael--i look forward to seeing your pics!
Posted by Jack Garrett on August 23, 2011 at 9:35 PM
Welcome Michael! You've got a good composition here and ditto what John and Todd said earlier. When I started in this forum I knew nothing and now I know even less! Just kidding...these folks have boosted my ability to take good pictures a hundred fold. Hope to see more of your work in the future!
Discussion
7 repliesCanon 5D II
17-40 f4
This is a good start...nice field of flowers!
While your camera exposed for the flowers well, the mountains are slightly underexposed while the sky is slightly overexposed.
About the only way that your sensor can handle this large of a dynamic range correctly is to make several bracketed exposures and then blending them in your image editor during the postprocess phase. You can read a good tutorial on exposure blending here if you're interested in trying this technique.
Mark
John,
Thanks for posting the tutorial.