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Peak District, Derbyshire
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Just returned from a 3 day landscape course at http://www.peakphotocentre.com which was needless to say a bit of a washout weatherwise. However the tutors were very knowledgeable and did their best to take us somewhere we could try out the techniques they were teaching us. I would recommend the course to anyone considering it, and if you got lucky with the weather, the Peak District is unreal for scenery. It is South East of Manchester, and runs down to Derby in the Midlands, and across to Sheffield in the N.E.
I only got a chance to process a couple yesterday in their Digital Imaging Studio (where everyone has a Mac to work on).
Ross these look very nice, especially the 3rd! I think the bad weather worked to your advantage there, and the stream was a bit more swollen than usual.
The processing is top notch, really well finished images. Would be interested to learn some new landscape photoshop tricks from you :D
17-40?
SteveD wrote:
Ross these look very nice, especially the 3rd! I think the bad weather worked to your advantage there, and the stream was a bit more swollen than usual.
The processing is top notch, really well finished images.
Ross I totally agree with Steve on these I think the 3rd one is a brilliant picture closely followed by No2.
The bad weather is horrible never mind having to travel to worse stuff but hopefully will see some more from your 3 days and that it wasn’t a total wash out.
SodaThanks for taking the time guys. As a relative beginner to landscapes I need encouragement and/or guidance… :oops:
One of the things I was taught was not to be scared of f22. In fact f22 was drummed into us. Set your camera to f22 and then manually focus on the nearest point of foreground interest for front to back sharpness. It certainly seemed to produce sharper images than I have managed previously. And we were encouraged to shoot JPEG, in order to force us to get the exposure right, rather than relying on RAW.
My sharpening for landscape was improved too I think – they recommended a higher radius than I would previously have used, namely 1.4 or thereabouts.Oops I meant to say the 2nd was my favourite! Hence the water comment.
Which sharpening technique did you use Ross?
That’s not bad weather! That’s how it is all the time.
These actually make me feel home sick for the place I grew up. Quintisential images of the area. If I had to put my money on it I’d say you where somewhere like the Goyt Valley just north of Buxton.
A very nice set Brandyman despite the weather. We should be glad that we have weather !!
I like the first one which is similar to something I tried a few months ago. I think the 3rd is my favourite
though. There’s something about that fallen trunk that really grabs my eye. Did you take any closer up to it.I would also be a strong believer in f22. There is no doubt that if you look at the MTF data on photodo that sharpness drops off from the mid aperture range. But I have never been able to detect any degredation at f22. Although you might actually get a sharper focus point at f11 say, you will lose sharpness in the foreground due to loss of depth of field. f22 equalises sharpness through the whole frame.
I always call f22 “the great equaliser”. I’d rather not risk loss of sharpness in the foreground because when viewing a photo that’s where most people start. If a tiny amount of sharpness is lost at the exact focus point then that’s no problem.
Andy
Nice set, Ross! The last is my fave. Great to see something other than the typical dry, sunny shot when everyone is out with their cameras – love the atmosphere in them.
On a general note, what kinda stuff did the course cover? Was it aimed at the beginner, or was it quite advanced? Always looked at courses like these, but wondered if I’d find it valuable or not….
Cheers,
Tim
Steve – yes these were the 17-40L which is a super lens for landscape. As for sharpening, it was good old USM, just with a higher radius than I personally would have considered appropriate. With portrait work I would use a very low radius like 0.3 with a higher amount, whereas with landscape a radius of 1.4 with a lesser amount seemed to work better.
rm – yes the Course is based in Buxton, and Goyt Valley rings a bell. Other quaint names like Paddly Gorge, High Wheeldon, Longnor, River Dove, etc will no doubt ring a bell with you? How could you leave a place like that – it was simply stunning, and full of villages and pubs which served fantastic food. :wink:
Andy – I think I am converted to f22! I have asked you on another thread how to keep rain drops off the lens in constant rain conditions.
Ross
Tim – I would recommend the course. There were some relative beginners, and I was probably the one with most camera experience. I think I got marked down as experienced from an early stage, and perhaps suffered from being left to my own devices more than others, but when I had a query the tutors were very quick to spend time with me to sort it out. The main things I wanted to learn were just focus technique, and how/where to position the camera and tripod in relation to foreground subjects. It surprised me how close one should really get with a wide angle lens…. :oops: Manfrotto tripods with a whole range of heads were freely available for experimenting.
I definitely had more photoshop knowledge than the others, but the tutors again took time out to show me more advanced techniques such as manual stitching of panoramas etc. Everyone gets a folder with a print out of camera technique, composition, etc etc, and a disk with photoshop tips and techniques.
Ross
brandyman wrote:
rm – yes the Course is based in Buxton, and Goyt Valley rings a bell. Other quaint names like Paddly Gorge, High Wheeldon, Longnor, River Dove, etc will no doubt ring a bell with you?
Yeh they’re mostly south of Buxton, you’re heading into different landscape from that pictured as you head out that way.
How could you leave a place like that
money, a career, women who aren’t related to half the village, basic amenaties like a shop you don’t half to drive half an hour too, dry weather (there’s an obvious joke here but I’ll let someone lese make it)…
– it was simply stunning, and full of villages and pubs which served fantastic food. :wink:
yeh wink would be right, unless you actually like Scampi and Chips or Lasangna in a basket.
Ross, that last image is simply stunning; deserves a thread of its own.
Very creative and beautifully executed image. Damn I’m seriously impressed.Rob.
Rob, cheers for that. Funny enough the tutor didnt really like it on the back of the camera when I took it. I think she didn’t see the ‘weed’ as of significant foreground interest, or maybe it was due to it moving in the wind. Either way, I liked it. :lol:
rm, I wasn’t joking about the food – pheasant breast with loads of fresh veg; Duck; Meat and veg pies etc It was very good, and very reasonable. But all the eateries were specifically recommended by the Photography course, so maybe they ensured we only went to the best places. :D
I like the last one too (of course I like the others too!)
One question I have on f22 is a simple one. I’ve been thought that lens diffraction on digital causes a loss of sharpness above f16, meaning that higher apertures like f22, while increasing DOF, are reducing overall sharpness in the image. Anyone care to comment? I’ve been an f22 user for years, but have tended towards f16 due to diffraction recently.
That’s what I thought too Sean, but in my case it was based on what others said rather than my own experience. Maybe it depends on lens and sensor size & quality issues, I dont know. But my tutor Fran Halsall used not only the same camera as me (5D) but the exaact same lenses – 17-40 f4L, 70-200 f4 L, and 100 2.8 macro. She swears by f22. And anything good enough for her is good enough for me….. :D
http://www.fran-halsall.co.uk/contents.htm
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