Help needed for beginner

[gsgary]

Took this one tonight shutter 1/125 F 3.1 iso 400
http://gsgary.smugmug.com/photos/19349805-S.jpg


This one there were some lovely colours in the sky but not in the photo shutter 1/160 F 3.6 iso 400

http://gsgary.smugmug.com/photos/19349809-S.jpg

both dark forground what have i done wrong, both taken about 15 minutes after the sun went down
Regards
Gary

[gus]

No pics....i'm just seeing red X's. But im getting that a lot of late though.

[Shay Stephens]

It's called dynamic range. When there is too much of it, something has to give. In this case, the shadows are what was sacrificed to try and get detail in the sky.

Solution, use a graduated neutral density filter to darken the sky, but leave the ground as bright as it can get. That brings the dynamic range into the realm the camera can deal with.

You can also achieve the same thing by taking two shots from a tripod, one exposed for the sky, and one for the ground. Combine the two shots together in your image editor to get the best from both exposures. The technique is called exposure blending. You can read more about it here:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/blended_exposures.shtml

[gsgary]

Thanks Shay

I will go and see what the local camera shop has got in the way of filters
Regards
Gary

[Angelo]

It's called dynamic range. When there is too much of it, something has to give. In this case, the shadows are what was sacrificed to try and get detail in the sky.

Solution, use a graduated neutral density filter to darken the sky, but leave the ground as bright as it can get. That brings the dynamic range into the realm the camera can deal with.

You can also achieve the same thing by taking two shots from a tripod, one exposed for the sky, and one for the ground. Combine the two shots together in your image editor to get the best from both exposures. The technique is called exposure blending. You can read more about it here:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/blended_exposures.shtml
Is there any doubt why this guy earned his "artist" smiley? I'm thinking he also deserves a new "professor" smiley.