Red Barn and Snow

Thelensspot · February 22, 2015

We've just had some fresh snow here so Friday I went driving around looking for a red barn in a field of snow. The temperature was 2 degrees with windchill -12. I took a lot of different shots along Route 11 near were I live in SW Virginia. After only a few minutes outside it was hard to feel the buttons on the camera. I use a Nikon D90 DX. I am using the Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 lens. This was the shot I liked the most.

Cornflake · February 22, 2015

Nice one!

Thelensspot · February 22, 2015

Cornflake wrote: »

Nice one!

Thanks Don.

Stumblebum · February 23, 2015

Sweet!

Thelensspot · February 23, 2015

Stumblebum wrote: »

Sweet!

Stumblebum, Thank you. It means a lot to get this from people who post some awesome shots here.
Here's another that I thought was sort of interesting given the various items in the shot...
a gazebo, street light and a barn with a rather unique design on it.

And this caught my eye as I drove by a restaurant. It was parked behind the building so I turned around and went back to shoot it.

And one more...an HDR shot I took from a local state park using a Tiffen variable ND filter which I'm still trying to learn to use.

Stumblebum · February 23, 2015

Hi Wayne, kind words....have not earned it, but I am sure as hell trying.
My best feedback would be that in your second series, the first shot is nice, and works, but my own personal eccentricities say it would be nice if the tree on the right was no obscuring the beautiful barn with unique window, and the pagoda type thing in front was not over laying the one further back. Small issue.
Truck rocks, but your shadows have strong blue cast. If intentional, its cool, it is still works.
Last one is too busy, with no focal point, and you will not see benefit of ND filter for most part, unless there is defined motion of either water, fog, clouds, leaves etc. Those elements make it dramatic.
Use of that filter is EASY.
First get the shot without the filter and check the histo and make sure you like it and then check what the shutter is.
For my own sake lets pretend it is 1 second.
Now get out of auto-focus, and go to manual mode so you don't lose it, if you are in low light.
Put the filter on and choose the f-stop you want to be at.
Let us say you chose f-4.
Then formula is 2 raised to power 4, which is 16.
Since your original shutter was 1-second, now expose it for 16 seconds.
When you do super long exposures, such as 5 minutes and above, constant light is the key, otherwise your calculation won't hold.
So if you are shooting pre-dawn, light will be getting brighter as exposure goes on, so you have to guesstimate some and if you calculated 10 minutes, try 8 minutes.
If you are doing after sunset, it is getting darker and you have to pad.
Wide angle lens doesn't do well for long exposures so avoid it.
Aiming at pointed light source for long exposure is also a bad idea.
Try try try and some will come out nice.
If people tell you glassy pond or river or ocean doesn't make them happy....thank them....and carry on!
Cheers!

Thelensspot · February 23, 2015

Stumblebum wrote: »

Hi Wayne, kind words....have not earned it, but I am sure as hell trying.
My best feedback would be that in your second series, the first shot is nice, and works, but my own personal eccentricities say it would be nice if the tree on the right was no obscuring the beautiful barn with unique window, and the pagoda type thing in front was not over laying the one further back. Small issue.
Truck rocks, but your shadows have strong blue cast. If intentional, its cool, it is still works.
Last one is too busy, with no focal point, and you will not see benefit of ND filter for most part, unless there is defined motion of either water, fog, clouds, leaves etc. Those elements make it dramatic.
Use of that filter is EASY.
First get the shot without the filter and check the histo and make sure you like it and then check what the shutter is.
For my own sake lets pretend it is 1 second.
Now get out of auto-focus, and go to manual mode so you don't lose it, if you are in low light.
Put the filter on and choose the f-stop you want to be at.
Let us say you chose f-4.
Then formula is 2 raised to power 4, which is 16.
Since your original shutter was 1-second, now expose it for 16 seconds.
When you do super long exposures, such as 5 minutes and above, constant light is the key, otherwise your calculation won't hold.
So if you are shooting pre-dawn, light will be getting brighter as exposure goes on, so you have to guesstimate some and if you calculated 10 minutes, try 8 minutes.
If you are doing after sunset, it is getting darker and you have to pad.
Wide angle lens doesn't do well for long exposures so avoid it.
Aiming at pointed light source for long exposure is also a bad idea.
Try try try and some will come out nice.
If people tell you glassy pond or river or ocean doesn't make them happy....thank them....and carry on!
Cheers!

Stumblebum, this is GREAT input. I'll have to say that on the gazebo/barn shot I was VERY limited as to where I could stand beside the fence along the road to take the shot (didn't venture onto the property itself) due to snow drifts that day so I settled on this angle rather than not get it at all. The tree does block the barn emblem quite nicely.
On the truck's blue shade I did set it at a cool temperature on white balance as I thought it would make the shot look "colder". As you note, probably over did the cold bit.

Your advice on the ND filter is exactly the advice I have been searching for on the settings. I took all the shots in manual mode. I primarily checked the exposure meter and resulting histogram on the "filter off" shot to start. After putting the filter back on is where I got a little lost on shutter setting. I settled on f/8 as the aperture mode and had the ISO at 250. Your formula makes perfect sense and will keep that with me for the next shoot.
Thanks for taking the time to look at the shots and comment.

I really need the help.

Stumblebum · February 23, 2015

Thelensspot wrote: »

Stumblebum, this is GREAT input. I'll have to say that on the gazebo/barn shot I was VERY limited as to where I could stand beside the fence along the road to take the shot (didn't venture onto the property itself) due to snow drifts that day so I settled on this angle rather than not get it at all. The tree does block the barn emblem quite nicely.
On the truck's blue shade I did set it at a cool temperature on white balance as I thought it would make the shot look "colder". As you note, probably over did the cold bit.
Your advice on the ND filter is exactly the advice I have been searching for on the settings. I took all the shots in manual mode. I primarily checked the exposure meter and resulting histogram on the "filter off" shot to start. After putting the filter back on is where I got a little lost on shutter setting. I settled on f/8 as the aperture mode and had the ISO at 250. Your formula makes perfect sense and will keep that with me for the next shoot.
Thanks for taking the time to look at the shots and comment. I really need the help.

If you are using tripod, ISO should stay at 100 or lowest.
Only when you are running of time/patience/light, should you crank up the ISO.
If shooting landscapes, unless you really want to isolate one subject from rest and want rest of it soft, stay in f-16 to f-20 at that is where your lens will be sharpest and everything will be in focus.
When you go from manual to bulb, the aperture setting should be same as what you used to calculate exposure in manual mode.
Shoot and post some!
Cheers!

Thelensspot · February 23, 2015

Stumblebum wrote: »

If you are using tripod, ISO should stay at 100 or lowest.
Only when you are running of time/patience/light, should you crank up the ISO.
If shooting landscapes, unless you really want to isolate one subject from rest and want rest of it soft, stay in f-16 to f-20 at that is where your lens will be sharpest and everything will be in focus.
When you go from manual to bulb, the aperture setting should be same as what you used to calculate exposure in manual mode.
Shoot and post some!
Cheers!

I'm writing this all down as fast as I can!
Thanks again!

JC · February 25, 2015

You are getting a lot of halos and rims from your processing, it looks like you are relying too much on local contrast enhancement or quick and dirty exposure blending, referring to your first two landscapes, not the obvious tone mapped images. (I'm not against exposure blending, I'll do it myself to get my camera to see what my eye can see, but you need to pay attention to your high contrast edges).

Thelensspot · February 25, 2015

JC wrote: »

You are getting a lot of halos and rims from your processing, it looks like you are relying too much on local contrast enhancement or quick and dirty exposure blending, referring to your first two landscapes, not the obvious tone mapped images. (I'm not against exposure blending, I'll do it myself to get my camera to see what my eye can see, but you need to pay attention to your high contrast edges).

JC, that's a good point and I am working on processing the images with a little softer edge.
A Topaz adjustment was used on the ones you mentioned. I appreciate you taking the time to comment. I really admire the images you are posting on several of the threads.

Thelensspot · February 25, 2015

For Stumblebum, I went back to the site of the initial shot of the gazebo, street light and "designer" barn early this morning and tried to find a perspective that might element the tree. It turns out I had to walk forty or fifty yards along a fence bordering the property before I could get a shot that seemed to capture the elements of the previous shot. This is processed to try to accentuate the wood on the barn.

JC, I don't think I've solved the problems you mentioned in this shot (as of yet) but this is coming from a guy who just started using Photoshop this week. I have previously worked with PSE/Lightroom and decided to make the jump to Photoshop.

So here's the shot redone earlier today. Cropping critiques and comments in general are welcomed.

Thelensspot · February 25, 2015

Also another shot taken at the same site as the original post...red barn. This is a merged composite of six shots.

Stumblebum · February 25, 2015

Last one is the winner for me! Great comp, nice background, bit minimalist! Love it!

Thelensspot · February 25, 2015

Stumblebum wrote: »

Last one is the winner for me! Great comp, nice background, bit minimalist! Love it!

Thanks!

Red Barn and Snow

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