Stu-Bert's Pics

Loch Kishorn

stubertpics — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:35:29 +0000

Camera: EOS 5D
Lens: EF 217-40mm L @ 17mm
Exposure: 30″ @ f/14, ISO 100
Filters: ND .9
Google Maps: Click here

Picture Notes

In fact this is part of a Panorama – I have not had time to stitch them together…

Sunset had gone and I was heading back home – but not without checking a couple of locations along the way. Dusk is indeed a fantastic time for photography even if it does mean more noise in the picture (you’ll have to trust me, but if you zoom into the dark regions it’s noticeable).

But I like the dreamy look of this shot – and as it was not particularly windy then to get the blurred look on the clouds means longer exposures and hence the noise. The long exposure was also required to get the glass texture on the water – the tide was in and there was not huge amounts of movement in there either.

Improvements? Of course! The main change, which perhaps a slightly earlier shot would have achieved (1/2 hour) would have been to lighten the woods on the right hand side. Doing this in PP would just bring out the noise and spoil the picture. The silhouette effect is a little too much on this side. Perhaps in the panorama it will be take less of the frame and thus reduce the impact.

Processing Notes:

LR: Boosted Exp. by 1.24 to help combat the long exposure
LR: Medium Tone curve (S). Mediun Contrast
LR: High Vibrance (36)
CS3: Shrunk for web output
CS3: Minor sharpening
CS3: Some Dodge & Burn on clouds.

Waterfall on Isle of Skye

stubertpics — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:22:10 +0000

Camera: EOS 5D
Lens: EF 17-40mm L @ 29mm
Exposure: 1/15″ @ f/14, ISO 100
Filters: None
Google Maps: Click here

Picture Notes

Aside from the antics of setting up this shot, it actually works out reasonably well. Cropping in to just show the waterfall does not work (I tried it in PP), and for me leaving some of the horizon in place adds rather detracts – but of course it is always personal preference.

I did a couple of other shots with longer exposures but you lose the water tumbling – the detail in the water makes the shot considerably better. In terms of PP, I darkened the grass and most of the vibrance added was to redress the bleaching that the sun was doing.
Improvements? Yep, earlier in the day would have remove the shadows from the sun behind me through the fence. Plus I would have liked the beach at the bottom to extend to the bottom right corner – but there’s no way I could have done this without removing the fence!

Processing Notes:

LR: Minor Blacks increase (8) + Minor Recovery (7)
LR: Medium Tone curve (S). Mediun Contrast
LR: 50% Clarity applied & medium Vibrance (24)
CS3: Shrunk for web output
CS3: Normal sharpening
CS3: Some Dodge & Burn notably on the grass on the left and bottom.

Elgol

stubertpics — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:11:50 +0000

Camera: EOS 5D
Lens: EF 17-40mm L @ 20mm
Exposure: 1/6″ @ f/14, -2/3EV, ISO 100
Filters: .6 ND Grad, Circ Pola.
Google Maps: Oops, None

Picture Notes

Well, I like the sky formation… and now looking at it again that’s about all I like. At a larger size the flaws in composition are annoying the hell out of me…

The pebbles on the right hand bottom distract and I would have liked to have a better lead in on the left hand side – I am not sure if I could have moved more left but I certainly needed to. I also don’t like the framing of the cliff on the right hand side and the rock cut in two about an inch below it. Again moving to the left should have improved this.

So, definitely this one will get filed under – need to reshoot and this time think a little more about the shot

Post processing was predominantly twofold – Dodge & Burn to recover some of the detail in the rocks on the left hand side and darkening the stones on the bottom right. And then some cloning to recover from the minor vignetting in the top corners – cropping would have impacted the balance too much for my taste.

Processing Notes:

LR: Boosted Exp. by 0.76 + Recovery to pull back highlights on the stones & clouds (8)
LR: Medium Tone curve (S). Mediun Contrast
LR: 100% Clarity applied & strong Vibrance (50)
CS3: Shrunk for web output
CS3: Normal sharpening
CS3: Some Dodge & Burn as mentioned

Mountain Tops, Isle of Skye

stubertpics — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:58:02 +0000

Camera: EOS 40D
Lens: EF 70-200mm L @ 200mm
Exposure: 1/3200″ @ f/4, -2/3 EV, ISO 100
Filters: None
Google Maps: Click here

Picture Notes

So this was taken in the identical place to the other mountain shot. This range was a little closer and I wanted to include the peak to the rear where the clouds are just obscuring the peak. The conflict on the composition in this shot is the two lead in lines from the peak itself – originating from the bottom left and right corners. Leaving them in the corners means I could not quite get the peak on the 3rds. Yeah, I’m that fussy! In some ways I would have also liked to have brought a bit more of the distant peak into the shot – to balance the main peak more.

Again, much like the other shot, the light makes the picture – and the clouds are the let down – no real texture to them which would have only improved the contrast with the peaks.
Processing Notes:

LR: Boosted Exp. by 1.9 + some boostig of blacks (17)
LR: Medium Tone curve (S) and Mediun Contrast
LR: 50% Clarity applied & minor Vibrance (12)
CS3: Shrunk for web output
CS3: Normal sharpening
CS3: Some Dodge & Burn notably on the clouds

Rannoch Moor

stubertpics — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:47:26 +0000

Camera: EOS 5D
Lens: EF 24-105mm L IS @ 90mm
Exposure: 1/13″ @ f/14, ISO 50
Filters: None
Google Maps: Click here

Picture Notes

Let’s get the mistake out of the way – in fact I have only just noticed it as I was adding the technical details – ISO 50 is faked on the 5D and should be avoided.

That aside, this was my fourth or fifth visit to this location, and indeed this was the last morning on the last day. To be honest I was late – by about an hour – and therefore even though most people were probably still in bed the sun was getting too strong. So this and the desire for a change from the normal for this location directed me towards more detail – picking out some rocks, grass and their reflections.

What I didn’t notice at the time, and have removed in post-processing was I cut a rock in half on the bottom right hand corner and the reflection of some branches in the top of the frame.

Improvements? Well the predominant improvement is one of balance – the cropping has made the picture worse, and the top left corner does not balance well with the bottom right. The picky side of me would have also liked to remove the fact you can see the rocks if you peer closely.

Processing Notes:

LR: Boosted Exp. by 0.76 + Recovery to pull back highlights on the stones (26)
LR: Medium Tone curve (S). Mediun Contrast and small boost on Blacks (11)
LR: 50% Clarity applied & medium Vibrance (24)
CS3: Shrunk for web output
CS3: Normal sharpening
CS3: Some Dodge & Burn.

Rock Detail

stubertpics — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:31:16 +0000

Camera: EOS 5D
Lens: EF 17-40mm L @ 34mm
Exposure: 1″ @ f/20 +1/3EV, ISO 100
Filters: None
Google Maps: Oops None!

Picture Notes

I had actually been stalking a heron who didn’t play ball and flew off into the distance…

Overcast lighting works better for these sorts of shots – you want the gritty, hard texture of the rocks to come through and sunlight would have the opposite effect. The lichen helps to add interest as does the small smount of water which is placed on the 3rds. I also framed it such that the lines of rock were making a diagonal across the picture for more interest.

Improvements? Perhaps the only thing I would change is the clump of gradd in the bottom right corner. If it bothers me too much then I will darken it more in CS3.

Processing Notes:

LR: Recovery of Highlights (27)
LR: Strong Tone curve (S) and Strong Contrast
LR: 50% Clarity applied & some Vibrance (14)
CS3: Shrunk for web output
CS3: Normal sharpening
CS3: Some Dodge & Burn.

Mountain Top, Isle of Skye

stubertpics — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:15:29 +0000

Camera: EOS 40D
Lens: EF 70-200mm L with 1.4x converter @ 280mm
Exposure: 1/1600″ @ f/4, -2/3 EV, ISO 100
Filters: None
Google Maps: Click here

Picture Notes

I had pulled into a layby to take some shots of a meandering stream working its way to the base of some mountains on the left – and while I was waiting for the right light I wanted to take some shots of the peaks right in front of me… Alas I had left the 300mm back at base and made do with the 70-200mm and a 1.4x converter. Not much else to say, open up the aperture as far as it will go (f/5.6 because of the 1.4 converter), the distance to the subject means Depth of Field is fine and then wait for the right light – and it’s really this that makes the shot – without the light touches of sunlight the impact would be significantly less. Oh, the under-expsoure was me being careless – speed was not an issue I just didn’t notice…

Improvements? Well being picky, I would have liked the clouds on the right to have some more texture – and contrast with the sunlight sprinkling on the left hand side – even a little dodge & burn could not do much to improve the area.

Processing Notes:

LR: Boosted Exp. by 1.05 to balance the under-exposure
LR: Boosted Blacks to +25
LR: Medium Tone curve (S) / Medium Contrast
LR: 50% Clarity applied & medium Vibrance (21)
CS3: Shrunk for web output
CS3: Normal sharpening
CS3: Some Dodge & Burn – notably on the clouds.

Clachtoll Bay

stubertpics — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:03:37 +0000

Camera: EOS 5D
Lens: EF 17-40mm L @ 17mm
Exposure: 1/2″ @ f/16, ISO 100
Filters: ND .6 Grad
Google Maps: Click here

Picture Notes

I was searching for a nice location for sunset over the sea and was driving fairly aimlessly up the west coast. This was where I stopped in a car park nearby and was immediately drawn to this position. Unfortunately you could not see the mountains in the background and I didn’t have the time to get there – I was worried that the clouds would removing the failing light. Being right on the coast, the wind was being a pain as normal and softening the shot considerably.

Improvements? More colours in the sky – I’ve enhanced some of the cloud texture using dodge & burn but there’s only so much you can do. The greyness has also tamed the turquiose sea which you can see on the left hand side – again better lighting might have improved this. And finally, yours eyes should be drawn to the top right quadrant – that’s where the Sun should have been !

Processing Notes:

LR: Boosted Exp. by 0.96
LR: Medium Tone curve (S) in addition to Strong Contrast
LR: 50% Clarity applied & some Vibrance (12)
CS3: Shrunk for web output
CS3: Normal sharpening
CS3: Some Dodge & Burn – notably on the clouds.

Bridge on the A835…

stubertpics — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:47:11 +0000

Camera: EOS 5D
Lens: EF 24-105mm L @ 73mm
Exposure: 1″ @ f/18, -2/3 EV, ISO 100
Filters: ND .9 x2
Google Maps: Click here

Picture Notes

I had passed this bridge a couple of days earlier, but the weather was miserable and so it was when I pulled over again. Still having worked the area for about 45 minutes and tried a number of different viewpoints, the irony was that the best location was from the main road.

The only main challenges from this vantage were the heavy vehicles which jarred the bridge as they passed by – which can be a little hit & miss for longer exposures and cropping in tightly to avoid the surrounding distractions (hence the use of the 24-105mm).

The water was not particularly fast flowing under the bridge – hence the use of two .9 ND filters and the stopped down aperture. In fact, in the latter I did make a mistake – at f/18 diffraction is blurring the image requiring more post-processing. f/14 would have been better. What I did find, and this is of course personal preference, but without a reasonable exposure the water did not get the texture I wanted.
Improvements? I would have liked to show a little more of the water at the base of the picture, putting the central rock a little higher in the picture – reviewing it now it is a little too low for my liking.

Processing Notes:

LR: Boosted Exp. by 0.86 to balance the under-exposure
LR: Medium Tone curve (S) in addition to Strong Contrast
LR: 50% Clarity applied & some Vibrance (12)
CS3: Shrunk for web output
CS3: Normal sharpening
CS3: Some Dodge & Burn – notably on the bridge and right hand rocks to tame the sunlight.

So the season starts…

stubertpics — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:31:20 +0000

Camera: EOS 20D IR Modified
Lens: EF 24-105mm L IS @ 450mm
Exposure: 1/750″ @ f/6.7 -1/2 EV, ISO 200
Filters: None
Google Maps: Click here

Picture Notes

I was on my way to John O’Groats when I saw this farmer ploughing the field eagerly followed by a faithful legion of birds. Given the time of day (alas something that I could not control), then the IR shots probably worked better than the colour ones shot with the 40D. All shots were hand-held from the side of the road and therefore the speed is quicker than I required to freeze the tractor! The difficulty with this shot was the overhead cables which meant I had to crop the tops of the front row of trees.

The only bug-bear which I have just noticed is a small dark patch in the top left corner – easily removed with CS3…

Processing Notes:

LR: Boosted Exp. by 0.76 – not surprising given the underexposure of the shot!
LR: Medium Tone curve (S)
LR: 100% Clarity applied
CS3: Shrunk for web output
CS3: Normal sharpening
CS3: Some Dodge & Burn