Home › Forums › Photo Critique › Beginner Landscape photographers needing help
- This topic has 6 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 1 week, 6 days ago by
Lydia Bennett.
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January 14, 2025 at 1:13 pm #92134
Kenneth Good
ParticipantHi everyone. My wife (Sue) and I (Ken) are new to the group and though have been taking pictures for many years, have never learned how to use our equipment properly. We are working on the current assignment related to Scenic Pathways. We have also struggled with landscape photography. Yesterday we went to Silver Sands State Park in CT. It was a cloudy day so the sky was grey, the walk path was grey, the water was grey and the sand brown. So, not much color variation. We struggled to get crisp, clear photos. The one we present here is an example with the original photo and an edited version using windows photo editor. Looking for suggestions on how to get sharper, in focus photos on such a cloudy day. We will try again on a sunny day.
Some of the settings on the original photo are S = 1/800, A = F4.5, ISO = 100, Focal Length = 18mm, on AF-S, exposure compensation = 0,-
This topic was modified 1 month ago by
Kenneth Good.
January 21, 2025 at 9:32 am #92384Lydia Bennett
KeymasterThis is great, @kengoodphoto!
Looking for suggestions on how to get sharper, in focus photos on such a cloudy day.
It seems that the main thing contributing to the sense of this photo not being sharp is the depth of field, which can be adjusted with your aperture.
If your aperture was higher, then more of the photo would be in focus. In this case, seeing that your shutterspeed was 800, there would be room to choose a higher aperture and lower your shutterspeed (to keep the same exposure), and still hand-hold your camera!
That being said, I think you edited the photo well to bring out the clarity.
Hope that helps a bit! Cloudy scenes can be a challenge to photograph, but I think there’s a soft, quiet beauty in scenes like this. 🙂
January 21, 2025 at 10:21 am #92385Kenneth Good
ParticipantThanks Lydia! The wonderful thing about your reply is that we understand what you are saying. A few weeks back we would not have understood any of this. Yay, we are learning. Praise the Lord!
January 21, 2025 at 1:54 pm #92401James Staddon
KeymasterThank you for sharing a little about yourselves, @kengoodphoto, and that’s encouraging to hear you’ve been able to learn some things so far on Lenspiration!
I actually kinda like cloudy days sometimes, as it can make photos a little more expressive than on a “normal” day. Also, depending on the type of clouds, they can offer fodder for composition . On a clear, cloudless day, I am usually not incorporating the sky much, but sometimes clouds can an make otherwise plain scene more interesting (see attached).
Of course, you’re right about everything looking gray and dull on overcast days, so incorporating color as much as you can (the grass, even though it’s brown) and leaning heavily on a strong composition (like you did), are indeed ways for making cloudy days work. If there is no green grass and no blue sky, it means you’re attention can be more easily drawn to subtle colors that you wouldn’t normally notice on a sunny, summer day.
As for sharpness, yes, using f/8 or narrower is what I would use to get more of the scene in focus. Otherwise, you have focused properly and there is no camera shake, so the photo is technically sharp. The depth of focus is just kinda shallow.
The only thing I’d change about your edited photo is to level up the horizon. Otherwise, I like it!
January 21, 2025 at 6:29 pm #92464Kenneth Good
ParticipantThanks James! Will have to work on leveling the horizon in future photos. We will also keep in mind that it may be not be good to have to much of the picture taken up by a clear blue sky. It will take more experience to get the hang of these things including a better depth of focus on landscape photos by adjusting the aperture to a higher f-stop. We are well on the way though and really enjoying your course. I have used my phone and GoPro for pictures on trail and have left the old DSLR (Nikon D3200) behind for to long. It is exciting to finally learn how to use it.
January 22, 2025 at 11:58 am #92508James Staddon
KeymasterPraise the Lord!
February 4, 2025 at 12:31 pm #92823Lydia Bennett
KeymasterThat is so exciting, @kengoodphoto! Glad to hear it!
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