Shutterstock Photographer Forum :: View topic - Would like advice on my rejected photos please

rudyumans · Joined: 19 Aug 2008 Posts: 7563 Location: South Florida

You can get tack sharp photos with a 450D and the 18-55 kitlens for this kind of work.

What I did when I had that camera was I used a tripod and life view with manual focus and the IS turned off(The view finder is small in a 450D). Enlarge it 10 times on the part you want to focus on and voila. I would also use the mirror lock-up function and the remote release. If the screen is not bright enough or there are too many reflections, you can use a loupe like the one from hoodman. http://www.hoodmanusa.com/

Regarding the lens, try to stick to f8 or f11

mikenorton · Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 5:51 pm

Look at the pictures you posted, what stands out the most? To me what stands out the most are the white cliffs. White can be very tricky to expose correctly, usually the meter tries to make white gray, so the pictures come out underexposed, yours are coming out light so they are overexposed. Until you have mastered how to use your camera it might be better if you found landscapes to shoot that were not so white. Also the magic hours is the best time to shoot landscapes. The magic hours is the time just before and just after sunrise and sunset. If the white cliffs are close to where you live go take a look at them as the sun is rising or setting, I bet they will look a lot different then. Take your camera and a tripod along and do a few shots of the cliffs as the sun sets or rises. I'll also bet that we, and you, will like the new ones better.

jeffbanke · Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 7:32 pm

OK, here is a list of things that are wrong
First image only
ISO 400, you should be shooting at the lowest ISO you can I.E. 100 or 200.
F13, not typically the sweet spot
White cliffs, as Mike said hard to shoot in the midday sun
You have vertical movement, typically due to the lack of a tripod and remote, both absolutely essential for landscapes - ya never saw a picture of Ansel Adams with out one:)
I doubt you would ever see a picture of Mike, Laurin, Dave, Kenny, Katrina, Christophe, Sergei, Steve, or any of the other folks that take landscape photography seriously including me without either.

I don't know about Canon cameras, but Nikon cameras in every mode add sharpening, unless one goes in and turns it off. Contrary to what someone else posted, in camera sharpening is at whatever fixed level the software engineers decided to make it. I prefer to add sharpening in Adobe RAW processor, where I can see EXACTLY how much I am adding, this is all part of making an image, not just taking it, in other words, I want absolute and total control over the end product, leaving NOTHING to chance or the software engineers. Also contrary to what the other poster said about adding sharpening in PS creating noise, it just ain't the facts my freind. I have never had an image rejected for noise, from a D70s (inherently noiser than the others), a D100 nor a D300. I shoot with everything in manual, including turning off all sharpening, and shooting in "neutral", no boosting of color, etc, again this is all better controlled from Adobe RAW processor viewing at 100%.

remix · Joined: 31 Oct 2009 Posts: 8

Thanks again to all of you for your replies;
In fact, I do live near the place on the photos so as soon as I have some spare time I'll go back and take new pictures, and this time I'll try to put in practice your instructions.
I already have a tripod so I just need to buy a remote now which shouldn't be too expensive.
One more thing: I know the white cliffs are best lit in the morning or in the evening but then the water loses its transparency and turquoise colors...

I'll be back soon!