Baker Beach, S.F.

[teknogroove]

[attachment=4175:attachment]I was at Baker Beach a couple on months ago in the evening and took this picture. I removed the bright light on the hill and pixel in the surf on my primary copy. What do you think I can do to improve?  Thanks

Doug

[wolfnowl]

Well, I like the composition, but my first thought was that it seems a trifle soft and awfully noisy.  That's dependent on your equipment, to some extent at least.

Mike.

[teknogroove]

Equipment is a Rebel XTI with an EF-S 10-22 lens. I'm rather new- less than a year with an SLR. The main problem is I arrived at location too late and rushed the shot. Not a whole lot of time to set up. Live and learn... Thanks for the input.

[PSA DC-9-30]

Very nice composition, lighting, and colors. I don't think the noise is too bad. What ISO, aperture, shutterspeed did you use for the shot?

[MatthewCromer]

Great composition and wave action.  This shot stands alone, but I'd also love to see a brilliant sunset from the same location. . .

[Chip Phillips]

I think you have a nice image here!  I might suggest a bit less sky/more foreground next time when it is so clear out, especially with the interesting waves,ect.
I kind of wish I could see the bridge a little bit better as well, this may have not been possible though.
I'm surprised by the amount of noise!, especially with the equipment you used for the shot-You must have used a pretty high iso.....I can see a lot of luminance and color noise.
Chip
Chip Phillips Photography

[teknogroove]

Very nice composition, lighting, and colors. I don't think the noise is too bad. What ISO, aperture, shutterspeed did you use for the shot?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=159197\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

ISO 400
aperture 5.6
shutter: 1.3sec

thank you for your input  

The ISO seems high?

[teknogroove]

Great composition and wave action.  This shot stands alone, but I'd also love to see a brilliant sunset from the same location. . .
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=159225\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Thanks- I agree a sunrise would be ideal. The sun was setting behind me when this shot was taken, around 7pm.

[teknogroove]

I think you have a nice image here!  I might suggest a bit less sky/more foreground next time when it is so clear out, especially with the interesting waves,ect.
I kind of wish I could see the bridge a little bit better as well, this may have not been possible though.
I'm surprised by the amount of noise!, especially with the equipment you used for the shot-You must have used a pretty high iso.....I can see a lot of luminance and color noise.
Chip
Chip Phillips Photography
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=159348\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

The ISO was 400 and the len was wide at 10mm. I would like to be able to capture it with the correct settings, maybe next time.

[oldcsar]

Hi Doug,

I appreciate the particular length of shutter you used to capture the waves as they are. I have a few suggestions, and they relate to Photoshop (but you may gain something from the resulting image anyway if you don't have Photoshop)

1) Some noise reduction could easily clean this up. A program such as Neat Image or Noise Ninja can do this very easily by sampling the noise pattern (taken from the sky, for example) and subtracting that pattern from the whole photo. I used Neatimage on your photo to demonstrate this (although it can't be fully appreciated since I wasn't working on the original). Neatimage.com offers a free demo version that's fully functional on 8-bit jpegs only... the Standalone application will let you experiment with this if you don't have Photoshop.

2) Try experimenting with Auto levels, Auto Contrast, and Auto Color in Photoshop. They may not all work, but one of them often points you in a good direction for how to process the image -- for beginners especially. I found that Auto Color instantly took away that Blue cast to your whole image, providing some warmth to the rocks that catch the last moments of the sunset.

3) Experiment with a high radius unsharp mask (radius 50, amount 10-20, and no threshold). This will add some pop to your images, but don't overdo it.

- Brendan

[berbig]

A very nice picture. I agree with Chip Phillips about less sky. As it is now, the horizon divides the picture in two equally large parts. If you instead use the rule of thirds, you could place the sky and the bridge in a much stronger composition.

[teknogroove]

A very nice picture. I agree with Chip Phillips about less sky. As it is now, the horizon divides the picture in two equally large parts. If you instead use the rule of thirds, you could place the sky and the bridge in a much stronger composition.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=159411\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I cropped the image slightly to put the bridge towards the upper right. Do you think this takes away anything from the image? Thanks

[Colorwave]

I cropped the image slightly to put the bridge towards the upper right. Do you think this takes away anything from the image? Thanks
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=159894\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I greatly prefer the first crop.  You loose too much of the diagonal motion from the cliff face when you crop the right out.
 I love the overall composition, but would suggest that you try again from the same location, but just enough higher that you avoid the tangent point where the rocks hit the underside of the bridge in the center.  If you get a little cooperation from Mother Nature with a splash of color or two, you could have a very special shot.  Thanks for sharing.
-Ron H.

[teknogroove]

I greatly prefer the first crop.  You loose too much of the diagonal motion from the cliff face when you crop the right out.
 I love the overall composition, but would suggest that you try again from the same location, but just enough higher that you avoid the tangent point where the rocks hit the underside of the bridge in the center.  If you get a little cooperation from Mother Nature with a splash of color or two, you could have a very special shot.  Thanks for sharing.
-Ron H.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=160931\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Thanks for the input Ron. I will be revisiting this location when the weather permits.

[jesse.steed@gmail.com]

seems like a bit to much noise. also you could have possibly shot at a higher aperture for focus

[teknogroove]

seems like a bit to much noise. also you could have possibly shot at a higher aperture for focus
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=164722\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Yes, the noise is substantial. I tried NeatImage as recommended above and it helped to reduce the noise significantly. I will be shooting at this location soon and will make sure the ISO is reduced. I like your recommendation on the aperture. All things to try when I return.