Moffat Valley; please comment on the image quality

[himmelblau]

[Stephen]

Re: Moffat Valley; please comment on the image quality

Brian, for me this is a much better result than the previous shot you posted of the waterfall. The photo has some depth now, especially with the shadow that has been created either by the aspect or the time of day. There is much more variation in tone than before, not to mention much more to look at. The hut in the middle distance adds some human interest and scale.

I wouldn't be worried about the clouds, they are white, which is what we would expect.

I agree about the sharpness of the picture. I'm presuming you switched the VR off However sharpness could be improved by altering the in camera setting. If its set on 0 maybe move it up a notch and try that. Alternatively I put the image into CS3 and used SmartSharpen at radius of 0.5 and Amount 75. this gave a much better result. also I applied an oval selection, feathered it by 75, inverted and darkened the brightness of the corners. IMO it gave a more pleasing result.

Take care with compression levels, you may be able to see on the bigger version some artefacts and halo effect creeping in along the skyline. Areas of high contrast variation like skylines are prone to this.

[Tinka]

Re: Moffat Valley; please comment on the image quality

Hi brian,
A lovely image but for me it is spoilt by that mound of earth to the left of the hut and in the foreground, If possible I would have moved my position and taken several images from each position, perhaps trying to place the hut at the rule of thirds in some of them. The area obviously shows great promise for photo opportunities. most if not all images taken on digital camera's require sharpening to some degree, and tweeking the levels and curves can produce good results, I will leave the technique tips to those more experienced than me, "Such as Stephen" I will say that most of what I read states that sharpening is best left to post processing rather than the camera, and shoot Raw if at all possible.
Good luck and best wishes,
Dave

[Patrick]

Re: Moffat Valley; please comment on the image quality

[himmelblau]

Re: Moffat Valley; please comment on the image quality

Stephen & Dave,

Thanks for the speedy feedback.

The VR was off Stephen that was about the only thing I remembered to do after setting up the tripod and camera. (I always forget that the viewfinder on the D200 only shows 95% of the image)

Dave, the mound of earth was a blessing in a way, it was hiding the car park to the right of the building and the vehicles parked there. (I thought the building was going to be a problem and it was good therefore, to read Stephen's perspective on it) I will add a photo to my gallery later which was taken from further up the hill shows both the car park and the stream which runs off the waterfall.

As for altering the sharpness in the camera, I cannot find that option in the menu and like Stephen, resorted to playing with SmartSharpen in CS2 but decided to leave the image un-altered apart from size, for the purpose of feedback.

Thanks,

Brian

[Stephen]

Re: Moffat Valley; please comment on the image quality

Stephen & Dave,

Thanks for the speedy feedback.

The VR was off Stephen that was about the only thing I remembered to do after setting up the tripod and camera. (I always forget that the viewfinder on the D200 only shows 95% of the image)

Dave, the mound of earth was a blessing in a way, it was hiding the car park to the right of the building and the vehicles parked there. (I thought the building was going to be a problem and it was good therefore, to read Stephen's perspective on it) I will add a photo to my gallery later which was taken from further up the hill shows both the car park and the stream which runs off the waterfall.

As for altering the sharpness in the camera, I cannot find that option in the menu and like Stephen, resorted to playing with SmartSharpen in CS2 but decided to leave the image un-altered apart from size, for the purpose of feedback.

Thanks,

Brian

I'm not familiar with Nikon menus but on my Canon its in 'Picture Styles' On my camera, a 1DMk2N, the picture style is set by default to Standard, and within this sharpening is on 3. Interestingly the setting for Landscape is 4. I always shoot in Raw, but was suprised when I got the camera to note that these settings are applied to the Raw file. I have to say though that I rarely apply any sharpening these days

[himmelblau]

Re: Moffat Valley; please comment on the image quality

Hi Patrick,

"You give lots of info but miss what I consider more important Aperture & Shutter speed and Focal length used for the shot."

As I mentioned in my previous post 'Grey Mare's Tail Waterfall', all the EXIF data disappears when the image is uploaded to my computer, all that is left is the make of camera and the date and time the photo was taken and this is deleted when I alter the image in CS2 or Capture NX.

I have just checked the original image using Opanda IXeif 2.26. (I will bare your comment in mind for the future, and try to remember to take a note of this data to add to my posts in the future).

Here are some of the results you requested:

Exposure Time = 1/250"
Focal Length = 22mm
ISO = 100
F Number = F8

The VR was off; I will try using a remote release cable the next time I am out.

Thanks,

Brian

[Stephen]

Re: Moffat Valley; please comment on the image quality

Brian, you also mentioned you had used Save for Web. This strips out all the Exif data and helps makes the file smaller as a result. However, size saving is pretty insignificant. I can't really see why any software used for importing to your PC would have the same effect. I use Lightroom these days for importing and there is a very full set of Exif Data. Before then I simply used a card reader and dragged and dropped straight into Windows Explorer

I'd recommend use of a cable release, though at a 250th I doubt if hand use of the shutter release will have any detrimental effect.

Oddly enough, after some recent experience of UV filters, I'd try shooting without it, and see if you notice a difference

[Patrick]

Re: Moffat Valley; please comment on the image quality

Hi Patrick,

"You give lots of info but miss what I consider more important Aperture & Shutter speed and Focal length used for the shot."

As I mentioned in my previous post 'Grey Mare's Tail Waterfall', all the EXIF data disappears when the image is uploaded to my computer, all that is left is the make of camera and the date and time the photo was taken and this is deleted when I alter the image in CS2 or Capture NX.

I have just checked the original image using Opanda IXeif 2.26. (I will bare your comment in mind for the future, and try to remember to take a note of this data to add to my posts in the future).

Here are some of the results you requested:

Exposure Time = 1/250"
Focal Length = 22mm
ISO = 100
F Number = F8

The VR was off; I will try using a remote release cable the next time I am out.

Thanks,

Brian

Well with those shutter times and focal length camera movement should not be an issue, and with the VR off the shot should be sharp as a pin. The UV filter might be your problem. Take one or two controlled shots both with and without the filter. If images are still soft without the filter then you may be unlucky and have a bad example of the lens.

Patrick

[Andrew Thatcher]

Re: Moffat Valley; please comment on the image quality

As a Nikon D200 user i find the images are very soft out of the camera, and do need some work sharpening the image afterward. you don't say if it was shot in raw or jpeg. Plus i think the lens looks a bit soft round the edges at wide angles which is adding to the problem. As for in camera sharping you need to go into the shooting menu then Optimizing image then custom then image sharpening. hope that helps.

[himmelblau]

Re: Moffat Valley; please comment on the image quality

"Oddly enough, after some recent experience of UV filters, I'd try shooting without it, and see if you notice a difference"

Hi Stephen, I was coming to the same conclusion myelf regarding the filter.

Have managed at last to find the sharpness setting in the camera menu and have set it to medium/high 1 and will try that on my next outing.

Brian

[himmelblau]

Re: Moffat Valley; please comment on the image quality

"If images are still soft without the filter then you may be unlucky and have a bad example of the lens."

That will make it the second I was never happy with the first one I owned and have only resorted back, as I have a project coming up and could not afford the cost of a dedicated lens for taking landscapes.

Brian

[himmelblau]

Re: Moffat Valley; please comment on the image quality

Thanks Andrew,

The image was shot in L, Fine jpeg.

I'm going to try the lens without the filter; this is the second 18-200mm VR I have had, I was never happy with the first one I owned and have only resorted back, as I have a project coming up and could not afford the cost of a dedicated lens for taking landscapes.

I found how to alter the sharpness earlier and have set it to medium/high1.

Maybe I spent to much time looking at Ken Rockwell's site

Thanks,

Brian

[Patrick]

Re: Moffat Valley; please comment on the image quality

Thanks Andrew,

The image was shot in L, Fine jpeg.

I'm going to try the lens without the filter; this is the second 18-200mm VR I have had, I was never happy with the first one I owned and have only resorted back, as I have a project coming up and could not afford the cost of a dedicated lens for taking landscapes.

I found how to alter the sharpness earlier and have set it to medium/high1.

Maybe I spent to much time looking at Ken Rockwell's site

Thanks,

Brian

As Its been pointed out to you digital images all require some sharpening, but please don't up the in camera sharpening lower it, and do all sharpening in your image editing software, there you control how and indeed where you sharpen.

Stay in control yourself, don't let the camera control your pictures for you.

Patrick

[himmelblau]

Re: Moffat Valley; please comment on the image quality

As Its been pointed out to you digital images all require some sharpening, but please don't up the in camera sharpening lower it, and do all sharpening in your image editing software, there you control how and indeed where you sharpen.

Stay in control yourself, don't let the camera control your pictures for you.

Patrick

Thanks Patrick,

Duly noted, will alter the camera settings back.

Brian