What technical feedback would you like if any? I took this from a kayak. You have to kind of glide into the scene and take the photo before the ripples from the boat destroy the mirror. No amount of waiting can recreate the stillness of the first morning mirror and the smallest wiggle as you sit in the boat will ruin the mirror. All to say I may have the sharpest image I could get but I sure would like to get the trees in better focus so I could print large. Would a better lens help? Faster shutter? Iām using sharpening slider in Lightroom - do I need to use more advanced photoshop techniques?
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Fuji 55-230mm OIS @60mm f6.4 shutter 1/125 sec ISO 2500
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Upfront Iāll admit than I generally like symmetry and mirror image reflections, although some folks would say they are cliche. I think it depends on the subject. if the patterns and shapes of a mirror image reflection are interesting, then I say go for it. I think this particular image does have some interesting patterns, lines and shapes, so the composition works well for me. I like the repeating tiers of branches in the tree.
Now for the technical aspects, including sharpness. Exposure, color and contrast look great, which is impressive considering itās ISO 2500. The image is slightly soft looking at it large, okay for web display, but likely not for a large print. This must have been really early morning if f6.4 and ISO 2500 only gave you 1/125sec. Like you said this is probably about as good as you can do given your working conditions. I would suggest trying Topaz Sharpen AI on this, it is good at rescuing slightly soft images, way better than LR sharpening. You can get a free trial of Topaz to check it out.
Thank you for the comment much appreciated. I will look into other software. I also tried āenhance detailsā in Lightroom with good results. But not ideal. And I agree on reflections - both the cliche and the compelling. Iām glad this one has some resonance.
Great photo Charles. With focus of this type of subject I will use auto focus first, then using Liveview focus adjust manually at a high zoom. I also test out my f/stop as well. Lately I have been setting the f/stop say F16, then try others that are more wide. F/11 8 so on. I would use a tripod here as well to lower ISO. However if dim light so higher iso is needed. The longer exposures are the trick but wind can be a factor. Great photo image under harsh conditions.
Beautiful shot, Charles. I totally agree with the Topaz Sharpen AI suggestion. I downloaded it and played with it a little. I cropped a good bit from the bottom and a tiny bit from the top. I also burned the water using TKās Luminosity Masks ( think I used darks 2 for that). I dodged the highlights slightly using lights 2 @ a low opacity just for a little extra contrast, and ran it through Topaz Sharpen AI using the Stabilize mode. It did help, but it would really need to be used on the original image, not a small jpeg. Iām not suggesting my version is better, just a different approach.
Nice shot. Canāt help with lens selection because I donāt shoot Fuji, but I certainly would have thought that 1/ 125 sec @ 60mm with image stabilization would have produced a sharp enough image. Are you sure your focus was accurate? I would also recommend Topaz software.
@Bill_Chambers thanks for putting me on to Topaz. And @Michael_Lowe thanks for suggestion it might be focus issue. I tried Topaz AI in āfocusā sharpening mode and found that gave the best results. I was focussing from a kayak, but Fuji have this focus āpeakingā that seemed to me to have nailed the focus pretty well. But I guess no camera can get every twig. Hence AI. At first I wondered if the results were a bit nervous looking, but in comparing it to the original I think it is better. I didnāt apply any masks, but did bump up the contrast a bit. I will continue to fiddle, but I am really impressed with what Topaz could do to the image. Thanks again.
