Excellent points all around, from the actual composition and shooting to the post work. Yes, forcing an image that one sees in their mind is rarely successful and often obvious in the end result. It's all about being aware of one's surroundings and being flexible (even when getting bitten lol). I have always loved shooting into the light, something we all once had drilled into our brains that was a no-no. I always enjoy seeing other's approaches to such light conditions, especially when working in Photoshop (I just never embraced LR since I feel I've better control in PS). Excellent video, for this covered a lot of things I learned the hard way with experimentation over the years. Thanks for sharing!
“You are just going out there and getting the data”. Brilliant little gem there, Will! I think with that little phrase you may have unlocked a bit of my mental block around digital photography! When I transitioned from film to digital I hated all the futzing-at-the-computer time, so much so that I dropped photography as a hobby for about 20 years. Just getting back into it. Your Landscape Masterclass and these videos have helped immensely. Now I just need to upgrade my camera (1st gen DSLR.). Nonetheless, keeping with another of your mantras (“the best camera is the one on your hand”) I’ve managed to get some shots in recent months that are vast improvements and to use your tips to get images I am starting to feel proud of. Thanks for your fabulous instruction!
Wow, I’m really pleased to hear that. Thanks so much for the support and taking the time to write such a comment. All the best with the new chapter 💪🏼📸
Thanks Will, I love that you take your time, you don’t take your camera out until you know exactly what you want. I’m like a kid in a candy store, with the camera, just snapping away. I need to be more like you, but most of the time I don’t know what I want or sometimes how to achieve what I want. I will take my time from now on and I will look at options before snapping at everything. Cheers Will.
No right or wrong mate. Once I start shooting I often keep the shutter going and just have fun with the landscape. Still good to be thoughtful and have direction though, that’s for sure. Thanks a lot.
Love your explanations, simple no bullshit information, like the fact that you explained about only capturing data not trying to get great photo straight out of camera, that you showed the raw file and histogram, clarified a lot for me. Thanks heaps.
yours and mads pete iverson style of landscape imaging are the best in my opinion! your landscape masterclass has also given me a big boost in the quality of my images. thanks a lot for your invaluable lessons.
Thank you so much for this! I recently got my hands on an old DSLR camera and have more seriously been learning how to use it and about photography in general. This video helped me understand the general process a lot better than I previously did. Thank you for that!
Just saw this one today. Very useful - I also like very much to shoot into the sun. Autumn and winter is my favourite seasons for photography, often excellent light but from a low sun. I have often tried exposure bracketing, but often find that all I need is the (slightly) underexposed one because I can lift the shadows enough to get a good picture. I also mostly shoot handheld whenever I can get away with it.
Hey Will. I'm trying to put all things together so I have some questions: When you reference to the histogram at the shooting, do you still go for exposure to be at 0? and what do you set the metering at? Thanks for all the work you do in the wideos.
Ignore the 0 and numbers. Thta is the light meter. Just look at the histogram and where the data is stopping. Search my name and 'histogram' to understand it better :)
Hi, this was a very helpful video. One question I have is what metering mode was your camera set to (evaluative, spot meter, etc). I did see where you mentioned you exposed for the highlights so assuming it was spot metered? Thanks.
Thanks a lot. Honestly the meter and metering mode doesn’t matter much, as the histogram overrules all that and shows what’s happening in the entire frame. Couldn’t even tell you what metering I’m on, probably evaluative but once you learn the histogram that’s all that matters. Just keep an eye on that. Cheers.
Awesome video Will. Great work flow in camera Raw. Definitely enjoying the DR of my new R5. Amazing what you can capture and recover. Thanks for this video.
Thanks a lot mate. Flare will occur when the sun is stronger (higher in the sky) and when it’s hitting the lens on more of a side angle. Shooting front on like this in low light generally doesn’t make a flare. Some lenses are also worse than others for it.
Brilliant and clearly explained. Thanks. My wife enjoyed this video too, and she's not particularly interested in photography. I suspect some other element caught her eye! 🤣
Aqua socks are a must for me when doing stuff like this.. they help keep the flow of movement when I want a good composition near water .. one less thing I have to concern myself with lol ,. Love this photo
What an absolutely fascinating video! One image in place of 3 for HDR photography. I currently have a Nikon D50 (10.7 Dynamic Range) so I will stick to HDR for now. But I plan to get a D5600 soon (14 Dynamic Range) which will be more suitable for your method described here. Just liked and subbed, and clicked the link for your free photography course. Can't wait to dive into it and enjoy more of your UA-cam content. After putting my photography hobby on ice for 10-12 yrs I am now retired and able to get back into it!
PS if you can, have a look at mirrorless, something like the z7ii or z8. I know it’ll cost more but the tech is far better, especially for handheld shooting, dynamic range etc
@@WilliamPatinoPhotography Would love to go mirrorless, but can’t affird the Z-series body, let alone all new lenses. That’s okay though. I’m not discouraged. With the quality of images I’ve produced with my trusty old D50 in the past I’ve no doubt I’ll improve with the D5600… and with tips and guidance from people like you. Cheers!
Excellently produced practical demonstration of handling high dynamic range image making. Re: using the gradient on the sky, I use darktable to edit my raw files. It too has a gradient mask but with an added feature. You can add a curve to the mask to a greater or lesser degree which helps to deal with scenes like valleys. mountains, cliffs etc. It can also be combined with a parametric mask to handle differing luminosity and or hue to create a more targeted mask. I used to use Adobe Photoshop but now I find I can get better results with darktable. BTW, darktable is free and available on all three major platforms, i.e. Windows, Mac and Linux. Thank you for the video, I have subscribed.
Thanks. Some lenses are worse than others with flares. It’ll mainly happen when the sun is hitting the lens on an angle, so try and adjust your comp so you are more front on to the sun, plus make sure the sun isn’t too bright and high above the horizon. Hope you enjoy the rest of the channel mate. Cheers.
Really glad UA-cam recommended this video as I have moved to an area that is permanently strong sunlight, so I am off to try this out. Do you use ND Filters or is it purely as mentioned shutter speed? Slight caveat I am using a Sony Xperia 1V as a camera
Great video Will, I recently jumped to the Sony a7riva the dynamic range is incredible. I'd never be able to push the shadows that much with my old crop sensor.
Absolutely. This is the main reason I switched from the Canon 5DII to the first Sony A7R, almost 10 years ago, haha. It really simplifies the workflow that's for sure. Enjoy!
This is super helpful and interesting, thank you. Question: I'm still thinking in terms of film. In film, you overexpose to be sure you get details. In digital, I understand you underexpose? Is this how you get the details? What do you mean highlights? Do you mean details? How do you determine where you focus? Is it a different spot for each of the HDR shots (e.g., foreground, middle, and distance?) How do you "shoot for the highlights?"
Expose as bright as possible until the highlight details are about to be lost. Then in post we recover the shadow details. For focus please check my other videos where I cover that. Also there is a video on the histogram, which will help you with exposure.
Thank you for that very helpful and informative video. It appeared that you didn't use a tripod, which it seems to me that, for critical work where you want sharp as a tack results, that would be helpful if not a sine quo non. Or did you just not show that part of the shoot? I would be concerned shooting at 1/25th of a second about blurring. I found the idea of taking care of the highlights as you showed very interesting and will make a point of trying it out. I downloaded the video for future reference.
Thanks for the support. I don’t use a tripod in my work, check out some more of my videos. With a stabilised camera you can certainly shoot slow shutters handheld and get tack sharp images. Cheers!
Very useful video, thanks! I am experimenting showing my edited HDR photos on my HDR enabled TV. I know how to do this for video, but I have so far not found a workflow for stills. Do you have any tips?
That's because people mean too many things when mentioning "HDR". The channel owner was talking about exposure bracketing and his "own" exposure blending techniques of cramming high dynamic range into a standard SDR image. What you are talking about is *true* HDR that comes with different specifications and names like HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. THAT HDR apart from having wider color gamut and 10 to 12 bits per color also contains particular as they called it "metadata", even though to me it appears more of a separate layer instead. So far, I found quite a few image formats supporting true HDR: EXR and OpenEXR, JPEG XR, HEIC (most likely) and to a certain extent good old TIFF (if you can call that mess a "format" in the first place). You might want to install the HDR + WCG Image Viewer app (on Windows) that can visualize the "Luminance Heatmap" apart from actually showing the HDR image itself. That "heatmap" seems to be the layer telling the software the luminance distribution on the screen. So, in theory, if you get to editing it, you should be able to find a light source in your photo and boost it all the way to 1,000 nits or do something similar. Judging by that "image viewer" app the process might not be as straightforward, considering the way the Brightness slider in it affects the map among other things, but still it should be close to that. The problem is, so far I haven't found a way to get access to editing the heatmap metadata itself using free solutions. I guess Photoshop will have to come next... Either way, I'm afraid this "branch of photography" is in its infancy at the moment, so most likely you won't find much info on it. But if you'll have something dug up, please share as well.
It would help balance out the DR but they’re not practical for many scenarios like mountain scenes, caves etc because the subject will be darkened with the sky. Plus, it’s just more gear to carry and need to set up. Far easier to shoot for the highlights like I show in this video.
Your photos are excellent, and I like your delivery, so I've subscribed to your channel. I'm in NZ. Your video is all about using a single RAW shot for bright sun. Do you also use ND filters or reverse NDs or perhaps exposure stacking?
Loved the video. Any thoughts on bracketing exposures? The Sony A7R's have got continuous bracketing as a drive mode so it's an easy task to shoot, but more effort in post.
Thank you! Yeah that definitely is an option if the dynamic range is struggling but you’ll be surprised how much can be obtained in the single exposure. I don’t use a tripod so I’ll sometimes use bracketing to get a slower exposure for water flow, then blend that into one the faster/sharp exposure.
Thanks for this Will.. really clear and concise.. love it. One question. It looks like you took the photo handheld, but at 1/25 doesn’t that create less focus ?
Hey MC. Thanks! Shutter speed has nothing to do with focus or sharpness, it's simply the speed at which the shutter opens and closes to let light enter the camera. If it is dark, we need slower shutter, and brighter will need a faster shutter. If you go too slow on the shutter, the image could be blurry if you are not steady. In this case, that speed is more than fine for me. I often shoot much slower handheld and don't use a tripod at all. Commonly, people would be on a tripod. Hope that clears things up. More info on this video here ua-cam.com/video/W1rVVUwYYU4/v-deo.html
ND filter just darkens the whole scene, like wearing sunglasses. So, the camera will need a longer exposure. I’d still expose the same was as I have shown here, shooting for highlights. Keep in mind, if you are exposing too long, there’s the risk of the plants moving in the breeze and blurring.
Great video...question...because I don't have a full frame camera like you...can I still get away with 1 exposure in Photoshop because of the limited dynamic range of the sensor on my Canon EOS t6i. Really appreciate your vlog!
Thanks! It’ll be a little harder, mainly because of the dynamic range. You’ll potentially need two exposures. Try with the single first and worse case you’ll need to exposure blend.
Hey Will. I just found this video and I really do appreciate it. Gave it a "Thumbs Up"!! My question - and I've never seen this addressed "comfortably" for me - is how to view the sun without causing damage to your eyes. We've been taught since we were wee ones to never, ever look straight into the sun. How to best do that? Through the view finder? Live View? And at the same time achieve proper and sharp tack focus? And it would seem to be different between a sunrise and a sunset - I'm thinking of the huge balls os un we oftener see at sunset vs. the smaller ones at sunrise. Can you suggest a solution or a work process? Thanks agains for a really great video. Keep these coming!
Thanks mate. You don't look directly at the sun, it's still just going to be in your peripheral vision. No need to look straight at it. Keep in mind, when it's close to the horizon it is weaker due to the surface area it is dispersing light, so you can look at it briefly for sure. For focus, just check my other videos addressing that. Cheers :)
Bracketing can always capture more because you’re taking more than one frame, but you need to rely on more work in post. Most modern sensors are more than fine to expose to the right and reveal details in post. I haven’t bracketed for dynamic range in many years.
@@WilliamPatinoPhotography I have an old camera that has an HDR in-camera processing feature so will try that and see how that compares for backlight scenes with ETTR and One stop underexposing. Thanks for your feedback.
How do you deal with sun flares? Even with a lens hood when I shoot into the sun I get large lens flares. I have a DSLR, are mirror less cameras better at dealing with lens flares?
Every lens is different but unfortunately many cheaper lenses get bad flares. Try having less sun hit the lens, especially if it’s higher above the horizon it’ll be much worse.
Wow. It seems I found a channel where it is explained in clear language how to do what I want. It often happens that you see one thing and want to capture it, but it turns out to be garbage. And I feel like a dog - I understand, but I can’t say it) Thank you so much for the video. Great job. Like and subscribe.
Haha, thanks a lot. Keep getting out there and it will all come together for you soon. I appreciate the support and hope you enjoy the rest of my channel :)
High Will, great video thank you. (1) Are you using Lightroom Classic? (2) Has your whole Seascape video been done using the latest version of LR please Will?
Hi Les. I primarily use Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) as shown in this video. This is what I use in the seascape course. However, as you can see in this video, the layout and design is almost identical as LR and it’s easy to transfer techniques between the two. Thanks :)
@@WilliamPatinoPhotography I was scrolling through the comments to find something about this. Is there a reason why you use ACR over LR or is it more habit or personal preference?
@@RossHa1e complete personal preference. I like just using and know one program and also prefer the simple layout of ACR. I also prefer to save my own raw files manually via a simple drag and drop, so I have no need for LRs cataloguing. As far as the art is concerned, there’s literally no difference and I can get the same results using either program, which is great from a teaching perspective.
@@WilliamPatinoPhotography I was hoping that was your answer. I use LR for my portraits and it makes more sense when dealing with a lot of images to use LR. I just had to make sure I wasn't making my landscape photography harder by not using ACR. Thanks for your time
Hey Will, when shooting landscape photos like you were just doing at the beach is it better to use a larger aperture as in F 16,F 11 or should you use a smaller aperture’s F5,F6 or F7. Definitely enjoy your videos keep up the good work.
Hey Paul :) The f-stop is all about your depth of field, and whether you have something near to you, as well as something far away in the frame. If that’s the case, you’ll want a narrow aperture like F/11, F/16 etc however if you are shooting a scene that is ‘flat’ then the f-stop is somewhat irrelevant and you can’t go wrong. An example of that could be a mountain peak several miles away where you have nothing close to you. Hope that helps. In this video because I had the flax close to me as well as the stacks in the distance, then F/16 was required to be sharp all the way through. Hope that helps!
Very helpful! Enjoyed this. I have been so disappointed with the lack of dynamic range in modern cameras. 😫Even when I shoot raw & process the photos the colors never seem to look as natural as my iPhone colors. I think if I could figure out a consistent editing style to quickly edit photos I’ll stick with photography, but otherwise I feel ready to give up until cameras evolve. Once I have more money I’m hoping to order your course.
Thanks Mel. You need to keep in mind that the iPhone does an auto edit on all images and video and even auto exposure blend to handle the dynamic range. With our digital cameras and RAW files, we need to bring out those details later in processing. More work but far greater detail and results are possible. Once you get the knack of editing and develop your own workflow it gets way easier and more rewarding :)
Love your ethos too of don’t force it… sometimes you forsake enjoyment of the moment because of the desperation to get an image, which is so counterproductive … I think I’m having another shift in mindset 🙂
Speaking of lights and sunset, I have a question. Do you know of a photo of/with a sunset that shows the sun red as we see it? Do you know how to shoot it? All of mine show just a white overburn circle (a very, very light very very bright golden at best, if you care to think about it that way ) and I think all the others I've seen as well.
How do you know the image is sharp though? The trouble I have is when exposing for the highlights the shadows are so dark I can't tell if it's in focus?!
Because a sky will naturally be lighter toward the horizon (because it is further away) but a complete sky selection will include the horizon, which means you will be darkening that portion along with the top, creating an unrealistic result. Those selections can also create halos around edges. Way easier to use a brush IMO.
You’d need to shoot two exposures and blend them. Pretty rare scenario with todays modern sensors, but if your camera is older with less dynamic range you’ll need to blend.
Correct Single Shot Exposure: Chose your desired Aperture, Set Metering Mode to Highlights and ISO at 100, and then adjust SS until exposure is at 0 EV.
I tried using my Sony 90mm f2.8 into a red setting sun - It ended up looking like one of those optician's eyeball scans, but created some weird images. Broke all the rules, but hey!!!
If people photobombed your shots while walking on the beach, that would have sucked. It's a nice secluded area, a rare thing now days in the United States. Everyone seems to want to be a photographer now days, even if they only have a smartphone to take photos.
Don't know if you've seen it Wil, but Joel Grimes' video on bracketing and processing those three files in HDR 32-bit might interest you. Check it out at - ua-cam.com/video/z4HYksU_7Tg/v-deo.html All the best mate.
Thanks mate. I much prefer to work from the single file, given the dynamic range we have in the modern cameras. Way faster. I use to blend 2-3 files back in the day though, with the early digital cameras. Cheers.
That tip of using brush with haze is cool, thanks!
No problem! 👊🏻
Must try and learn this process
Great balance between in the field shooting and editing the image. Plenty of useful tips. Thank you for sharing Will.
Thanks a lot John. Always appreciate it mate 🙏🏻
Excellent points all around, from the actual composition and shooting to the post work. Yes, forcing an image that one sees in their mind is rarely successful and often obvious in the end result. It's all about being aware of one's surroundings and being flexible (even when getting bitten lol). I have always loved shooting into the light, something we all once had drilled into our brains that was a no-no. I always enjoy seeing other's approaches to such light conditions, especially when working in Photoshop (I just never embraced LR since I feel I've better control in PS). Excellent video, for this covered a lot of things I learned the hard way with experimentation over the years. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the support and thoughtful comment mate. Hope you enjoy the rest of my channel 🙏🏻😊
“You are just going out there and getting the data”. Brilliant little gem there, Will! I think with that little phrase you may have unlocked a bit of my mental block around digital photography! When I transitioned from film to digital I hated all the futzing-at-the-computer time, so much so that I dropped photography as a hobby for about 20 years. Just getting back into it. Your Landscape Masterclass and these videos have helped immensely. Now I just need to upgrade my camera (1st gen DSLR.). Nonetheless, keeping with another of your mantras (“the best camera is the one on your hand”) I’ve managed to get some shots in recent months that are vast improvements and to use your tips to get images I am starting to feel proud of. Thanks for your fabulous instruction!
Wow, I’m really pleased to hear that. Thanks so much for the support and taking the time to write such a comment. All the best with the new chapter 💪🏼📸
@@WilliamPatinoPhotography I am a bit of a data nerd so this all suddenly makes sense…
Thanks Will, I love that you take your time, you don’t take your camera out until you know exactly what you want. I’m like a kid in a candy store, with the camera, just snapping away. I need to be more like you, but most of the time I don’t know what I want or sometimes how to achieve what I want. I will take my time from now on and I will look at options before snapping at everything. Cheers Will.
No right or wrong mate. Once I start shooting I often keep the shutter going and just have fun with the landscape. Still good to be thoughtful and have direction though, that’s for sure. Thanks a lot.
Love your explanations, simple no bullshit information, like the fact that you explained about only capturing data not trying to get great photo straight out of camera, that you showed the raw file and histogram, clarified a lot for me. Thanks heaps.
Haha, thanks mate!
Nice shot and video Will. Seen your name but never watched, great stuff thanks.
Thanks, really appreciate it.
yours and mads pete iverson style of landscape imaging are the best in my opinion! your landscape masterclass has also given me a big boost in the quality of my images. thanks a lot for your invaluable lessons.
Thanks so much !!
Amazing video bro.. really like your explanations and your style.. thank you
Thanks a lot mate. Hope you enjoy the rest of the channel 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Whats the chance (particularly with mirrorless) of damaging the sensor?
Zero.
Same question
You could use filters so that doesnt happen right?
None
@@Canadianforestfairythere used to be need for UV filter to protect sensor from sun. New sensors have built in UV filters right on sensor.
Thank you so much for this! I recently got my hands on an old DSLR camera and have more seriously been learning how to use it and about photography in general. This video helped me understand the general process a lot better than I previously did. Thank you for that!
My pleasure, really glad I could help. Hope you enjoy the rest of my channel. Reach out anytime :)
Just saw this one today. Very useful - I also like very much to shoot into the sun. Autumn and winter is my favourite seasons for photography, often excellent light but from a low sun. I have often tried exposure bracketing, but often find that all I need is the (slightly) underexposed one because I can lift the shadows enough to get a good picture. I also mostly shoot handheld whenever I can get away with it.
Hey Will. I'm trying to put all things together so I have some questions: When you reference to the histogram at the shooting, do you still go for exposure to be at 0? and what do you set the metering at?
Thanks for all the work you do in the wideos.
Hey again. I have tryet to take a picture of sunrise referencering to the histogram and the expocure can't be at 0 - if I am doing it right.
Ignore the 0 and numbers. Thta is the light meter. Just look at the histogram and where the data is stopping. Search my name and 'histogram' to understand it better :)
Beautiful image, beautiful location and great instruction as always Will
Thanks alot mate!
Extremely helpful. You have the eye of a painter.
Very kind, thank you 🙏🏻
Hi, this was a very helpful video. One question I have is what metering mode was your camera set to (evaluative, spot meter, etc). I did see where you mentioned you exposed for the highlights so assuming it was spot metered? Thanks.
Thanks a lot. Honestly the meter and metering mode doesn’t matter much, as the histogram overrules all that and shows what’s happening in the entire frame. Couldn’t even tell you what metering I’m on, probably evaluative but once you learn the histogram that’s all that matters. Just keep an eye on that. Cheers.
I like the part about decision making on all the different things it takes to make an image.
Brilliant Will, I think I have been doing more than a few things wrong. Thanks.
Thanks Glenn!
Awesome video Will. Great work flow in camera Raw. Definitely enjoying the DR of my new R5. Amazing what you can capture and recover. Thanks for this video.
It’s certainly a great time to be a photographer. Thanks mate!
Excellent video. Can you explain how you prevented flare in your raw shot into the sun?
Thanks a lot mate. Flare will occur when the sun is stronger (higher in the sky) and when it’s hitting the lens on more of a side angle. Shooting front on like this in low light generally doesn’t make a flare. Some lenses are also worse than others for it.
Very inspired, and tks for the explanation of how to choose the right composition at the right moment.
Thank you friend 👊🏻
Brilliant and clearly explained. Thanks.
My wife enjoyed this video too, and she's not particularly interested in photography. I suspect some other element caught her eye! 🤣
😂 haha. Thanks mate. I hope you (and her) enjoy the rest of the channel 😆🙏🏻
Aqua socks are a must for me when doing stuff like this.. they help keep the flow of movement when I want a good composition near water .. one less thing I have to concern myself with lol ,. Love this photo
What an absolutely fascinating video! One image in place of 3 for HDR photography. I currently have a Nikon D50 (10.7 Dynamic Range) so I will stick to HDR for now. But I plan to get a D5600 soon (14 Dynamic Range) which will be more suitable for your method described here.
Just liked and subbed, and clicked the link for your free photography course. Can't wait to dive into it and enjoy more of your UA-cam content. After putting my photography hobby on ice for 10-12 yrs I am now retired and able to get back into it!
Thanks a lot mate, really stoked to hear that and I look forward to having you part of the community. Reach out anytime!
PS if you can, have a look at mirrorless, something like the z7ii or z8. I know it’ll cost more but the tech is far better, especially for handheld shooting, dynamic range etc
@@WilliamPatinoPhotography Would love to go mirrorless, but can’t affird the Z-series body, let alone all new lenses. That’s okay though. I’m not discouraged. With the quality of images I’ve produced with my trusty old D50 in the past I’ve no doubt I’ll improve with the D5600… and with tips and guidance from people like you. Cheers!
@@dirkgibbens377 Yes definitely, just have to work with what you can. The improved dynamic range will help a lot :)
Great video, great pics! Where was that location??? That looked like a great place to shoot!
Thanks a lot! Motukiekie, South Island NZ 👊🏻
Great tutorial, thanks!
Thanks! 🙏🏻
Excellently produced practical demonstration of handling high dynamic range image making. Re: using the gradient on the sky, I use darktable to edit my raw files. It too has a gradient mask but with an added feature. You can add a curve to the mask to a greater or lesser degree which helps to deal with scenes like valleys. mountains, cliffs etc. It can also be combined with a parametric mask to handle differing luminosity and or hue to create a more targeted mask. I used to use Adobe Photoshop but now I find I can get better results with darktable. BTW, darktable is free and available on all three major platforms, i.e. Windows, Mac and Linux.
Thank you for the video, I have subscribed.
Thanks for subscribing and for the kind words!
Thank you for the video. Do you ever use filters, CPL or ND?
My pleasure. No, I don't bother with them. Probably been at least 6 years or so since I last did. Same for the tripod.
Just came across your video and really enjoyed it. One question though: when shooting into the sun how do you deal sun flare? Cheers.
Thanks. Some lenses are worse than others with flares. It’ll mainly happen when the sun is hitting the lens on an angle, so try and adjust your comp so you are more front on to the sun, plus make sure the sun isn’t too bright and high above the horizon. Hope you enjoy the rest of the channel mate. Cheers.
Really glad UA-cam recommended this video as I have moved to an area that is permanently strong sunlight, so I am off to try this out. Do you use ND Filters or is it purely as mentioned shutter speed? Slight caveat I am using a Sony Xperia 1V as a camera
I don’t use any ND filters at all. Thanks for the support and I hope you enjoy the rest of the channel. Cheers 👊🏻
I too love shooting towards the sun, have done for yrs, your channel has been helpful regarding digital photography, thanks
Thank you for the beautiful video. I like way you present the subjects, simple and clear. found your channel by chance and now I'm diving in to it.
Awesome, thank you! Hope you enjoy the rest 🙏🏻🙏🏻😊
Great video Will, I recently jumped to the Sony a7riva the dynamic range is incredible. I'd never be able to push the shadows that much with my old crop sensor.
Absolutely. This is the main reason I switched from the Canon 5DII to the first Sony A7R, almost 10 years ago, haha. It really simplifies the workflow that's for sure. Enjoy!
Super useful video William thanks.
Glad it was helpful. Cheers!
This is super helpful and interesting, thank you. Question: I'm still thinking in terms of film. In film, you overexpose to be sure you get details. In digital, I understand you underexpose? Is this how you get the details? What do you mean highlights? Do you mean details? How do you determine where you focus? Is it a different spot for each of the HDR shots (e.g., foreground, middle, and distance?) How do you "shoot for the highlights?"
Expose as bright as possible until the highlight details are about to be lost. Then in post we recover the shadow details. For focus please check my other videos where I cover that. Also there is a video on the histogram, which will help you with exposure.
@@WilliamPatinoPhotography Thank you! I love your work. I don't see the histogram video.
Thank you for that very helpful and informative video.
It appeared that you didn't use a tripod, which it seems to me that, for critical work where you want sharp as a tack results, that would be helpful if not a sine quo non. Or did you just not show that part of the shoot? I would be concerned shooting at 1/25th of a second about blurring.
I found the idea of taking care of the highlights as you showed very interesting and will make a point of trying it out. I downloaded the video for future reference.
Thanks for the support. I don’t use a tripod in my work, check out some more of my videos. With a stabilised camera you can certainly shoot slow shutters handheld and get tack sharp images. Cheers!
@@WilliamPatinoPhotography Thank you. Now I know.
I will look at more it your videos.
The implementation of negative dehaze is a winner.
One of my favourite techniques :)
Learned a lot ....! Glad I found your channel ...
Thanks and welcome!
Very useful video, thanks!
I am experimenting showing my edited HDR photos on my HDR enabled TV. I know how to do this for video, but I have so far not found a workflow for stills. Do you have any tips?
That's because people mean too many things when mentioning "HDR". The channel owner was talking about exposure bracketing and his "own" exposure blending techniques of cramming high dynamic range into a standard SDR image.
What you are talking about is *true* HDR that comes with different specifications and names like HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. THAT HDR apart from having wider color gamut and 10 to 12 bits per color also contains particular as they called it "metadata", even though to me it appears more of a separate layer instead.
So far, I found quite a few image formats supporting true HDR: EXR and OpenEXR, JPEG XR, HEIC (most likely) and to a certain extent good old TIFF (if you can call that mess a "format" in the first place). You might want to install the HDR + WCG Image Viewer app (on Windows) that can visualize the "Luminance Heatmap" apart from actually showing the HDR image itself. That "heatmap" seems to be the layer telling the software the luminance distribution on the screen. So, in theory, if you get to editing it, you should be able to find a light source in your photo and boost it all the way to 1,000 nits or do something similar. Judging by that "image viewer" app the process might not be as straightforward, considering the way the Brightness slider in it affects the map among other things, but still it should be close to that.
The problem is, so far I haven't found a way to get access to editing the heatmap metadata itself using free solutions. I guess Photoshop will have to come next...
Either way, I'm afraid this "branch of photography" is in its infancy at the moment, so most likely you won't find much info on it. But if you'll have something dug up, please share as well.
Most likely the suite to use with HDR10 and such photos is also DaVinci Resolve - apparently it can export images including EXR and TIFF.
Great video and info. Thanks
Thanks for watching!
Could you use a gradient ND filter and would that add more dynamic range?
It would help balance out the DR but they’re not practical for many scenarios like mountain scenes, caves etc because the subject will be darkened with the sky. Plus, it’s just more gear to carry and need to set up. Far easier to shoot for the highlights like I show in this video.
Your photos are excellent, and I like your delivery, so I've subscribed to your channel. I'm in NZ. Your video is all about using a single RAW shot for bright sun. Do you also use ND filters or reverse NDs or perhaps exposure stacking?
Loved the video. Any thoughts on bracketing exposures? The Sony A7R's have got continuous bracketing as a drive mode so it's an easy task to shoot, but more effort in post.
Thank you! Yeah that definitely is an option if the dynamic range is struggling but you’ll be surprised how much can be obtained in the single exposure. I don’t use a tripod so I’ll sometimes use bracketing to get a slower exposure for water flow, then blend that into one the faster/sharp exposure.
Amazing! Thanks so much.
Thanks for this Will.. really clear and concise.. love it. One question. It looks like you took the photo handheld, but at 1/25 doesn’t that create less focus ?
Hey MC. Thanks! Shutter speed has nothing to do with focus or sharpness, it's simply the speed at which the shutter opens and closes to let light enter the camera. If it is dark, we need slower shutter, and brighter will need a faster shutter. If you go too slow on the shutter, the image could be blurry if you are not steady. In this case, that speed is more than fine for me. I often shoot much slower handheld and don't use a tripod at all. Commonly, people would be on a tripod. Hope that clears things up. More info on this video here ua-cam.com/video/W1rVVUwYYU4/v-deo.html
Hi. Can you use an ND filter and achieve similar results with a longer exposure?
ND filter just darkens the whole scene, like wearing sunglasses. So, the camera will need a longer exposure. I’d still expose the same was as I have shown here, shooting for highlights. Keep in mind, if you are exposing too long, there’s the risk of the plants moving in the breeze and blurring.
Great format!!!! Great shot!!!!!
Great video...question...because I don't have a full frame camera like you...can I still get away with 1 exposure in Photoshop because of the limited dynamic range of the sensor on my Canon EOS t6i. Really appreciate your vlog!
Thanks! It’ll be a little harder, mainly because of the dynamic range. You’ll potentially need two exposures. Try with the single first and worse case you’ll need to exposure blend.
@@WilliamPatinoPhotography Thanks again Will have a good day today!
Great explanation. Thanks
You're welcome!
Another superb video - full of solid tips. Thanks you Will! 🙏
Hey Will. I just found this video and I really do appreciate it. Gave it a "Thumbs Up"!! My question - and I've never seen this addressed "comfortably" for me - is how to view the sun without causing damage to your eyes. We've been taught since we were wee ones to never, ever look straight into the sun. How to best do that? Through the view finder? Live View? And at the same time achieve proper and sharp tack focus? And it would seem to be different between a sunrise and a sunset - I'm thinking of the huge balls os un we oftener see at sunset vs. the smaller ones at sunrise. Can you suggest a solution or a work process? Thanks agains for a really great video. Keep these coming!
Thanks mate. You don't look directly at the sun, it's still just going to be in your peripheral vision. No need to look straight at it. Keep in mind, when it's close to the horizon it is weaker due to the surface area it is dispersing light, so you can look at it briefly for sure. For focus, just check my other videos addressing that. Cheers :)
Thank you very much and I appreciate you getting back to me so quickly with this helpful information! Best wishes.@@WilliamPatinoPhotography
love it
Thanks!
Thank for the insights Will
No worries Jane. Thanks :)
Which would give you more dynamic range, ETTR and one stop under exposed, or using Exposure Bracketing?
Bracketing can always capture more because you’re taking more than one frame, but you need to rely on more work in post. Most modern sensors are more than fine to expose to the right and reveal details in post. I haven’t bracketed for dynamic range in many years.
@@WilliamPatinoPhotography I have an old camera that has an HDR in-camera processing feature so will try that and see how that compares for backlight scenes with ETTR and One stop underexposing. Thanks for your feedback.
Thanks, I've been hesitant because of fear of burning out the Sencor.
No worries!
Brilliant! Thank you. ✌️
How do you deal with sun flares? Even with a lens hood when I shoot into the sun I get large lens flares. I have a DSLR, are mirror less cameras better at dealing with lens flares?
Every lens is different but unfortunately many cheaper lenses get bad flares. Try having less sun hit the lens, especially if it’s higher above the horizon it’ll be much worse.
Wow. It seems I found a channel where it is explained in clear language how to do what I want. It often happens that you see one thing and want to capture it, but it turns out to be garbage. And I feel like a dog - I understand, but I can’t say it) Thank you so much for the video. Great job. Like and subscribe.
Haha, thanks a lot. Keep getting out there and it will all come together for you soon. I appreciate the support and hope you enjoy the rest of my channel :)
High Will, great video thank you. (1) Are you using Lightroom Classic? (2) Has your whole Seascape video been done using the latest version of LR please Will?
Hi Les. I primarily use Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) as shown in this video. This is what I use in the seascape course. However, as you can see in this video, the layout and design is almost identical as LR and it’s easy to transfer techniques between the two. Thanks :)
Thank you very much Will.
@@WilliamPatinoPhotography I was scrolling through the comments to find something about this. Is there a reason why you use ACR over LR or is it more habit or personal preference?
@@RossHa1e complete personal preference. I like just using and know one program and also prefer the simple layout of ACR. I also prefer to save my own raw files manually via a simple drag and drop, so I have no need for LRs cataloguing. As far as the art is concerned, there’s literally no difference and I can get the same results using either program, which is great from a teaching perspective.
@@WilliamPatinoPhotography I was hoping that was your answer. I use LR for my portraits and it makes more sense when dealing with a lot of images to use LR. I just had to make sure I wasn't making my landscape photography harder by not using ACR. Thanks for your time
Great job
Is it necessary to shoot in the morning or evening to photograph sunrises or sunsets? It's inconvenient to my schedule.
Hey Will, when shooting landscape photos like you were just doing at the beach is it better to use a larger aperture as in F 16,F 11 or should you use a smaller aperture’s F5,F6 or F7. Definitely enjoy your videos keep up the good work.
Hey Paul :) The f-stop is all about your depth of field, and whether you have something near to you, as well as something far away in the frame. If that’s the case, you’ll want a narrow aperture like F/11, F/16 etc however if you are shooting a scene that is ‘flat’ then the f-stop is somewhat irrelevant and you can’t go wrong. An example of that could be a mountain peak several miles away where you have nothing close to you. Hope that helps. In this video because I had the flax close to me as well as the stacks in the distance, then F/16 was required to be sharp all the way through. Hope that helps!
I'm assuming you can do all of this with Lightroom as well? I'm learning editing technics it's new to me.
Yeah mate. Check some of my processing videos which work both in PS and LR 👊🏻
Very helpful! Enjoyed this. I have been so disappointed with the lack of dynamic range in modern cameras. 😫Even when I shoot raw & process the photos the colors never seem to look as natural as my iPhone colors. I think if I could figure out a consistent editing style to quickly edit photos I’ll stick with photography, but otherwise I feel ready to give up until cameras evolve. Once I have more money I’m hoping to order your course.
Thanks Mel. You need to keep in mind that the iPhone does an auto edit on all images and video and even auto exposure blend to handle the dynamic range. With our digital cameras and RAW files, we need to bring out those details later in processing. More work but far greater detail and results are possible. Once you get the knack of editing and develop your own workflow it gets way easier and more rewarding :)
@@WilliamPatinoPhotography yes I think I just need to find a consistent editing style that looks natural & is fast. Your videos help a lot!
inspiring, thank you.
Thank you 🙏🏻
I´d like to save this video to my digital shelf to see it again, but I cannot. Can you activate the saving? Thanks.
Love your ethos too of don’t force it… sometimes you forsake enjoyment of the moment because of the desperation to get an image, which is so counterproductive … I think I’m having another shift in mindset 🙂
100% Thanks so much Fi!
West Coast usa or Australia.. probably Australia based on accent and plants. Beautiful none the less.
West Coast, South Island New Zealand.
Speaking of lights and sunset, I have a question. Do you know of a photo of/with a sunset that shows the sun red as we see it? Do you know how to shoot it? All of mine show just a white overburn circle (a very, very light very very bright golden at best, if you care to think about it that way ) and I think all the others I've seen as well.
How do you know the image is sharp though? The trouble I have is when exposing for the highlights the shadows are so dark I can't tell if it's in focus?!
Zoom and check the line where the shadows meet the sky 😅
@WilliamPatinoPhotography ok thanks William I'll try that!
found this super helpful - but why use a linear gradient mask instead of a mask that clips the whole sky?
Because a sky will naturally be lighter toward the horizon (because it is further away) but a complete sky selection will include the horizon, which means you will be darkening that portion along with the top, creating an unrealistic result. Those selections can also create halos around edges. Way easier to use a brush IMO.
Awesome
Thank you 🙏🏻
I'd like to know how you got outta there in the dark!
Wait until sunrise 😂🤪
Hey bud you reckon there is vid in the works to see what gear you use ?? Cheers
Hey, I made one for my newsletter subscribers which you can find here: ua-cam.com/video/GSnFQ3CnGb8/v-deo.html
How about extreme dynamic range?
You’d need to shoot two exposures and blend them. Pretty rare scenario with todays modern sensors, but if your camera is older with less dynamic range you’ll need to blend.
Really good
Thank you 🙏🏻
Correct Single Shot Exposure: Chose your desired Aperture, Set Metering Mode to Highlights and ISO at 100, and then adjust SS until exposure is at 0 EV.
💕💕
I tried using my Sony 90mm f2.8 into a red setting sun - It ended up looking like one of those optician's eyeball scans, but created some weird images. Broke all the rules, but hey!!!
You’re missing one piece of critical kit. Mozzie spray.
hehe, that's for sure!
When I think hdr, I think a tone mapped image, not a sky exposure and a foreground exposure.
PROBABLY a dumb question but ND? No ND?
Handy if you are shooting in brighter light, don't want to close the f-stop down too much or prefer even longer exposures. I don't use any myself.
@@WilliamPatinoPhotography I appreciate it buddy. PROBABLY for video tho?
@@BoReynolds Yeah you want one for video so you can maintain the right shutter/frame rate.
I love the overall video presentation! No interest in the Grylls style stuff.
would be good if you brought the music level down in future vids so it's not distracting from your narration
This video is 2 years old and the recent ones have certainly evolved.
Dope video an in depth explanation but you could’ve just said „expose for the highlights“ and be done in one sentence instead of 20 minutes 😅
You didn’t say what you expoed for, I am assuming the sky.
Sorry. Yes, the highlights.
3:45
If people photobombed your shots while walking on the beach, that would have sucked. It's a nice secluded area, a rare thing now days in the United States. Everyone seems to want to be a photographer now days, even if they only have a smartphone to take photos.
I've got so many cheese on my photography 😅
We've all been there 😅
Don't know if you've seen it Wil, but Joel Grimes' video on bracketing and processing those three files in HDR 32-bit might interest you. Check it out at - ua-cam.com/video/z4HYksU_7Tg/v-deo.html All the best mate.
Thanks mate. I much prefer to work from the single file, given the dynamic range we have in the modern cameras. Way faster. I use to blend 2-3 files back in the day though, with the early digital cameras. Cheers.
You lost me at "great ball of fire". (Astronomer of 9 years). Please read what the sun is made up of... 🙄
Obviously a figure of speech, probably wouldn’t have had the same impact if I mentioned hydrogen, helium, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen 😅