Finally some photos from my Tokina 12-24

[toriaj]

I've had this lens for several months, but because of the gloomy winter weather I haven't used it. I finally got some shots this weekend! I'm very pleased with it. The wide angle seemed very natural. It was still really wet outside and I didn't feel like crawling in the snow, so I didn't get any really creative shots, but I still like these ones. What do you think?

You can also see the green rock here in the 2nd picture, on the right. I really wanted to raise the brightness of the black trees, but they seemed to be so dark that there just wasn't any info there. 15mm, 1/80 sec., f/16, ISO 400, CP
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3467/3380277219_394da51a22_b.jpg

24mm, 1/100 sec., f/16, ISO 400, CP
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3432/3380257337_ef7be29fe5_b.jpg

[XaiLo]

Those are pretty Toriaj. :)

[ooverdrive]

Love the first one Tori,the shot was well balanced with that green rock.

[Prospero]

Very nice pictures, Tori.
Great lighting and composition. I like the second picture best; the perspective in that one is great.
The only thing I can think of that can be improved is the croocked horizon in the first.

If you want the black trees to be brighter, you could try to shoot in ISO200 instead. I find that when I shoot at 200, I get a lot more dynamic range than at ISO400.

[Rooz]

ditto. wonderful scenes. what a beautiful palce you live in tor.

[Visual Reality]

Those look great, a few things:

The second one has some color cast to it - possibly introduced by your CP. Looks like the snow has some grey/magenta/brown in it.

Also try using f/11. At those focal lengths it probably will give you the same DoF as f/16 but should be a little sharper. Will also let you drop your ISO quite a bit, you should be shooting near 100 if possible. If you address these things I think the quality will come up even a little more, the Tokina 12-24 has certainly helped already.

[herc182]

Great shots and amazing landscapes....are you using a polarisor?

Also, the clouds in the first one are slightly burnt out (and the second to a lesser extent). I would recommend grads for this lens.

Also, the time of day would make it harder to stop burning the clouds out (I assume it was taken around midday or just after?).

The composition is top notch, and the subject beautiful. Looking forward to more shots from you with this lens :D

[Benjamin2007]

Congratulations Tori on being able to get out and shoot with the 12-24, the last few northern winter months seemed to pass slowly. I know how you've been itching to get out & start shooting with the Tokina! :)

I love the colours and reflections in both photo's (I thought the colour caste that VR has noted was simply cloud shadow...:o). I love the composition in the 2nd photo as it seems to convey a better sense of depth. I agree with Prospero's & Visual Reality's comments on aperture and ISO.

I really look forward to seeing more as the snow melts and the weather warms up for you! :)

cheers,

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

I love that 2nd image Tor and I'd have shot it at F/16 like you did. Having the foreground twigs in focus is important to my enjoyment and yet keeping the midground sharp as a tack. Wonderfull.

[Prospero]

The second one has some color cast to it - possibly introduced by your CP. Looks like the snow has some grey/magenta/brown in it.


I hadn't noticed the color cast yet, but now that you mention it I see it.
I think it caused by the way the D50 clips highlights. I have once read that highlights in the D50 may get a magenta cast, because some colour channels are blown out earlier than others.

[toriaj]

Thanks everyone! I'm glad you like them. Thanks for the comments about the ISO400 (my D50 only goes down to ISO200) but it makes sense about the dynamic range. I still had it on 400 where I had been taking some portraits. Where, incidentally, I saw the same issue that eyes that were very dark just couldn't be lightened, there wasn't any color detail there. I definitely didn't need a 1/80 shutter speed with my WA, so ISO 200 would have been better. Next time!

Dennis, I agree about the crooked horizon, I thought it was crooked, then I'd say no, it's not, and decided to leave it. But you confirmed, it really is crooked :)

When it comes to the color cast in the snow, by any chance do you mean the "furry" brownish areas on the snow? Those are actually bare trees. But hearing about a possible magenta cast in the D50 is interesting, that might be true, I've noticed something like that. And I probably could bring out more detail in the clouds, they weren't blown in the original but my processing lightened them a lot. I didn't think about using one of my grad filters, (gee I seem to be out of practice! :p) good idea though. Can't wait for next time. It was a warm day Saturday, yesterday we were back to freezing and falling snow. Here's hoping spring comes to stay one of these days!

[craigyc]

Excellent shots! The scenery where you live is breathtaking and the UWA lens captures it very well! looking forward to seeing more shots with it the future.

[TheWengler]

Nice shots! The only thing that bothers me about these shots is the highlights. I'd like to see a little more detail. Soft grad might have done the trick. I can't believe you kept that thing shelved for so long. Someday I'm going to make it up there!

[Cyberwlf]

UWAs can be hard to master, but it's a good start there. I know personally I still have much to learn about my Tokina UWA, but i do enjoy using it!

[Suprpntr]

I own this lens and think very highly of it.


Great pics!