Marietta Sand Prairie: I took a short trip last night to get a twilight shot at an isolated sand prairie preserve nearby. Does the sun flare in the lower right hurt this too much? What...

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

I took a short trip last night to get a twilight shot at an isolated sand prairie preserve nearby. Does the sun flare in the lower right hurt this too much? What else could be done to improve on it?

Walt

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Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Love the sun rays, love all the flower varieties. Great low angle. Are you sure this wasn't sun rise, Walt?

Not loving the pale sky. Maybe darken or crop such as below? Flare doesn't bother me in your original because there is so much of it: becomes part of the charm.

I would clone out the poles and wires, and I might try lightening some of the foreground flowers that are in line of the rays.

I used a quick crop from Chromebook app so couldn't clone out the flare in my edit; but I would remove in this particular crop. Regarding cropping the tree from right side: lowering the sky cut off part of the tree, but I also like the idea of not having anything taller or "bulkier" than the flowers in the front portion.

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

Whuff wrote:

I took a short trip last night to get a twilight shot at an isolated sand prairie preserve nearby. Does the sun flare in the lower right hurt this too much? What else could be done to improve on it?

Walt

Hi, Walt,
I have a high threshold of distraction by and distaste for flare, No optical system is immune to it. It's mere testimony to light direction that serves the image so well in all (other?) aspects.. Shop out those poles on the horizon, and stick a fork in it.
I do like it...and think that I feel what you felt when you made it!

Dave

Frank2013 Loc: San Antonio, TX. & Milwaukee, WI.

Can't look at it long enough to figure out how it could be improved without being blinded Walt.

Mark7829 Loc: Calfornia

There is a lot to like here, wonderful flowers, colors and alike. However, the technique is lacking IMO and that is just a matter of time for skill sets to develop. Shooting directly into the sun is challenging if not catastrophic. Options include an ND gradient filter, to shooting underexposed and resolving shadows issues in post. But I see opportunity none the less. The there are two trees along the horizon. They could have been used to block the sun in part and even render a star. It is regardless a wonderful shot.

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

Linda From Maine wrote:

Love the sun rays, love all the flower varieties. ... (show quote)

Yeah, the poles and wires bother me too in this pic but I'm afraid cloning them out is beyond my capability at this time. The pale sky is much better than the original which was nearly washed out by the sun. I'm not sure if I can bring it out more without causing some really ugly ring around the sun, and you know this wasn't a sunrise.

Walt

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

Uuglypher wrote:

Hi, Walt,
I have a high threshold of distraction by and distaste for flare, No optical system is immune to it. It's mere testimony to light direction that serves the image so well in all (other?) aspects.. Shop out those poles on the horizon, and stick a fork in it.
I do like it...and think that I feel what you felt when you made it!

Dave

Yeah, I'm gonna have to learn how to clone stuff out and probably gonna need a program capable of doing that (other than Gimp, which I don't have the capability of learning). It's been on my computer for 4 years and I don't know why cause I can't even do the simplest stuff with it.

Walt

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

Frank2013 wrote:

Can't look at it long enough to figure out how it could be improved without being blinded Walt.

Must be the sun getting in your eyes.

Walt

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

Mark7829 wrote:

There is a lot to like here, wonderful flowers, co... (show quote)

Hmm. I'll have to consider investing in a gradient filter. That's a technique I hadn't considered. I do have a 10 stop filter but it wouldn't have added anything to the image and would have probably hurt it due to the longer shutter time contributing to movement of the foliage. Thank you for your input.

Walt

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Whuff wrote:

I took a short trip last night to get a twilight shot at an isolated sand prairie preserve nearby. Does the sun flare in the lower right hurt this too much? What else could be done to improve on it?

Walt

This is a really beautiful image in so many ways despite the various issues already pointed out by you and others. I just had to have a go at it. This is just a two minute fix in Macphun Snapheal and Intensify, could be better if more time spent (on original). I left the sun circle (and actually made it more pronounced) but got rid of the green stuff. The green lens flare is a deal breaker for me though I know of people who use filters to actually add it when it wasn't there to begin with, so it is all a matter of personal taste.

Avoiding it is best - using a lens hood, shielding with your hand or your hat, taking a different angle can all help. I saw a recent article where the photographer took two shots, one with his thumb over the sun, and blended them in post. I have never tried that but it sounded promising.

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Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

minniev wrote:

This is a really beautiful image in so many ways d... (show quote)

This is a huge improvement over mine Minnie. Losing the lens flare is the right call. Macphun is a program I'm not familiar with. I'll have to investigate it. I did use a lens hood but I doubt that I could stop the flare at the angle at which I was shooting without blocking part of the scene. Thank you for your work on this to show me the possibility.

Walt

Billyspad Loc: The Philippines

I liked it as soon as I saw it Walt and in has sorted it perfectly for you. Its a wall hanger for me fella.

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

Yes, get rid of the flare. Minnie's shot is great but she had a good reference point to work from.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Whuff wrote:

This is a huge improvement over mine Minnie. Losing the lens flare is the right call. Macphun is a program I'm not familiar with. I'll have to investigate it. I did use a lens hood but I doubt that I could stop the flare at the angle at which I was shooting without blocking part of the scene. Thank you for your work on this to show me the possibility.

Walt

There are many times I shoot knowing there's something I'm gonna have to get rid of in post either with PS or snapheal or both. A beautiful scene like this deserves to be captured and our software helps us overcome or at least mitigate the shortcomings of our equipment and the scenes themselves.

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

Billyspad wrote:

I liked it as soon as I saw it Walt and in has sorted it perfectly for you. Its a wall hanger for me fella.

Your comments left me kind of dumbfounded Billy. I expected you of all people to let me have it about how I needed to spend more time learning post processing to be able to fix the kind of things that were wrong with this photo. And you would be right. Minnie has shown me the error of my ways, so I had another go at it. Turns out I had more ability than I thought I did. I didn't realize there was a clone tool in Lightroom. I've used the spot removal tool before but didn't know there was a clone tool along with it. It was tedious work but I rid the photo of the power lines and poles and a couple of other things that I didn't like as well plus cloned out the ugly lens flare. It's still not perfect but I want to thank everyone here for all your comments and helpful hints.

Walt

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