Inspiration from the pros

[John Maddock]

For those who haven't stumbled across this site already, there are some quite stunning (award winning in fact) landscapes from professional photographer Giorgio Trucco at http://gt-photography.com/portfolios.html

Actually, some of them are so good, they make me want to junk in the camera and give up!

Still, if you want to see how just how good a landscape photo can get I'd strongly recommend taking a look at these. They're definitely not snaps :-)

John.

[thekman620]

Some real beauties here! Thanks for the link John. It's been so long since I've clicked the shutter, that I'm not sure if I can even remember what to do. Friggin' rain...We had 27 days straight to tie the record, one day off, and now back to the crap again. Maybe we'll break the record this time.......cheers........thekman.

[LadyhawkVA]

Great link.

His work is intimidating(maybe I should just trash my gear!) and inspiring(man, I've got to learn how to do that!).

I'm sure I'll be visiting that site again.

[VP]

Beautiful work! Very humbling.....but Ifeel that way here most of the time.

[Tullio]

Hi John, thanks for sharing the link. There are some very impressive photos, no doubt. However, most have been heavily edited and manipulated, specially the colors. But, Ansel Adams did the same with his B&W work!!! I love his compositions and themes.

[John Maddock]

Tullio: I don't believe those images are heavily manipulated, in fact I'd be surprised if they're manipulated at all (see http://gt-photography.com/process.html ). I do note however that he uses Fuji Velvia as film stock which is well known for producing hyper-saturated colours (almost all pro landscape photographers use it for that very reason). To get anything like the same effect with a digicam you would have to do some manipulation: some folks sell "digital velvia filters" which are supposed to mimic the effect of this film stock, but I don't know how successful they are.

I've been thinking a bit about what sets images like this apart: and it's the clarity and tone of the light. Really getting that moment in the golden hour at the end of the day when the light is just perfect for the shot is what really makes a lot of the difference. This is where you have to decide whether you're a walker who takes the best pictures he can when the opportunity presents, or a photographer who plans the shot, and then sits and waits (for days if necessary!) until the light is just perfect for the composition.

I know which camp I'm in: I'll give you a clue, I'm not known for being patient :-)

Regards, John.

[Tullio]

Hi John, perhaps the problem lies on my cheap cameras. I can hardly obtain a quality photo like that without the aid of Photoshop or Picasa so I just assumed his photos were edited. I'm with you, meaning I fall into the same category. Some times when I'm coming to work and I see a beatiful sunrise, I park the car and wait until the colors are just right (to my taste, of course) to take a picture. All in all...say 15 minutes?!? Maybe one day after retirement I'll have the luxury to sit and wait for nature to do its tricks so I can capture it with my camera. Oh, with a much better equipment, hopefully.

[JakeTPegg]

John and others, some good free photoshop actions are available here http://www.thelightsright.com/

and one of them is a digital velvia action with various levels and adjustments, works fantastically.



Regards



Jake

PS One has to realize that post processing IS necessary and correct for digital photography, and not cheating. Canon themselves mention that they produce their cameras in a way that one HAS to post-process

[John Maddock]

Thanks for the link and tip, unfortunately you can't use actions, or LAB colour mode in Photoshop Elements, so no joy for me this time Pity as that looks like a really good resource.

John.