My photo editing skills are sad at best, I am using Corel Paintshop Pro Ultimate, I have never attempted Exposure bracketing or Focus stacking, but am learning that these are essential tools, so below is my first attempt.. as always I am hoping for ways I can improve skills. is it over done? too much or not enough. Perhaps I should have changed the settings on the camera differently? I am thinking next time I need to take more 3 - 5 shots?
So the first one I exposed for the sky
Pentax K3ii 11/9/2020 at 6am
f/11
30 sec
ISO 100
18mm
The second (only took two shots)
Pentax K3ii 11/9/2020 at 6:01
f/13
25sec
ISO 800
18mm
The third is the two merged and edited in Paintshop pro
Hey Buddy, to start I am not very good at exposure bracketing at all, and as you know with me I'm a less is more kinda guy. So all that being said here's my thoughts.
First of all I don't think it's too far off. But I think the foreground should be a bit darker, keep the light value relative. Usually foregrounds are much darker than the sky and try to maintain that in editing. Namely the upper right portion of the rocks in this case.
Second I could be wrong but I think trying to keep the iso and aperture the same through each image if possible to keep image quality high.
Third and this is me being me haha a grad ND filter probably would've been all you need in this particular scene. But that's more money. Im weird I just use a tiffen screw in grad and it works decent in a lot of cases, but they make the filter kits too.
So that's my thoughts. On the scene itself, I love it, great catch. Must've been a beautiful evening. Keep em coming Bud.
Nice blend Buddy. I agree with Jeremy that the land in the blend looks a little too bright to fit the sky. Consider adding some of the land in the sky exposure to the bottom of the frame.
Thanks, yes I can use the ND filters, but my goal is to learn the other methods, thanks for the feedback!