January Drive on the Central Oregon Coast

[Longhiker]

January and February can be a real mixed bag for weather on the coast. Typically there are storms, driving rain, chilly weather, and sometimes a bit of ice. And then, on the odd day here and there, blue skies with moderate temps (50's to 60's) and no wind can be a sudden treat. This last Friday was one of those pleasant days.

Some out of town visitors are staying over for a few days so we decided to take a drive to the coast to see the sights, sample some fine wines at some of the wineries on the way, and have some great seafood for lunch.

I really want the new Fuji long telephoto to help for shots like these as I had to do some pretty severe cropping to focus on what I wanted to show. The 55-200 is a nice lens, but just not enough when the subject is so far away.

[Frank Fremerey]

Wonderfully dyamic an lively nature shots. Great lighting and framing!

[Bjørn Rørslett]

I do agree with Frank that the framing of the shots is good. Certainly one gets the impression of wild nature here. However, the cropping leads to a perceivable loss of image quality (an issue that a longer lens probably had solved). The posted images all share a curious dullness in contrast and colours. I have no idea whether the weather conditions, camera technology, or processing, separately or in combination rendered the scenery in this manner. Perhaps there is a mismatch in colour profiles as well? As I already stated, I sense trouble but without the opportunity of pointing the the exact cause.

[Seapy]

As I already stated, I sense trouble but without the opportunity of pointing the the exact cause.

A little increase in mid-tone contrast helps a lot?

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Certainly does, but such adjustmens really need to be carried out early in the processing stage, preferably directly on the RAW files.

[Seapy]

Certainly does, but such adjustmens really need to be carried out early in the processing stage, preferably directly on the RAW files.

I understand that, about my first visit with an image is to Levels, but just saying...

[Bjørn Rørslett]

The 'Curves' tool is much more versatile than 'Levels' ...

[Longhiker]

Thanks for the advice. I had the same sense of the difficulty with contrast. It was a very flat, overcast day with some haze starting. I am keenly looking at adding a longer lens to my kit. It is sorely missing. Either the Fuji 100-400 or the Nikon 200-500 would help vastly and am painfully aware of this. Unfortunately I had to make some severe crops to focus on the points of interest which really degraded quality, but that's just the way it goes sometimes. My list of desired tools exceeds my working funds. So, I can only add a bit at a time.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

You might try to reprocess a few of your files with the intention of working through Curves tool or similar. Careful processing really can make a difference.

I'm well aware that your dilemma of not having the reach you required is not solved that way, but reprocessing makes one gain experience in how to positively affect the outcome.

[Longhiker]

Thanks I'll do that. I did work on them a bit, but fell short. There's always so much for me to learn. I'm afraid that some of the really severe crops are just never going to get any better and I'll just have to take another shot at it when I've got a longer lens and the light is a little better. I was using my little X-E1 as it was a fast family sightseeing trip. If I had used my D800, there would have been more material to work with.

[Longhiker]

Here's another bit of adjustment that hopefully brightens things up a bit.

[Frank Fremerey]

Bob: which RAW-converter did you use? Since I switched from CaprureNX2 to Photo Ninja I feel my edits get better from the start

[Frank Fremerey]

Thanks I'll do that. I did work on them a bit, but fell short. There's always so much for me to learn. I'm afraid that some of the really severe crops are just never going to get any better and I'll just have to take another shot at it when I've got a longer lens and the light is a little better. I was using my little X-E1 as it was a fast family sightseeing trip. If I had used my D800, there would have been more material to work with.

I was talking to a professional from Switzerland who switched from Nikon to Olympus. Her said. With the small formats and less pixels it is all about framing, because there is no leverage to crop.

[Longhiker]

I use the RAW converter in Photoshop. I'm thinking about trying some others as I've heard the PhotoNinja and Capture One are well thought of.

You're right about no margin for error. With the APS-C sensor at 16 megapixels you have to be careful. I think it does just fine in most cases, it's just that there isn't the room to do severe cropping. Any problems with my photos are not the fault of the hardware or software, but my implementation.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

I hear PhotoNinja is claimed to be  very good with the Fuji RAW files, ACR not so good. I borrowed Sten's X-T1 (when he obviously was in a Fuji cycle within his recurring back-and-forth switching between systems) and ran the RAF files through an earlier version of PhotoNinja with excellent results. However, as my experience in this area is limited, take with a pinch of salt.

PhotoNinja is an idiosyncratic conversion program and the learning curve can be steep in  the beginning. On the flip side it can deliver stunning results unparalleled by other programs.