Purity

Piano Grande is one of the most beautiful places we have visited. In summer, this area,

surrounded by the Monti Sibillini range is blanketed in wild flowers of many colours.

Unfortunately we visited too early for wildflowers but I was very pleased to visit during this

sunset.

Awesome shot Kah. The out stretching clouds really work well in the composition you chose. Did you wait around to take any long exposure shots? I've been contemplating getting either the 5D or the 1Ds Mark II. I'm torn. What would you suggest?

Thanks Will. Yeah of course I hung around to take more shots. The nearest real town which I used as a base was 40km away. The long exposure shots were not as good since the sun was setting in the opposite direction. IT was also very cold. As to whether to go the 5D or Mk1 I can't say as I have not used the latter. You will not be disappointed with the 5D for landscapes however. At the price it is hard to justify the Mk1 over the 5D unless you need the environmental sealing. I suspect the 5D is much easier to carry around especially overseas.

Great shot Kah. I can't pick any faults with this although the mountains have a strange 'smooth' look to them - could be natural of course. By the way, what do you think of the Cokin ND grads?

 

-Mike

Excelente encuadre, perfecta luz y color, con una bellisima composicion, un cordial saludo Kah,

Thank you Julio & Mike, this is one of my favourite landscapes and one day I will return when the entire plaine is covered with flowers. My experience with ND grads is limited only several months of use. I have only used Cokin 2 stop grads. MY main problem is that they are P series and cause external vignetting caused by visualisation of the filter holder itself at wide angles (over 24mm). Hence shots like this require me to handhold the filter. I have ordered the X-series kit which apparently do not have this problem but the filters are supposedly huge.

Kah, I have the X-Pro series holder and 2 GND filters. Yes they are huge and they are expensive! But they're worth it. No vignetting at all.

Will and Kah, I have the P series ND grads, no vignetting with my system but I'm not keen on the colour change that they can introduce. I'm not convinced they are actually neutral density and am thinking of trying something else, maybe Lee or Singh-Ray.

You may well be right Mike. I took some rainforest and waterfall shots last year and the colourchange in the leaves were very noticeable and the shots unsuseable. They seem fine for my seascapes though. I think Lee and Singhrays are hard to come by in Australia though ?

I have a Singh Ray 3 stop soft Grad ND for the X-Pro series. It works great, but it cost me $225 US dollars, and the ony place I know of that you get get them are at singhray.com

mmm looks like the Singh-Rays are out. Lee are available in Australia by ordering online which is how I get nearly all my camera gear. Either Adorama, KEH, MPEX usually stock most specialised items.

Fabulous landscape, the shape of the water surface fits nicely to the clouds curves. Gorgeous lighting and colors. Interesting discussion on Cokin NDs, had the same mixed results with them, some spoiled shots with awkward colors.

cool... love it much,,,

yeyeye. inspiration for some of my work ;)

Great images ... i've seen it on flickr ;)

 

m.