Harvest in Kagbeni, Mustang

After several attemps, with low contrast scanning and sector wise

levels adjustment it was possible to get good details in the bright

snow mountains as well as in the dark shadows of this photo. This

was possible thanks to the high content of information available on

the Kodak Gold 100 film. I have still to find out how to get similar

results with the Canon EOS 5D. Any suggestions how to get the

dynamic range necessary for this kind of photos with the digital

camera? Thanks for your support. Karl

Karl, nice effort, really like it. Try using Neutral Density grad filters and better film (like fuji velvia 50/100). Less lattitude in the film but sharper and more subtle colour, ND grad will sort out the sky.

Digitals, as 5D or APS- sized sensor DSLR, have a latitude like hard slide film. I try to cope with that issue with exposure bracketing (for this shot, impossible to realize because of movement). For landscapes, you can make three shots, exposed for the highlights and 1 EV, +2 EV, with RAW, work with 16 bit/channel TIFF ang get decent results. I am not sure if you can get the same quality as with film and high quality scan (possibly, different scans for highlights and shadows, as composites).

 

This is an excellent panoramic, thanks for sharing

I wish I could advise you how to do what ever you want with digital, but I can't. I can only learn from you :) Great image you have here, much more then just a beautiful landscape.

very well done

Hallo Karl,

Auf der Digitalen Seite hast du in dem Fall noch keine Chance. Du m�sstest das Bild mehrmals machen - damit die Berge richtig belichtet sind und dann die Leute und das Feld - dann mit Photoshop kombinieren - aber das ist bei bewegten Motiven unm�glich. Und auߥrdem hoffe ich, dass Hasselblad bald mal eine digitale Version der XPan bringt... das Format hat wirklich was...

Super Foto. Da kriege ich gleich weider Lust Richtung Nepal zu fliegen.

lg

 

Alex

By the way Alex, was it you who ordered the photos from beyond Thorong La? Here they are. The bill will follow ;-). Thanks for your encouragement. For me the XPan has magic proportions. If Hasselblad comes out with a digital version of the XPan, you have three options: Buy it or go three times to Nepal or win in the lotto.

Have you seen the shop keeper? I tried to copy your style. Karl

Hi James, "ND grad will sort out the sky." What I understand is that ND reduces the light. That means darker picture or slower speed. Both is not useful for most parts of this picture. Or do I not understnd well the effect of ND filters? Thanks for more explanation. Karl

Carsten, thanks for your very helpful advise. I have not yet started working with raw. Is it complicated to start? Can I work with Raw on Photoshop CS8? What about reducing the contrast in the 5D settings. Does this increase the dynamic range? Karl

Wonderful image! With nice scenary and human activities. Good take!

Karl, with CS8 you have Adobe Camera RAW (ACR), that works with 5D RAW. The ACR is flexible enough in most cases, but sometimes Capture One is better. For my 300D, I had the opportunity to buy a "budget version", the DRebel edition of C1, that is better than ACR. The full version of C1 is $$$, I would probably work with ACR on the 5D RAW. I would start with a soft 16 bit TIFF from RAW, tonal quality and dynamic range is indeed better than TIFFs from hard conversion settings. The 5D is said to have a quite decent dynamic range, but I guess it is far away from the latitude of film !

You can dodge the shadows nicely in RAW shots, but it looks horrible when upped more than 1 to 1,5 stops, especially from zone I / II.

There is no way round, exposure bracketing is most often the only satisfying way to good tonal quality, IMO. Especially in backlit situations or for other high dynamic range motifs you should try that with digitals. Luminous landscapes has an article about that here

Karl, this a wonderful slice of life with all its colour, texture and infinite DOF. You have managed to capture each individual in a different pose and portrayed a way of life much different than our own. Thankyou for the peek.

wunderbar.