Creative Practise Landscapes - Ex. 4 - Lighting and Dynamic Range

I used my Nikon D3500 and a tripod for each shot. I used centre-weighted average metering for both compositions becuase the sky is within the frame. The focus point for each image is in the centre and I used my camera's native ISO of 100.

Unedited shots - Composition 1:

27mm lens (without crop factor of 1.5x = 18mm). I adjusted the light stops by either increasing or decreasing the exposure compensation setting in my camera.

Correctly exposed (according to the centre-weighted metering mode I used):

Overexposed:

Shows the available stops of light on my camera between 1.5 and 2.3 stops.

After the comparison above I chose the overexposed by 2 stops -

Underexposed:

Shows the available stops of light on my camera between -1.5 and -2.3 stops.

After the comparison above I chose the underexposed by 2 stops -

Unedited shots - Composition 2:

105mm lens (without crop factor of 1.5x = 70mm). I adjusted the light stops by either increasing or decreasing the exposure compensation setting in my camera.

Correctly exposed (according to the centre-weighted metering mode I used):

Overexposed:

Shows the available stops of light on my camera between 1.5 and 2.3 stops.

After the comparison above I chose the overexposed by 1.7 stops shot -

Underexposed:

Shows the available stops of light on my camera between -1.5 and -2.3 stops.

After the comparison above I chose the underexposed by 1.7 stops shot -

Edited - Composition 1: 27mm lens

Original correctly exposed image -

I created the image below using the ‘correctly exposed’ photo and editing it in Photoshop using a luminosity mask and adjustments applied through that:

A composite image from the correctly exposed image + the under exposed image + the overexposed image:

1st:

2nd:

Edited - Composition 2: 105mm lens

Original correctly exposed image -

I created the image below using the ‘correctly exposed’ photo and editing it in Photoshop using a luminosity mask and adjustments applied through that:

A composite image from the correctly exposed image + the under exposed image + the overexposed image:

1st:

2nd:

This exercise was very interesting to undertake because I had never done editing like this before. I found it useful to now understand but I will continue to practise this editing skill.