Ok, I've been wondering what is involved with getting that "3-d" look to landscape photos, and a quick shot taken tonight finally urged me to ask the pros. Whenever I come across impressive landscapes, such as this this meandering valley, any attempts I've made to capture it always come out flat and don't do the scene justice. This was taken with the 18-55 kit lens at 18mm.
Is the 3-d effect given by the lens being used, ie some lenses just make things 'pop' more? Is it a combination of settings?
Viewing this photo on my laptop, it'd be about like an 8x10 and to me, its rather unimpressive. Maybe it is the format I'm attempting to view it? What brings this up is if I zoom in on it, it doesn't look as bad. Maybe if it was cropped as a pano and printed to be well over 10 inches long, the details would come out and give that feeling? I've played with sharpness, brightness and contrast in PP some and saw slight improvements, but nothing significant.
If it is in the lens, an ultrawide is on the wishlist because when looking at a scene like this, I just can't quite catch things as I see them. There was actually a herd of cows grazing just to the left that completed the scene, but even at 18mm, it was either catch the cows or catch the valley. If there is a certain ultrawide that gives a better 3-d feel, I'd be interested to hear about it.
I know trying to show a half mile of depth in a photo which is printed in two dimensions, it is impossible to reproduce it exactly as seen in real life, but I see other's examples of comparible scenes that are significantly better.
Thanks in advance.
Eric