Weekly #440 - Fog! Competition

What an excellent set of images to ponder through, excellent stuff!

So without further ado, here are the results!

Visibility: Poor - Perspicador
Don’t you just wish the birds were sharp and in focus! Looking at your EXIF I see you were shooting at 1/500s so I can only guess you were panning quickly? Is that a heron I spy at the bottom of the frame?

Pennine Pea Souper – Davidtrout
Oo! Bags of atmosphere and I love this scene! It’s like a snap shot back in time and goes to show sometimes the best picture of the day isn’t the one that you (and all the togs on the bridge) were looking to take!

Ice Fog: On the Prairie, Canada – JudithAnn
Simple, minimalistic and very artistic! It’s a very personal thing but I’m not sure if a crop is in order to bring the tree back onto the third and maybe do away with the shadow? I like your write up, must be awesome to see but not to drive through! A very nice shot.

Vanishing Point – Tyronet2000
I like the semi silhouetted figures! I have this vision in my head when looking at this of soldiers in a World War off to battle along the beaches of Europe. I think a letterbox crop would suit here as I don’t think you need all that foreground. But that’s just my opinion and others could disagree!

Miner’s Cottage, Muckleford – iBerg
Why don’t I live near these great locations! The image almost looks painted, like a gel ink has been used. Love the location and the composition.

Eerie low lying island fog – Bigsturgeon
That is some eerie fog! Must have been great to see, I’ve only seen something like that once when with SteveEveritt and co by Tintern Abbey when we came back down into the valley. There is a small bit that irks me and that is the piece of jetty that’s just visible to the far right of the main jetty on show. Again why don’t I live near these great locations!

Hope Valley – AndrewA
Love seeing low lying fog like this. If you’re in it then it’s not spectacular but if you above it and looking down then it’s so much better! Just noticed the 2 pheasants there! Its strange as your eyes are thinking too much saturation in the foreground as fog and saturation don’t go hand in hand but of course we’re above the fog level so your eyes are tricked!

Fog Across Road – JAK
Not sure if this image has a touch of magenta to it, you can see it in the white lines and the fog. Having said that I like this! Like the road acting as a big lead in line with a vanishing point deep in fog.

Fog in the valley – Pipinmels
You live here! What! That’s just unfair! Love this fog! And then mountains! It’s like looking at an image that’s in heaven above the clouds. That mountain could be a little sharper though, I know you’re fighting the haze in the atmosphere but maybe a quick clarity brush over it would of zapped it?

Highwood river hoar frost – Shaylou
Ah, the K200D! An unsung hero in todays new DLSR line up. A bit closer to home and it’s a belter, really like the foreground interest and then the frozen river meandering into the frame where the fog just softens everything up. With the fog and the limited palette of colours in the frame it just oozes coldness.

Above the fog – ArsenAl
Wow! That looks thick fog and it really separates the image into 2 halves. That must have been one of them moments where you say to yourself “That slog up the hill to get here was worth it!” What a vista, I see its 2 frames stitched into 1 using a fish eye? Any reason why you chose the fisheye?

A walk among the dead – Noelcmn
A very eerie image with the fog and the head stones. The man walking into the frame really works as I’m wondering who he is, where he is going and what’s with the location. Damn them pylons, why couldn’t they have disappeared as without them this image (in my eyes) would be soo much better.

Scottish Dawn – JohnRiley
Well I’d be happy waking up and seeing that lovely scene in front of me! The lighting is lovely and soft and delicate and the fog really makes the scene have a magical feeling to it. I did scroll the screen to remove bottom foreground and it did bring the white building down a little in the frame. Now that’s just me and my opinion, others may say “shuurup!

The fog on the Tyne – Stephen-S
Isn’t that the name of a song?! Love that road and the bridge and then the car headlights streaking their way along it, very well seen. It’d be interesting to see how the image looked in colour as if the fog is dense then mono can work well but if the fog is subtle then it can looks like it’s had the contrast knocked out of it and the fog doesn’t come over well. Another great photo location nowhere near me

View from my door (archived) – Ken2390
Happy days catching a nice foggy scene from your own door, some could call that lazy lol! There are a few bits bugging me, the vignetting top right of the frame and the buildings bottom right and bottom left. Nice colour in the sky though!

Fog Lifting – Visibility almost 149.6 million km – Drofmit
Love it when the sun is trying to shine through the fog giving the foggy sky detail and a focus point. I really like that line of trees to the left of the frame leading your eye into the scene. That bit at the bottom I’m not to keen on with the hedgerow and fencing poles and I tried to crop it out but it isn’t doable so sometimes you just have to roll with what you’re given.

Third place - Fog in the Valley - Pipinmels
2nd place - Highwood river hoar frost – Shaylou
1st place - Pennine Pea Souper – Davidtrout

So many H.C's but stand out H.C's for me were JudithAnn, ArsenAl & JAK

Well done the placings and to the judge and thanks for the HC. Re the magenta cast, it was early morning light with the sun low down so it will have a natural reddish tint in the same way a sunset photo has too. Compensating to give a normal daylight colour balance wouldn't look right or reflect the scene as it was! A sunrise/sunset picture without reddish clouds would somehow look wrong and fog, of course, is just a ground level cloud.

Thanks for the comments Gareth - come out and have a look for yourself any time! Happy to show you round some of the sights.

Congrats to David, Shaylou and Pipinmels for the placings, and to the HCs also.

Thanks for the win Gareth, it came as a surprise because there was a very strong entry all round with several possible winners. You did a great job with your comments and posting the results up very quickly.
Congrats to the other award winners, Shaylou, Pippinmels, Judithann, ArsenAl and JAK..
The next subject will be posted later this morning.
David

Congrats to David...
I'd love to see a real engine steamin' its way under that classic bridge...
loomin' out of the fog!!
Congrats also to to the podia and HCs... I really liked the minimalism of JudithAnn's tree...
and thanks to Gareth for a speedy set of comments!

Happy festivities all...
don't forget to look for "alternative view" pictures for the December Monthly!!

Congratulations to the winner and other places. Thanks to cardiffgareth for the interesting subject the judging and comprehensive comments Agree with the letterbox crop.

Fantastic winning image, full of atmosphere as noted, and also an eerie feel to it. Congratualtions David, and extended to Shaylou and Pipinmels and the HC's. This challenge is loaded with awesome images, and I am glad I did not have to judge this one. Thanks Gareth for a super duper challenge, I enjoyed looking at everyone of the images here and thralled at the quality. And for the judging and commenting exercise- always appreciated.