A bit of Welsh snow

Had a trip down to Snowdonia today after the recent snowfall, not great weather but took a couple of shots...all C&C appreciated

Simon

[IMG]http://www.landscapephotographyuk.com/images/snowdon-snow-winter-dawn-snowdonia-2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.landscapephotographyuk.com/images/snow-capped-snowdon-snowdonia-G108380.jpg[/IMG]


[IMG]http://www.landscapephotographyuk.com/images/pen-yr-olwen-llyn-idwal-devils-kitchen.jpg[/IMG]

I think the first two (like many of my photos, I have to admit) suffer from a very common wide-angle composition failure, namely the "find something to stick in the foreground" syndrome.

With wide angle, you absolutely have to have something in the foreground, else everything looks so far away that it's not interesting.

But unless the choice of foreground contains interest in its own right, and also leads, somehow coherently, to the mid- and back- ground, I think the composition is ultimately unsatisfying, and that's what I think is wrong with 1 and 2. The rocks are too featureless, random, and unconnected with the rest of the frame to make the ploy successful. The backgrounds are nice, but not strong enough either, I think.

I like the third one. Even though it's next to impossible to really capture the height and depth with such scenes, it does convey the cold and general bleakness of such terrain in bad weather. The mountain, finally, although far away, is shown in its true dominance. And anyone that's spent any time at all on the fells will be able to relate to the photo immediately, so it does its job.

Thanks for the comments Chris....

Must admit I was caught a little on 1 & 2, wanted to make sure there was foreground interest but realised that the waterline was a bit central...in the end I thought I'd stick with the foreground, also thought that the heavily rippled water might help :shrug: ...

I also have a similar shot "zoomed in" with no foreground and a small amount of water, doesn't work quite so well for me though

To be honest I was really hoping for reflections of Snowdon in the lake, it's quite rare that the weather allows it though so I was a bit optimistic

the 3rd shot is taken in my favourite location in North Wales, the Glyderau Mountains behind Ogwen...shot from around 1500ft, nice walk to get there too !!

Simon