A mostly grey day.

Well as Martin has thrown the fortnightly comp wide open & is demanding our best shot ever, I thought I'd best use my spare time today & get out to take some pics !

Unfortunately a grey day today wasn't the most inspiring. That being said, I've returned home & processed a fair few that I'll be keeping. More than usual for me actually, as I'm pretty selective before I press the shutter.

With the exception of the first shot & my possible comp entry (under wraps) the rest have looked better in black & white. I thought I'd share a few for some critique as I'm not sure about my B&W conversion technique & am always open to composition suggestions.

Kept this as colour as the green moss is really popping.

[IMG]http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q105/RR76/moss.jpg[/IMG]


Silly place to park the car !

[IMG]http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q105/RR76/car.jpg[/IMG]



Cefn Coed Viaduct, shot with the fisheye & cropped square to emphasise distortion.

[IMG]http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q105/RR76/ccv.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q105/RR76/cvv2.jpg[/IMG]



The sky only started to break late evening, so I rushed to a local-ish spot on common ground that I'd been thinking about shooting for a while. I didn't know the correct route so arrived with little time to spare. After fighting off the attentions of a golden retriever & over-friendly dog walker I started to setup my tripod. I was busy changing lenses, setting tripod level & adjusting settings when one almighty equine exhalation very nearly gave me a heart attack ! I managed to get some shots in before it generally made a nuisance of itself & stood between me & my foreground interest !

It was a mighty good looking horse though, so I whipped out the Sigma 30mm to take a few close portrait shots !

[IMG]http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q105/RR76/horse2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q105/RR76/horse.jpg[/IMG]


I stayed a little while longer to try some very low light stuff, before packing up & then remembering that I didn't actually know the way back down ! Luckily I always pack a torch in my camera bag, so I was able to follow one of the well worn paths back down, passing the horse again along the way. I think I will return in good light with a packet of polos & the fisheye for some fun horsey shots !


Maybe I should start a blog somewhere as I don't half ramble on !

Oh wow splendid, did you compress the dynamic of the first two photos. They look very cathcy, certainly the contrast with the car and the flowing water is great.

The first photo of the aquaduct looks massive with distortion.
The flow of it in the second image isn't so pleasant, mainly on the end of it.

You surely got lucky with the horse, The first one is lovely.

I'm no good with black and white, only have some converted but I wished I had your eye for it.

Image 4 for me RR its quality

Good set of images that fish eye certainly adds a different perspective on things.

lovely shots rr, i really like the 2nd one,

I love the first two photos Rob, great work.
In the second shot the fuel line of that wrecked car is really sendin' out a message, my eye goes straight to it and then the landscape, its a great environmental document.

My preferance is for the fourth shot too, the first horse shot looks a bit weird to me, maybe its the wide angle but its eye looks creepy too

Thanks all for the encouragment. The horse shots were just a bit of fun really & not a serious attempt at a good photo.

I also have a slightly wider version of #2 that includes a little more car. I may process & post that one up too. It was downstream from the viaduct & I happened accross it by accident. Luckily I was wearing the Wellies I had bought only the previous day, 32 years old & just bought my first ever pair of wellington boots !

The square crop of #4 is growing on me more & more so I think it'll be a tester on how my printer handles monochrome.

Would they be the leopard skin ones or the ones with frog eyes? Having had what must have been a deprived childhood you must have treated yourself to something special .

Mike

#2 and #5 for me The car is like a sad sign of the times, while the horse looks a bit demonic. B&W served them well

What an impressive series! I can see why #4 seems to be favoured by the majority, I think my favourite is #2, though.
And I do like the weird look of the horse in #5.

Well done, I'm looking forward to your entry...
Looks like Martin will have a hard time (again).

Prieni

The 2nd shot is truly amazing!

Well I have been back from Spain now for 4 days and in that time the camera has hardly been used due to it being so miserable here compared to the sunshine I am used to.
I must say though that these shots are superb (especially the car) and I can see I am going to have to buck my ideas up, get out there and start looking a bit harder.

Nicely done.

Just plain old green ones, I'm a cheapskate at heart !

My current proposed entry is nothing like these lot, I don't know if that's good or bad as these have been well recieved. Oh well. It's Martins opinion that counts this time around (again ! )