Derwentwater

Was in the Lakes last week. Here's a couple taken at Derwentwater one evening

K5 and Sigma 10-20



Millennium Stone, Derwentwater by Blythman1960, on Flickr



Derwentwater by Blythman1960, on Flickr

Really lovely shots there, particularly like the second one.

I like these, they make me want to be there

Very nice Alan

I like the second one best too. I particularly like the way the tree isn't in the immediate foreground, which would be what you expect, but set a little way back. The stones in the immediate foreground provide interest and lead on to the tree, just a little differently from a lot of shots like this.

The first one, while very nice, strikes me as just a teensy bit contrived.

The colours seem a little unnatural - not in itself a bad thing - but the foreground seems unnconnected with the background.

Where is it? I'll be in the area in a couple of weeks time.

Thanks for comments folks.

Chris they were both taken from the same spot. Park in the Great Wood car park. Cross the road, follow the path through to the shoreline and head to the right.

There was wonderful sunshine when I left our holiday cottage, so I headed here to catch the last golden rays. Well that never happened. So in the absence of decent light, both these images have had more work done on them than I would normally do

Alan these are both wonderful images. In the second photo, the heaviness of the dark cloud in the top centre is a bit distracting to me. The interesting thing is that if the top is cropped away to remove it, the image then follows the rule of thirds - the water line goes along the top third line. The hills and sky are then in the top third, the tree + reflection middle, and the underwater stones/pebbles bottom. Rules are not the be all and end all of photography, but in this case it seems to improve the image for me. Having stated all that, the second image is my preference also of your two here! These are just my opinions, of course.

Philip

Very nice photos! Thanks for sharing!

Two really strong images full of interest, but #2 is particularly special (see Chris's comments above!).

Along with the other comments I do prefer the second shot as it is more balanced. Very nice.

Regards
David

Thanks for comments folks. As I said earlier the light was poor. Tried to salvage them. Looks like the B&W conversion has been most successful. Don't think I'll get another chance to get the stone until next year

Philip, I see what you mean. However I feel that the central dark cloud explains the visibility of the central underwater pebbles. Maybe the cloud could be lightened slightly, but I don't want to lose it.

I agree with you here Alan. I tried looking at it with and without the suggested crop, but the sky seems too cramped without the dark cloud.

I'm not an expert in these things, but it seems to me that the symmetry in shots like this makes a closer-to-central horizon than the RoT would suggest more pleasing. Often, for instance, if the water is perfectly still, a central horizon can look marvellous if there's sky and foreground interest.

For me, the composition of #2 functions to focus attention on the vast depth of the scene. Starting from the pebbles - they, the tree, the three rocks, the hills and their reflections, all serve to funnel the eye into the gap between the hills to view the distant mountains. But my view is then pulled away upwards by that imposing dark cloud - for me that distracts and detracts from the sense of great horizontal distance that the rest of the image so successfully conveys. Still, it is always intriguing how people can view the same image differently.

Philip

I particularly like number 2 Alan especially in mono. You seemed to have captured the atmosphere of the location, well done