Five in a Row - Stridey

StephenHampshire kindly asked me to take up the baton for this week. I have to say I am somewhat daunted by the exellent quality provided by the posters preceeding me by I am up for the challenge and look forward to your comments.

Today's shot was taken late last January as the final rays of sun lit up the reedbeds in Christchurch Harbour and highlighted the Priory church in the town. The shot was taken from the top of Hengistbury Head and shows St. Catherine's Hill in the background :




Regards
Nigel

This is a great scene Nigel. There is haze present and it very easily cleans up and with a tweak of sharpening, it improves no end.

A good start for you.

Best regards

Have been up on the Head many times - this is a really lovely view and one that benefits from being seen extra large I would think! Nice start.

lovely Winter light, with the church catching the low sun. Lovely landscape

A good start, a beautiful scene with natural receding depth and well balanced ground objects with cloud shapes that complement each other. Glad you have taken up the challenge!

A pleasant landscape.

Looks great Nigel, very sharp and clean with great colours and plenty for the eye to explore.

Regards
David

A favourite place of mine, nice to see it done justice.

Today's offering was shot in early Spring last year, whilst out dog walking on Cranborne Chase.

Initially, I wasn't sure whether to go for a slower shutter speed, to blur the movement of the seagulls. In the end I chose 1/400sec to 'freeze in flight' as I felt that this worked better against the dark background presented by the row of trees.

An added bonus was that the farmer was quite happy for me to stand in his field and film his work !




Regards
Nigel

Love the opening landscape, Nigel - gorgeous colour, tone and composition.

I like the idea behind the second shot, but feel it might have worked better with the tractor in the foreground and the gulls beyond. As things stand (to my eye, a dubious barometer at best), the tractor's presence isn't immediately obvious and there isn't as strong a focal point as there might have been.

My 1920 screen must be smudged or faulty? I dragged the image into Photoshop and just auto levels makes a large visible difference. I'll try and get my copy of photoshop checked as well.

The second image is a great shot. A lot more detail and sharper than the first image (IMO). A good choice of shutter speed and well framed with the ploughed soil running up from the lower right corner.

The only other time one sees this much gull activity is behind or around fishing boats.

Best regards

I like the strong diagonal of the ploughed section, and the light picks out the gulls nicely.

I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at here Gary, my comment didn't make any reference to levels and I thought that you had previously praised Nigel's image? Isn't the haze integral to the scene and a reflection of lighting conditions at the time? I'm a bit confused.

Regardless, the second shot is probably more accomplished technically, but it doesn't attract my eye in the same way that the first one does.

Regards
David

Hello David,
I was referring to your comment of the first image being very sharp. I didn't see it as being sharp. I do agree that haze could be part of the scene but coming from a film background I try to avoid its effects where possible. No issues, and looking forward to image number three.

Best regards

Hi Gary, no worries, I just didn't quite grasp what you were saying, probably just me being a bit thick. Sorry for hijacking your thread Nigel!

Also looking forward to seeing the third image

Cheers
David