Gawthorpe Landscape

This one was made at Gawthorpe Hall near Padiham yesterday afternoon. It's maybe not obvious, but it's an HDR made up of 5 different images. Shot with Pentax K20D and the Takumar-F 28-80mm lens.
[IMG]http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff250/johnriley1uk/020-Gawthorpe-Lanscape.jpg[/IMG]

Sorry John, but it does not do much for me.

That's fair enough, can you be more specific? Do you find the treatment wrong or the composition wrong or just the subject matter uninteresting for example?

I found my eyes wandering all over the shot to start with, probably with the initial intent of seeing what, if any, differences using HDR had made. A little later, I was still "wandering about," so I guess that there's no specific POI - at least not one for my eyes to comfortably "settle on" - therefore, I found it a bit lacking too. I found it more appealing with the reflection cropped out below where it meets the right-hand bank.

Ray.

John

Sorry, I should have been more specific in my original comment. I have no comment on the treatment, I have not experimented with HDR at all yet.

Composition and subject : I find the picture lacks a focal point of interest and although I am sure being there at the time, the view was wonderful, the picture itself does not transmit that to me. I have seen this many times in my own photos, a beautiful scene, and a wonderful place to be, but it cannot be captured in an image.

What was the weather like when you took the photo? If it was as poor as it was here, then maybe you have created a good image from a poor light situation, but I still find the image unapealing. Sorry John, as I am a great admirer of your many photos on here as well as the way you moderate this forum, but I would rather tell you how I feel about this photo than be dishonest.

I have to agree with Peter on the lack of focal point of interest. However, a nice picture to remember a specific scenery by.

As to the HDR treatment, I would say it's excellent (i.e. not overdone). I like to regard HDR to a photographer like reverberation to a sound technician: If you can hear the reverberation, you've added too much. But without the reverberation, the sound is flat. Hope my analogy is understood.

Thanks everyone, I really am after straight and honest comments so don't hold back!

This is a nice little spot at the top of the grounds of Gawthorpe Hall, but as you say whether or not that can be captured is something else.

I shall try again on some other occasion and it may be that it really needs some spectacular light to make more of it.

I wonder whether a shot which included complete reflections of the trees might have had more impact. It's clearly a delightful spot, but as others have said, the picture seems to lack a point of interest.

I wouldn't have known it was HDR. Could you not have achieved the same effect without it?

G

The HDR has had the effect of warming and softening the image, presumably because of the movement in the trees. It's debateable whether it was worth it as I really don't think it's made much difference. Yes, it could have been achieved without HDR.

A beautiful place John!.....you come across somewhere that feels and looks amazing and you stand back and take it all in,amazed at what nature provides us!........you then have to create a Photograph with a focal point to draw you into the shot!...Why?....cant we just enjoy the scene for what it is?,can't we just enjoy the scene because that is what we see?..........this composition lark bamboozels me!........a beautiful scene, beautifully caught!....thank you for posting it John..............Ken

Well I would have said its well exposed....but you CHEATED!

As for the image, its pleasing enough to the eye but its not exactly a winner, you already know yourself it a bit "through the middle" and I feel its a typical case of a two in one shot, it either needs the bottom cropping or the top, and I also agree with George.

To be brutally honest this is the sort of shot I would have expected from a beginer (thats not aimed at Ken) and not from someone of your caliber. A very good example of well handled HDR is about all it gets from me.

I'm surprised no-one else has mentioned that it's wonky...

Dan

Is it? The trees and their reflection look fine to me, would leave it if it were mine as I would have to guess which way it was out but then I would know if it were mine as they are always leaning to the left.

As far as the shot is concerned it is a good shot of a pretty place with no particular focal point, pretty but not grabbing. I think there is room for this sort of shot to relax with, do we need to be exited all the time.

Am interested, that if not told, I would not have thought it was a HDR this is the second shot of John's that I have found the HDR to be improving (Church) or unnoticeable (this) when generally I find them fake looking and on landscape horrid.

John, it's a little too busy for me with all the thin bare branches. It may well work better in a large format where you can see the texture better but going on the posted size it has no real impact. Maybe you could try again when there are more leaves on the trees, I don't think you'd need spectacular light to make a nice image at this location but it certainly wouldn't harm your chances


I also feel like it needs to be wider as there's no obvious "ends" to the image, or it may just be the squarer crop that's giving me this impression - of course I don't know what's situated either side & it may or may not be pleasant to view !

edit: poor typing proficiency after a 12 hour night shift

In some browsers you will need to click on the image to see the full width, but even so I do feel it is a little cramped, so it's a fair point.

Unfortunately if we widen the field of view it's not helpful because of what's there and if we reduce the height we get a wider shot but lose IMO too much reflection....it's a tricky one, so I'm glad that we're getting a few ideas coming through.

If anyone lives near enough to Gawthorpe to have a go, it would be really interesting to see what they made of it. With the hall at your back, just walk up the steps opposite into the woods and within 100 yards you will be there.