Is it supper time yet?

Some more of the locals. S-M-C Takumar 28mm f/3.5 on a K20D, polariser, Lightroom 3 beta 2.




Best wishes, Kris.

Nice one Kris...

I like it, Kris!

Like it, not up in the tecnical side but it looks good.No mint sauce!!!

I like it as well. But shouldn't you have been closer to the ground?

Prieni

OK I can't hold back any more - I can't see the appeal of this at all. The tree is too central, the colours look off (unless it's my monitor), the sheep seem typically pointless sheep and are in line with the rather meandering composition. The sky doesn't look too great although it has retained a full range of tones which in itself is an achievement.

The strong bits seem to me to be the two diagonals made by the grass and straw on the ground. I guess there is some appeal in the almost triangle the sheep make.

Now I have said why I don't like it can someone be rational and explain why they do like it

I'm hoping Kris won't take offence as I think he knows I am always keen to learn and will happily concede that I am wrong.

Mike

But he's got 4 sheep in that bunch - staring hard at him [ suspect they are wondering what the heck he's doing ]

The rest is just nice country scenery of the variety you see regularly .

I like it - it's not demanding , it's restful

Colours: these are a result of my on-going struggle to get Lightroom 3 beta 2 to do what I am used to with Lightroom 1.4. Obviously they can be tweaked and adjusted to one's heart's content as I have the original RAW file. The issue appears to be that the graduated filter function isn't just balancing out the dynamic range but is messing around with the colour too. I probably need to make several virtual copies and compare them on a decent monitor rather than my laptop in less than ideal light. I am beginning to feel the need of a set of Lee ND grads.

Range of tones. I shot to the right which prevented blown highlights but has meant that I have to lighten up the foreground but Lightroom 3's noise reduction is rather good so that is not an issue.

The tree: I hate it central too, but sheep are sheep and go where they damn please and so it was shoot as is or forget it (which might be the answer of course ). Clutter around me (a barbed wire fence, a roller, a water tank etc.) prevented much in the way of alternatives.

Sheep: see above.

Appeal: I don't think this is great art (hence the title) it just made me laugh that a flock of sheep ran across the field when they saw me then stood there in bemusement when I didn't start dishing out sheep nuts. The appeal to me, at least, is it makes me chuckle.

Grass and straw: I hadn't even really noticed it!

Offence: absolutely none taken.

Best wishes, Kris.

Ok Mike, I'll bite:

I don't think that the composition is meandering, in fact I think it is very nicely structured. Starting from the bottom: Sheep on muddy ground, next a stripe of green, the line of trees and the sky.
Yes, the big tree is central, as is the horizon (ok, not exactly central but close). And the colour might be a tad off (but not much).

For me it does work and I thought that the composition was part of it. I like the pointless sheep looking ...err.... pointless. The triangle you mention does also add to the appeal.

Prieni

Thanks guys - I find it very illuminating to have others explain why they took the shot, what appealed and why they feel it worked. It's all well and good me thinking 'Can't see what the fuss is about' but if it's spelt out then I can see how the 'mechanics' combine to make the shot effective.

As a general comment I wish people would give the motivation for the choices they make when taking a photograph as it lets me see more when I am out and about. I sometimes think 'how would such and such approach this'.

There is one photographer in another forum who sees so much in the humdrum, I would love to just walk with her for an hour or two and try to understand how she thinks. What she does isn't always top notch but she is so productive and creative as are many members here. And I live to learn.

Mike

In this case I was out re-taking my "alone" photograph (I wanted the sun on the daff) which I posted in that thread. The sun went below the trees and so I went for a wander and was confronted by the sheep. The photo is cropped to remove the roller and the barbed wire. It was just intended as a bit of fun, but I thought the final result worked OK.

Best wishes, Kris.

Thanks Kris.

I quite like the composition, although I can see the criticisms of the central tree. My favorite part is the 'staring straight ahead' sheep at the top. Which is why I quite like this crop, but not sure if you have enough pixels to pull it off?

Shrunk the grass between the sheep and tree with CS4's content aware resize, plus some cloning out of other sheep.