Just a Landscape

Went for a wander up the road on Sunday, weather was not great, dull and overcast with some squally showers, took quiet a few shots with this one of Balgonie Castle being the best of the bunch, as always critique welcome.




A history of Balgonie Castle can be found here:
http://www.balgonie-castle.com/main/history.htm

Very evocative and beautifully done.

I should ring round the calendar companies if I were you.

G

Thanks for the comment George.

I'm not entirely 100% happy with it, think it may have a bit of over processed look about it, but I've remembered the exact spot I took it from so I'll be back when I get a chance to shoot it again in better light.

Lovely looking spot and a great composition with everything in the right place. I particularly like the way you have included a few branches at the bottom so that the viewers eye doesn't travel accross the water and out of the picture without anything of interest.
I just wondered, if you are returning there, if this stretch has much waterfowl wildlife, ducks, swans etc... as to perhaps have (if you are lucky) an odd number, say 1 or 3, swimming into the shot to add even more interest. Just a thought?
I bet late autumn is a wonderful time as well.

Philip

Hi Philip, nice words, many thanks. Redarding the wildfowl, there are a few mallards about but they don't seem to come to this stretch of the river,maybe due to all the cows drinking from the river just out of shot.

Lovely, just the sort of shot I'd have gone for.
I would have included the top of the flag mast though!

It may have been overcast but I think the sky / cloud looks terrific and the whole scene would have been empty, from that viewpoint, without the yellow bush in the centre - I like it a lot

Thanks Kimbo, I had to rotate the image about 5degs in PS to get the wall of the castle perpendicular, lost the top of the flag pole with the crop.

Any one used one of these spirit levels that fit onto the hot shoe?

Using a spirit level is OK, but sometimes a technically straight photo can look as if it's leaning because of the picture content, and sometimes some parts look worse than others. Personally, I prefer to line things up by eye so that, overall, they look right.

A grid screen may be more useful. Indeed, this is something that can be switched on in some digital cameras.

cheap plastic pda screen protector film and a marker make a good grid on your lcd

I always (like I 'always' use a tripod!) use a spirit level mounted in the hot-shoe. I've lost count of the pictures I've seen with wonky horizons, especially lakes, and it drives me up the wall, it's such an easy thing to avoid. I'll agree with John, if there's not an obvious horizon in view, somethimes a non-level shot looks better, but where water's involved, I'd always use the level.

There's a shot by Charlie Waite, taken in France I think, of a load of trees stood in water, with a beautiful reflection of the trunks (in fact trunks is all you can see). It's a wonderfully observed image. He's lined the actual trunks up so they're vertical, but the reflected trunks are then at an angle. To me it spoils the shot. Perhaps I'll spend £7.99 and send him a spirit level

Dan

Funny things, spirit-levels, they're a great idea but I never trust them.

Imagine putting up a shelf in your home, using a sprit-level the shelf will be spot on but it'll look completely wrong if your skirting board or ceiling aren't equally perfect.
In that situation, I prefer to trust my eye and will usually match the shelf to the nearest parallel or perpendicular.......if you know what I mean, after all it is the perceived image that you have to live with.

Needless to say there aren't many shelves in my home that I'd place anything valuable onto that might have a tendency to roll

I use a Manfrotto head with 2 levels built in. I bought it to use with my 28mm Shift and a grid screen. You need a plain ground glass screen with a shift lens since any rise makes the microprism/split image thing go black. Funny thing is as others have observed, quite often you have to ignore the true levels to make the image look 'right'.

Ken

That's a nicely composed scene that is just waiting for the right lighting and sky/cloud combination. With all that greenery it'd be a nice one to try IR on, especially with a blue sky.