Northumbria

Just a few from my recent mini break, and for a change the weather was nice C&C always welcome.

The pic that everyone takes, Lindisfarne Castle. I tried to be creative with the mooring ring in the lower left corner but couldn't get into a position to get the castle in the top right as well so its a bit central

Have just darkened the top half of the image using levels and the gradient tool, then sharpened. Pentax 16-50 at 24mm, 1/90, f16, ISO200


[IMG]http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j168/impotentspider/LindisfarneCastle.jpg[/IMG]


East Window (I think) St Marys, Holy Island.
Some nice glass in here and its a joy to find stained glass without protective mesh on the outside, I didn't get this quite square on so made good use of photoshop well worth a few quid in the donation box here Pentax 16-50 at 29mm, 1/125, f2.8, ISO200

[IMG]http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j168/impotentspider/EastWindowStMarysHolyIsland.jpg[/IMG]

Dunstanborough Castle, another view that everyone takes
A bit of messing about with this one with masks and levels, was a bit like been back in the darkroom, I also have to confess to CHEATING I broke all my own rules and put a different sky in
Pentax 16-50 at 16mm, 1/10, (tripod) f22, ISO100

[IMG]http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j168/impotentspider/DunstanboroughCastle.jpg[/IMG]

Like the last one a lot, works well in B&W and a very good foreground, good to see you resisted the urge to blur with slow shutter speed.
Do not think a new sky is cheating, but suppose that`s a whole new thread. Do not like the large white cloud on the left, it`s a bit distracting?
Regards,

Davex.

A lovely set of photos. If you hadn't admitted to the sky I'd never have guessed, it looks so "right".
Nothing wrong with taking the same photo as everyone else. Sometimes there is no other option. And I bet yours are better than 99% of them anyway .

Really like the first one.

First one for me to.

Last one for me.
Are you sure you didn't change the sky in the first one? I hadn't realised they got blue skies up there, all we saw was rain.

Last on for me as well, but then again I'm leaning towards B+W because I love the moodiness and atmosphere it creates. all top shots though.

ps, did you have your wellies on for No3

Wellies?
The shot is so low down he'd have needed his swimming costume.

And oh, I bet that water was cold

Wellies? No I braved the waves and incoming tide and hopped onto a "dry" bit, it was a bit hairaising though as the tripod was splayed out as low as it would go with all three legs submerged, I was using the liveview to compose the shot with splashing waves and lapping water six inches from my crouching bum and about twelve inches from the bottom of the camera

About two minutes after getting the shot the area was under water and I was glad I hadn't hung around to get any more

Dave; Yes I dont like the white cloud either but it looked ok before I buggered about with levels etc getting the rest of the pic right, I might give it another go when If I ever get around to editing everything else I took

Thanks for all your kind words, and no-one picked up on the burned out halos in the second shot

I'm not keen on that cloud either, but I think it's because it looks wrong to me, is the light coming from the left on that shot? Hope you don't mind, but I tried flipping the sky and I think it looks more natural to me, and the 'weight' of the castle balances that of the cloud.




It's a little more contrasty too, and I rotated the whole thing very slightly to the right.

Dan

Well spotted Dan, I would never have thought to check for light direction in clouds As for rotating/leveling the image I used the centre corner on the tower and got that vertical, your eyes must be better than mine cos' I cant see any difference

It does look much better with the reversed sky though, I might have another go with a different sky.

last one for me.Love the shot of stained glass window too.
regards

Ideally you should use the same focal length lens too (or at least a similar one), otherwise the perspective looks odd. Not that I've ever done this, just that I've seen plenty of shots spoiled by a fake sky. Your's looks pretty good to me.

I used the bottom of the cliff, and when I checked the verticals on the tower they seemed to be spot on.

Dan

I love the third photo. It is a classic example of making sure there is something of interest in the foreground, the mid-ground and the background. Of course, without the faked sky the background would have been less interesting but in this case I'll forgive you as it makes a good shot!

Nice shots all round.

PS, you're right, the halos are burnt out. And getting windows square is a right pain. One occasion where photoshop is a blessing.

Liking the stained glass