Ranmore Common

Well it was blue, noisy & horrible. The only reason I didn't crop it all was that would mean cutting the treetops off around the basin behind the town. I thought people used to use, or still do, UV filters to reduce it? The problem I had with here was, apart from the massive contrast drop it gave, the blue tones were completely foreign to the rest of the image, which has almost no blue/cyan.

Nigel I'm looking at your pics through an artistic right brain eye, not a technical left brain eye.

The only attractive thing about any of these pics is the curves of the road and #7 shows that off with the added benefit of giving some depth context with the background allowed by the portrait aspect.


I seriously wish you'd stop putting technical issues before artistic ideals. Your pic of your girls with the ice cream was great. It had personality, the composition was solid and your B&W edit made it pop ( I think you should do the same but leave it colour and make it pop in the same manner )

As most of us commented on your ice cream pic, you captured a moment and it was special.

Nothing special is captured with these landscape pics. The composition is awkward in most of them and probably the worst of all the lighting/atmospherics isn't anything inspiring.

Maybe if you went to the same location at dawn or evening in those nice lighting hours, or when the weather was exciting... thunderstorms, snow, heavy rain, etc then there would be a magical moment to capture.

You could improve your photography by a 1000% if you just changed your mindset from left brain to right brain.

Are there any recommended courses or guidebooks you know of that detail that procedure?

Oh FFS!!!


All aside you have a great sense of humour

You could try facing away from the monitor and use a mirror on the opposite wall

It would be interesting to figure out how much time goes into taking the photo and how much into processing it. Maybe we need to reverse the time that goes into each. The trouble with me and digital is that I snap too quickly only to spend ages trying to improve the image on the computer.

A while back, in an attempt to get me out of this bad habit, I bought a couple of film Pentaxes, 35mm and MF, manual and auto focus. If I just take one MF film, that's only 16 shots, or 24 with 35mm. This makes me find a good subject, and then spend time on composition and determining the various settings.

My suggestion Nigel, is that it would be a better use of your time if you were to do post porcessing work on more considered photographs in the first instance, maybe giving greater consideration into fundamental questions like what is the photograph trying to communicate, who is it for, what is special in the scene, is this the best way to frame the subject, at what time of day is the light best, which lens or focal length is best for the scene and so on, what do I really enjoy in what my eyes can see and how can this be conveyed most effectively.

That would give us more enjoyment and more to talk enthusiastically about.

By the way, Nigel, I'm responding to David Storm's request that we try to breath some life back into this forum. Absolutely no offence meant, I value your contribution to this forum very highly.

I quite like #4. The B&W processing and the addition of the car being key

What software are you using to improve the images on the computer?


I've always said that concentrating on the Art should be the foundation and then the processing is a the final polish.


You cannot polish a turd. It sticks to the cloth

Sorry for not commenting earlier Nigel, been a bit short of time this weekend until this evening.

I would echo what a lot of people have already said. Number 7 and its resulting children are the only ones that catch my eye and the reason is that they have a lead-in, which the others do not. I do feel that your images in general lack some of the finer compositional details and as a result they look a bit one dimensional. I think you need to make much more use of foreground interest, particularly when shooting with the 14mm lens, so that there is something to lead the eye into the image.

I find it hard to comment on the processing as I think struggle to see the relevance if the image is not 'right' in camera.

I applaud you once again Nigel for opening yourself up to scrutiny and for creating some interest on the Forum!

Regards
David

Thanks for having a look. Seems like 4 & 7 are the pick of the bunch - maybe I should copy that car into some of the others!

Ralph, there is no offence there at all - all very valid points you made, and helpful. Thanks for taking a look and adding to the debate! I welcome all feedback, and appreciate that more detailed direct criticism takes more effort than just a quick comment. From my point of view any attention is good attention

Don't worry, as I guess some have picked up, it would be hard to really offend me - bring it on I say, I won't be deterred, more likely just encourage me more!

Thanks too Gareth for those views - I'll have opportunties to shoot there again and will try different weather and angles - plenty more experimenting to come.


Thats what its all about David, as I said above, any attention has got to be good attention! Thanks for your continued advice and interest.

Attention to detail is a key issue here.....

it was ronniemac not me

Aren't I the lucky one that my thread is so swamped with comments that I can't tell one R from another!! Thanks for pointing that out Ralph, and thanks to ronniemac for the comment.

They all (except maybe no. 4) look like poor attempts at HDR to me.
All the processing in the world is not going to turn an uninteresting photo into an interesting one.
Sorry to be harsh, but for me these are just dull snapshots.

As Smeggy says, maybe try returning during some interesting light or weather

Michael you're right, No 4 has been very popular!

Fwiw, some of the best shots of Ranmore tend to be in Spring when you can see the rapefields over towards Guildford. Very good for butterfly and general macro as well. I go there quite often when I have a few hrs free at the weekend.