Some Images - CC Please

Following recent controversy about Forum posts and my ignorance about how images can be uploaded to the Forum, here are some for your consumption and CC.

'House & Sky', K-m, DA 18-55WR kit lens, pseudo HDR in Photomatix 4.1



'Gate, Track and House', K-m, DA 18-55WR kit lens, Polariser



'Juxtaposition', K-m, DA 18-55WR kit lens, Polariser



'Wythburn Stones', K-x, Sigma 105 DG EX Macro wide open at F2.8

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Thanks in advance, apologies they are all in the Lake District.

Regards
David

Hi David

Just consumed the above images, I like the Wythburn Stones image most of all.

Hello David,
I think the "portrait" version of the first two doesn't work as well as a squarer crop. Perhaps in the "portrait" photos you were trying to avoid the "tired, hackneyed, cliched" lake district shots
#3 Not sure about the van it looks "out of place", at our club we have been told to try and avoid "unsupported foliage" so perhaps more tree and less van, but again the avoiding "tired etc" remarks apply
#4 Not sure if so much out of focus grey gravestone adds anything.
As a learner I downloaded your first two photo's and cropped them. To me they do look "better" but would only post them here (at the risk of being torpedoed ) with your permission.

You have my permission Stan!

Regards
David

Ok David, but as I said it's a learning exercise for me so be gentle if you feel I've totally marmalised your images







To quote another member "I'll get my coat"

I don't usually like HDR/ HDR like images but I do like number 1

The grave stones work well for me - nice to see some that are not in black and white

I see what you're doing with the 'juxtaposition' - nice natural scene with a dirty great van dumped in it - but I think it would have been better if it had been a rusty wreck that was part of the scene rather than a roadworthy one. Not sure the HDR had very much effect in picture 1 though it's hard to say without seeing it 'before' - it doesn't jump out as being a HDR image.

No need to apologise for location, part of the fun is trying to find a decent photo wherever you are, though I'd imagine the Lake District is not short of subject matter.

Another version of #1 David. If you'd rather it was removed, then we can ask John to do so.

Just cropped to get rid of some trees to the right and to move the house right of centre. Grad filter on the sky. Increased clarity to reduce the haze. Grad on the grass and de-saturated slightly to negate the saturation effect of the clarity adjustment to the foreground

All done in lightroom in 2 mins.

If we take one and two together, I think they exhibit something of the same problem. Both arte split nearly 50/50 and both are slightly underexposed.

The latter point is probably due to the sky influincing the meter reading too much. Then, bringing up the shadow areas makes for a slightly forced look.

The former point results in two images in the first shot, and to some extent in the second. The sky plus a small amount of ground makes one image. The building with no sky makes another. I don't feel the two are much connected.

The solution could possibly be a full set of exposures to make a full HDR image, which would I think have more bite and drama to it. Take it too far though and it will look OTT. I would also decide on what the subject is and ensure that the natural focal point of the image is obvious to us and that you give us no choice but to look at it. This can be achieved using compositional guides well known in art, but also using light.

Hope you don't think I'm being negative, but landscape photography is not easy and this is all well worth working at. Alan has gone some way to tightening one image up, although the exposure still leaves the overall shot a little dullish.

I rather like the slight under-exposure, which reinforces the gloomy feeling that overcast skies induce. It's what I call the Betws y Coed look, deep dark greens and dripping leaves. Very atmospheric.

Stan's variations both work, but Alan's is a real corker, showing how effective a fairly fierce crop can be.

Cropping is bit like cooking fish, though the other way around. Most people are terrified of under-cooked fish, with the result that fish is nearly always over-cooked. Photographers, conversely, seem to be averse to cropping, with the result that many pictures aren't as good as they could be.

The ultimate picture for a cropoholic would be cropped down to one, elemental, pixel. The problem, of course, is choosing which.

G

Hi David

I agree with much that has already been said,

1 Is the best of the bunch to me - there is enough scope there to improve it

2. John's point on exposure is spot on - sky looks over - ground looks under - not sure this could be rescued. An ND grad could potentially have helped
3. Can't help thinking it would have been better to stand in front of the van
4. Is OK but for me just doesn't do anything for me

OK - as everybody seems to be having a go at a new version of number 1 - here is my effort





Get yourself up here David - We will spend a day doing nothing but landscapes

Carl

Thanks to everyone for the helpful comments and assistance! I purposefully posted some that I thought were 'difficult' to see what CC I could get and I think it's been a very worthwhile exercise. I really like Alan's re-working of #1, this is by far my favourite. All were shot without a ND grad, unlike some earlier in the day which were much better balanced (it had rained hard and I'd removed the filter and put it away).

Best wishes
David

My take:

I would brighten up the foreground in the first too images and crop 10% off the top of the first one and 50% off the top of the 2nd one


White vans have no soul whatsoever and particularly ruin a nice green scene - I would ditch it

The graveyard shot is by far the best, but spoiled by the right hand foreground stone which ruinsthe composition. Personaly I would ahve taken the shot either from the other side or from higher up looking to down to avoid the errant stone, or from some other angle other than head height.

Hope that helps

Thanks Smeggy, much appreciated. I quite like the white van one for the very reason you mention!

Regards
David

This doesn't look like a gloomy day, so I would agree that they need brightening up. This is a processed 5:4 crop of #2 -

[IMG]http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb327/MrB154/Reworked%20Photos/13596_1346105709a1.jpg[/IMG]

Philip