The Eildon Hills

Three images from this morning.

The mist hung around till nearly lunchtime.

There was nothing around except the hills peering out over the early morning mist.

Taken from Scott's View, a favourite view of Sir Walter Scott's.

1.
[IMG]http://i336.photobucket.com/albums/n327/ali_graham13/The%20Eildon%20Hills/toned-eildon.jpg[/IMG]

2.
[IMG]http://i336.photobucket.com/albums/n327/ali_graham13/The%20Eildon%20Hills/BW-eildons.jpg[/IMG]

3.
[IMG]http://i336.photobucket.com/albums/n327/ali_graham13/The%20Eildon%20Hills/eildon-island.jpg[/IMG]


All or any comments appreciated.

Thanks

I love number 1. Don't think it works as well in B&W (IMHO).
Unsure about number 3, too much sky?

Thanks for your comments Ted, 1 & 2 my favs, I pushed all the sliders way up for no.2, tried to give it a high key look, not sure about the sky on 3rd. May try a square crop, to reduce sky.

number 1 for me too

No 1 for the colour for me but No. 2 has a wonderful minmalist feel. You get great views of the Eildon Hills when you drive up the A68 from England over the border towards St Boswells.
David

Another vote for number 1. It's the most ethereal shot of the Eildons I've every seen. I was brought up in that neck of the woods, and lived for a while two or three miles from Scott's View, and don't remember ever seeing so much mist. Probably didn't get up early enough. Well done.

Al

Thanks techno, David & Alastair for your comments.

That's the feel I was going for David, I originally had even less definition in the sky, to almost white. Pulled it back a tad.

It was probably the mistiest I've seen it up there, Alastair, stunning and lucky , even though I didn't have to get up too early. Where were you brought up about, as a matter of interest?

Darnick, near (and now part of) Melrose. I also lived for a while at Bemersyde, just up the road from Scott's View. It's a great part of the world, particularly for photography. Where are you based, Alistair?

Al

Ali, #3 is the defining image for me. It's very minimal and limited and for that reason it would benefit from some creative processing.

I had a go myself to show you what I mean. I tried to enhance and lift the scene with a painterly feel. Maybe it will inspire you with the original.



Eildon Hills by - Ali

[IMG]http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j159/paulyrichard/alig1of1.jpg[/IMG]

I agree with davidtrout above - no 1 is best, but no 2 has that minimalist feel. My wife and I walked St. Cuthbert's Way a few years back - started rom melrose, up over these hills and on. They were in view for first 3 days walk.
Andy

Can I try and explain in non techy terms why I went for #1 ?

In both #s 1 & 2 yes we are aware that there's cloud below the hill , but somehow it doe not intrude - it just sort of merges into the hills and the sky. The colours used in #1 are rather unusual and to me , they add to the almost out-of-this-world atmosphere.

in # 3 it seems to be there as a rather more solid 'cloud ' thing , it's thick and seems very solid - and somewhat out of keeping with the rest of the the picture.

I like what Pauly did with the sky - that's superb , but we are still left with that , to me , very heavy lump of white cloud/mist and this very non-tech idiot level photographer feels that the vignetting is just a tad too obvious .

Hope I've not stamped on Pauly's toes with this - I love his stuff that I've seen , but this version of Alig's original , for me just isn't right - sorry

I like them all. I think #3 would work better as a square crop. Then I really like it.

I like them all as well but here's another vote for number 1

No worries Techno'.

The whole effect is down to taste really.

I really like #3, it has a fantastic and majestic looking sky giving us a grand sense of scale with the hills composed nicely in the frame. We really are between the clouds.

The only niggle I have with those clouds at the bottom is whether some detail can be pulled out of 'em. I hope he shot it as a RAW image, it looks like there is detail - so maybe he can!

The other images just look awkward and lack space and interest for me.

Gosh nice shots. I also like the third best I think - both treatments - that huge expanse of blue and the carpet of clouds is pretty awesome. I also like the first - I think it is the yellow tone and the smudgey-ness of the lower hill on the right against the hard black peak on the left; think I would prefer a little more sky though, but still a great capture.

All good!

Regards