Three from yesterday

All with the Pentax D FA 24-70mm f2.8

Love that first image, LennyB.

I really like these! Prefer the opening image without that blue band at the top

First image is excellent. Agree (probably) better without blue band at the top.

Thanks for the comments Guys - I have played with that first image today and produced a number of different versions, I'd come to the conclusion that the window frame didn't add anything either so this was my alternative result...




There was also this shot that didn't really work until I applied some more extreme processing (it's probably a bit over-done now)....

Totally different shot without the window frame (which I rather like in the first version). But especially, the crop in 2 is the important element to my eyes - it indeed shifts the whole feel and interest, and we take a deep dive into the flowers and textures themselves. Lovely.
(And the last image's processing is quite fine by me).

Agree with Sry

Steve

Surprising what a slightly different composition can do. The first was "H'mm, what's that about?" and the second, "Hey that's interesting!" The tree on the hillside is quite spectacular too.

Hello John.

I do prefer the second version of the first picture: it presents the subject perfectly. Mind you, I didn't find the frame distracting in the first version until it was removed in the second

More interestingly (for me) is the second version of the third picture. Is the (not quite a) Sun dog directly above the peak of the hill for real or is it an artifact of the processing?

We do sometimes see these effects in the sky, especially during cold weather, but it doesn't appear to be in the first version and I cannot decide whether the processing has revealed or caused the effect.

Thanks again for the comments Serge, Steve, David and Nigel - the original edit of the Poppy Window looked good to me and I quite liked the blue painted frame adding a bit of interest, but when I started re-cropping it stood out as a different picture, and if you view it larger the drip of blue paint on the window becomes visible and adds that little extra interest again.

Hello Nigel - actually the image in the second part of my post isn't the same image as in the first part (which may explain the lack of the Sun dog) - it's taken a few seconds later with a slightly different view, here's the original version:


It is visible in this version - initially I suspected it was an internal reflection due to shooting directly into the Sun and if you look closely you can see a faint circle in the prism of colour - but now I'm not sure, it does seem to fit the characteristics of a Sun dog - and I'm fairly certain it's not the processing that's introduced it.

I wasn't even aware of this phenomenon until you mentioned it - interesting subject

Yes, forgot to mention that in my post - a great punctum to the image.

Now you've seen one John, you'll keep on seeing them.

Colder weather with a bright sun shining through thin, high-level cloud is often a good bet. Also, if you see one on one side of the sun, check for one on the other side at the same distance from the sun - they often occur in pairs.

Whilst driving I've nearly driven into a field when checking for Sun dogs

Closing my eyes a little makes the third picture appear to be of a volcano gently releasing steam and light smoke from the vent. Had any earth tremors recently

That poppy is now

A sun dog? I need to Google this !

I prefer the cropped poppy photo, too. For me, the crop moves it from very good to top notch!

Really like the second one, too - those dashes of light on the ground make all the difference.

The third one is similar to some I've taken myself recently - I would be tempted to clone some of the cloud to reduce the brightness of the sun a touch to make it less of a distraction.

But all good, nonetheless!