Weekly Competition #19 The Monochrome Landscape

Rye




K100d + 18-55 @28mm 1/350 @ f16 Iso 200 PP Elements 5

Ron

Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia




Tri-x, 135mm SMC Takumar

Taken in Scotland on FP4




Kim

My Entry for this week
Tha lake at the entrance to Stow school




Pentax ME super
Kodax 400 film
Hoya 28-80 lens
No idea on F stop though

Pentax Z1p, FA* 24mm F2, Kodak HIE, deep red filter, scanned from print

My monoscape ...




Pentax *istDL
Pentax FA 50mm f1:1.4
f3.5
1/250th
ISO 200

Took most of the colour out, but left just a wee bit behind.

Wakehurst Place, West Sussex. Pentax DS + FA 24-90mm zoom

Menai Suspension Bridge, Anglesey




Converted to mono with PS.

Howard

Avenue




Something a little different... a vertical panorama involving about 5 pictures from straight ahead up to somewhere above and behind my head, in IR. Those of you with smaller screens are out of luck here.

Taken on a Sony F707 digicam with a Hoya R72 filter. My hard drive died and I have no recent pictures at all...

Avebury Stone circle.




Pentax K1000 plus Tamron 28mm lens. Ilford Pan F and orange filter.

Here is one from me using photoshop elemnts




By the way its Givan dock, Scotland
Davem

I've been meaning to join and stop lurking for some time, and this competition gave me a good reason.
This is Balcombe Viaduct, in Sussex.




K10D, 18-55.

Thanks to everyone who has posted entries this week. The competition is now closed and the judging will be done Monday evening.

Chris E A moody, dark image with excellent placement of all the various elements. Commended

Daniel Bridge Quite the opposite to the feel of the previous shot. This is light and airy and is only slightly let down by the large bland area at bottom left. Otherwise a nicely done image.

lenscape A nice tight composition with superb lighting on the building and a good sky. The bland area to bottom right holds us into the image because it acts as a dark frame. Commended

dirk 1000 A wonderful subject although I feel there could be higher contrast, more “bite”. There is a degree of conflict between the dominant statue and the fantastic background. Perhaps this says something about the contrast between the power of nature and the power of man.

McBrian A brilliant and simple composition. The technique applied gives real drama, the only question mark for me being the lightness of the base. I would burn it in a little more, especially at the left. Nevertheless a cracking good shot and THIRD PLACE.

justgetoutandride There is a mass of dark, wonderful detail in the foreground that cries out for something in there to really grab our attention. A focal point. The banding in the sky, one light band dividing the image and then a dark band, is unfortunate. This is not an easy subject and with one dominant feature to lock onto it could be transformed.

Nimitz I take the point about the contrasts in the subject matter, but I think that for one shot that is perhaps too many subjects. They compete for attention. The choice of composition is excellent, but it is all rather “busy”

Ammonyte A fantastic shot with superb composition and style. If it were not for those fences I think it could well have been one of my top three. The man made intrusion is a shame in a very fine IR shot. An inspired choice of effect. VERY HIGHLY COMMENDED

hefty1 A mournful and menacing look from this beast but I would like more sharpness and a more surreal look, perhaps with a different arrangement.

Lilly This ancient and powerful being thrusts upwards from the earth and gives Lilly a superb monochrome image. It is a wonderful shot and although I personally would have made it darker that is a judgement call to which there is no right answer. Without doubt THE WINNER! Well done, Lilly!

Galoot This is a good subject and the right approach, using the panoramic format to enhance the composition. Unfortunately the dark on the left and light on the right is divisive to the image, so I think a work around with different viewpoints would have made a big difference.

Hazza A nice idea here. Borderline for considering it to be monochrome, more monochromatic colour in my eyes…I think the moon is a bit too stark in the image and doesn’t really gel with the grasses. It looks too added and a bit more subtlety would help.

Malo1961 An absolutely fantastic sky that needs a better foreground to make this a stronger overall image. I love the blackness in that sky.

Clarky A good choice of sepia toning is consistent with the image. We have two subjects though and the small church competes for attention. I would go in closer and get behind that fence with a wide angle lens.

ronniebchristian A great sky but again a better foreground would help to set if off to better advantage. Maybe moving in closer to the posts would help. As the composition stands, the positioning of the posts is definitely right.

gartmore I was undecided if this was landscape at all, but it could be Architectural Landscape just as well as someone could have chosen the Human Landscape. As this image relies heavily on its detail I do feel that it needs to be much sharper. Interesting idea though.

Kim C Now this image is not ultra sharp either, but in this case that is in keeping with the subject matter. A very nice soft focus monochrome landscape in the traditional form, with impeccable composition. It could have been taken at any time in the last 150 years and the style of early mono images has been well captured. SECOND PLACE.

pnjmcc I like the way the dark areas concentrate our eye on the central point of the composition. It’s unfortunate that there is not a strong centre of interest and the image has been degraded by flare.

niblue Very mysterious and the right effect, but a bit over-messy in terms of composition. Simplification and one main centre of interest would tighten things up.

kcmadr A very nice feel to this calm image, but not monochrome in my opinion.

pschlute A good lead in and a minimalistic approach, but a lead in to…what? I think we need something there to satisfy our eye when in reaches the end of its journey along the path.

Howard J This is an interesting view and it has made decide to go and have a look for myself. The tilting horizon and the water running out of the frame at bottom right detract so a slight modification of viewpoint might be helpful. We can compare shots after I’ve been to have a look and I’ve discovered that your position is the only possible one!

karma mechanic Another nice idea and a great lead-in, but again it needs something to be there for us to look at. I’m not sure I like the effect on the branches and leaves but it has been well done.

AdrianP I’m wondering why we are looking from the edge of the circle and outwards to the right where there is nothing. I would have tried to look into the circle from this position to keep us inside the image rather than wandering off. There’s good emphasis on one stone. The biggest shame is that nothing is really sharp. A good subject though and worth a revisit.

davem A good subject that is far too small in the frame. All the interest is in the boats and I would suggest they are too small and there are too many for one picture. Perhaps going in close and looking at one subject would help.

JamesW-77 You probably needed to be on the other side of the barbed wire fence as it forms a barrier to our viewing the subject. Otherwise a moody and dramatic shot. The viaduct could do with a bit of straightening.


And that's it! A very interesting set of excellent pictures. Where I've made suggestions I hope that will be helpful and everyone should feel encouraged that the overall standard is so high. Many congratulations to everyone!

And now if Lilly would take up the task for the next competition.....

Congratulations to Lilly and all the entrants, and thanks to John for his constructive comments.