NikonGear'23

Images => Nature, Flora, Fauna & Landscapes => Topic started by: David Paterson on September 11, 2016, 18:22:12

Title: Autumnal
Post by: David Paterson on September 11, 2016, 18:22:12
My first "home" landscape since returning from Orkney. The colours here are already quite autumnal.
Title: Re: Autumnal
Post by: Anthony on September 11, 2016, 18:32:04
Beautiful landscape.
Title: Re: Autumnal
Post by: Lars Hansen on September 11, 2016, 19:35:31
Beautiful it is!  I like the colors and the variations in the foreground/middleground light.
Title: Re: Autumnal
Post by: David Paterson on September 11, 2016, 21:14:22
Thank you both, Anthony and Lars.

For me, the light, the skies and most of all the clouds area at their best in the autumn.
Title: Re: Autumnal
Post by: Akira on September 12, 2016, 00:01:25
Dave, this image also makes me want to be there.  But, frankly speaking, maybe the image is a bit too symmetric both horizontally and vertically, which could be a bit boring...  Or maybe this kind of symmetric image would be only effective when printed huge instead of viewed on the computer screen.

By the way, according to EXIF, the image was shot at ISO 250.  Do you use Auto ISO mode and set the aperture and shutter speed manually?  If so, is that your most usual setting for you?
Title: Re: Autumnal
Post by: Jakov Minić on September 12, 2016, 00:58:48
David, your images always put a smile to my face with admiration for the scenery and your photography.
Title: Re: Autumnal
Post by: Mongo on September 12, 2016, 01:23:35
Mongo quite likes this image David. It does give the feeling of impending gloomier weather and the clouds look like a paw stretched out in front towards the viewer ready to envelop everything before it.

The central nature can work in many cases. It works OK in this case. Mongo finds that it works a little better where there is another element or two to help visually. In this case, Mongo did a quick edit to essentially add some drama and dynamic difference/variation which, hopefully maintaining the autumn feel. The edit has not been posted unless you indicate you are happy for Mongo to do that.
Title: Re: Autumnal
Post by: Thomas Stellwag on September 12, 2016, 13:23:03
this is a very clearly self explaining "Paterson"

one point were the eye comes back to rest and to start and many small elements in different sectors to detect and to read

excellent
Title: Re: Autumnal
Post by: David Paterson on September 12, 2016, 13:40:57
Jakov - thank you for that comment - just about the nicest thing you could say.

Akira - My habitual iso is 200. I don't like carrying a tripod because of my physical limitations and, to be honest, I get fewer "keepers" when using a tripod. I like the freedom and spontaneity of hand-holding, seeing an image and grabbing it. 200iso (rather than 100) gives a one higher shutter-speed, and on days when my hands are particularly shaky, I may inch this up a bit, sometimes as high as 800, until I feel comfortable with the shutter-speed. On that day, I had probably just started the process of gradually increasing the iso. I don't use auto-iso, in fact I have never used it. Central composition - there is just something about that particular hill which makes me want to have it centred. We'll see what Mongo comes up with when he re-crops the image.

Mongo - I'm pleased that you "quite like" this image 8)  - please feel free to re-edit it. I don't often centre the main element of an image, but if it works, it works. Also I get bored and annoyed sometimes when I find that I am unconsciously obeying the "rule of thirds".  :-\  THERE ARE NO RULES, he shouted. ;D
Title: Re: Autumnal
Post by: David Paterson on September 12, 2016, 13:48:21
this is a very clearly self explaining "Paterson"
one point were the eye comes back to rest and to start and many small elements in different sectors to detect and to read
excellent

Thank you, Thomas. And you are right, this picture is very typical of me; I must find a way to change, perhaps. I have another friend, a photographer, and when I send him this kind of image, he emails back "another classic Patersonian landscape". I should not be so predictable. But can the leopard change his spots?
Title: Re: Autumnal
Post by: David Paterson on September 12, 2016, 14:06:10
Mongo quite likes this image David. It does give the feeling of impending gloomier weather and the clouds look like a paw stretched out in front towards the viewer ready to envelope everything before it.
The central nature can work in many cases. It works OK in this case. Mongo finds that it works a little better where there is another element or two to help visually. In this case, Mongo did a quick edit to essentially add some drama and dynamic difference/variation which, hopefully maintaining the autumn feel.

Mongo - I have spent a while re-examining this image, and trying to find why, in retrospect, I chose to centre it. I don't often analyse my own images, but I'm finding this quite  ;D interesting. I think I centred the image, geometrically, because most of the individual elements are asymmetric and this saves the image from being static. The clouds, the stripe of bright yellow, the mid-green area of grasses at mid-rhs, and the area of wind-flattened dark grasses at left foreground - these and others are all asymmetric and create movement within the image.
Title: Re: Autumnal
Post by: Akira on September 12, 2016, 18:23:44
Dave, thanks for the details.

My second thought suggests that the composition makes sense.  The clouds radiating from the mountain, which are important elements of the image, are most effective in enhancing the majesty of the mountain when it is placed in the center...  Often I'm slow to get it...
Title: Re: Autumnal
Post by: Fons Baerken on September 12, 2016, 18:30:36
beautiful image
Title: Re: Autumnal
Post by: Danulon on September 12, 2016, 21:53:36
I really like this picture.
It is very interesting for me to realise that you hardly think about why you chose to compose it this way.
For many of us taking a photo is a process involving too much pondering (mostly about technical aspects of a photo).
Thanks for the picture and for sharing your insights about its creation. :-)

Cheers,
Günther
Title: Re: Autumnal
Post by: Mongo on September 12, 2016, 22:49:11
As from Mongo's previous post, an edited version. As Mongo said, the central nature of the image, in this case, does not act against it. "The rules" do not always apply and should not always be applied.

Mongo must say, however, that after looking at this image further, he is not sure his edit helps. In many ways, it is important to keep those cooler subdued tones and colours of "autumn" and perhaps Mongo's edit has failed to do that. Mongo finds he agrees with much of what Danulon has said.

In any event, here is the edit (with the reservations Mongo has newly acquired)
Title: Re: Autumnal
Post by: simato73 on September 12, 2016, 23:01:32
Thank you both, Anthony and Lars.

For me, the light, the skies and most of all the clouds area at their best in the autumn.

I agree; the land too is at its best, with so many different colours (which are starting to show in your image).
Title: Re: Autumnal
Post by: David Paterson on September 12, 2016, 23:15:02
Mongo - first of all, I like most of what you have done. It is more vivid and has more immediate appeal than my original, quieter version and the changes to the fore- and mid-ground are good. If I were still working for commercial clients I think I would quite often find myself working in this style. The only thing I do not like is the more saturated blue in the sky.

It all comes down to individual taste - there are no rights and wrongs here. I still prefer my own version but lots of people will prefer Mongo's, and that's perfectly ok. And to be completely honest, after I have printed an image for the first time, I often find myself going back to Photoshop and giving colour and contrast a little lift . . .

This has made me think a bit more about how I work, and why I do things the way I do, and it has been interesting - thanks for that.
Title: Re: Autumnal
Post by: David Paterson on September 13, 2016, 00:30:01
Thanks to Akira, Fons, Gunther and Simone for posting here - all gratefully received.

Gunther - I do work almost entirely from instinct but a) I've been doing it for a long, long time*, and b) I change my gear, especially camera-bodies as seldom as possible. In this way I learn to know pretty well what they do, and I can trust them and no longer have to wonder about technical things.

* Too long to mention. but to quote the fashion photographer, David Bailey, "in photography everything is so ordinary. it takes a long time to learn to see the extraordinary."
Title: Re: Autumnal
Post by: Anthony on September 13, 2016, 00:33:01
Very interesting to see different ways of producing beautiful images with the same source material
Title: Re: Autumnal
Post by: Mongo on September 13, 2016, 00:45:03
Mongo - first of all, I like most of what you have done. It is more vivid and has more immediate appeal than my original, quieter version and the changes to the fore- and mid-ground are good. If I were still working for commercial clients I think I would quite often find myself working in this style. The only thing I do not like is the more saturated blue in the sky.

It all comes down to individual taste - there are no rights and wrongs here. I still prefer my own version but lots of people will prefer Mongo's, and that's perfectly ok. And to be completely honest, after I have printed an image for the first time, I often find myself going back to Photoshop and giving colour and contrast a little lift . . .

This has made me think a bit more about how I work, and why I do things the way I do, and it has been interesting - thanks for that.

Mongo agrees with you David. When rethinking the edit, the changes to the sky were Mongo's biggest concern too. It has also been interesting (through this exercise) to find out about one's own leanings and the role personal preferences play in a world where we may be subconsciously and overly influenced by commercial norms or concerns.