Autumnal

[David Paterson]

My first "home" landscape since returning from Orkney. The colours here are already quite autumnal.

[Anthony]

Beautiful landscape.

[Lars Hansen]

Beautiful it is!  I like the colors and the variations in the foreground/middleground light.

[David Paterson]

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.

[Akira]

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?

[Jakov Minić]

David, your images always put a smile to my face with admiration for the scenery and your photography.

[Mongo]

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.

[Thomas Stellwag]

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

[David Paterson]

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   - 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.

[David Paterson]

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?

[David Paterson]

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  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.

[Akira]

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...

[Fons Baerken]

beautiful image

[Danulon]

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

[Mongo]

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)