Malham, Yorkshire Dales

I was out with my dog Kim for a walk the other morning, a beautiful breezy morning up on the tops above Malham village, it can seem a bleak place especially during the winter when the wind is ferocious, what do you think? too bare, or does the light save it?



Canon 5D 100mm macro lens ISO 200 f14 1//160

Jan,

Lovely part of the world, so much to photograph and the light changes all the time.

I like the image, the 50/50 horizon works well, although it may work better in a 16:9 format.

I'd also add some fill to the central shadow band, marginally saturate the greens and reduce the blue luminance.

All personal preferences mind. )

Hi John

Thanks for the tips, on reflection I agree with you about 16:9 format and will look at the shadow area, although it is so typical of the weather up here. I'm happy with the green as is, it looks this way and knowing the area so well, it wouldn't look right to me if the saturation were increased....

Thanks very much for the feedback John it's appreciated.

Janet,

How is it we Londoners were never sent there for vacation as kids? This is so remarkable. I agree with John's comments. This is an argument for taking pictures with manual settings and always getting coverage of neighboring structures, just in case one wants to extend the composition, like the rocks on the left. As it is, I'm very impressed. With the suggestions it's ready to sell (prints only!).

Asher

BTW, what's the history, that wall: Roman, part of some farm or a place worth excavating.

Asher

A couple more of Malham



Yorkshire Dry stone wall


Malham


Hi Asher

Thanks for the encouragement and positive feedback, it's appreciated.

Here are a couple more of Malham, the walls are just traditional dry stone farm walls that prevail in Yorkshire. Walls have been constructed in this way in the Dales for 100's of years, it is a dying trade which very few people are able to do now.

Malham is well known for it's "limestone pavements" which are areas of exposed limestone on the tops of the moors, the rocky outcrops you can see in the pictures used to be used as the source for the rocks for the dry stone walls.

I'll take some more the next time I'm up there for a walk...

Janet,

I love the close-up of the wall! I think the DOF is great.

Hi Jessica

Thanks for the nice comment, appreciated. I love the walls up here, they become literally alive with plants and birds nests.

Lovely images Janet,

I haven't been to that area for a while. I like the receding lines of the limstone pavement in the first image - they really take your eye through the scene.

Don't know if anyone saw the latest installment of 'Mountain' on the BBC over the weekend, but they covered the Malham area. APparently they are trying to encourage farmers in the area to breed cattle instead of sheep - the aim being to encourage the spread of some of the rare flowers that grow in the limestone pavement. The sheep tend to eat them all! Maybe there'll be the opportunity for some flower pictures next year.

Hello Andrew

Thanks for the kind comments. When foot and mouth was around the Malham area a few years ago all the empty fields where the sheep should have been looked so beautiful, the flowers had grown and covered everywhere because all the sheep had been culled, it looked beautiful yet so sad. Hopefully it'll never look like that again!

I saw the programme you refer to, yes it was interesting, I'll get some shots of the vegetation in the rock fissures next time I'm up there.