A day by the river.........

Here are a few from my day by the River Wharfe, Langstrothdale, North Yorkshire.


20D 18-55mm lens @18mm 1/100 f5


20D 18-55mm lens 1/125 f9


5D 100mm macro lens 1/125 f8 ISO 400


5D 100mm macro lens 1/8 f18 + diagonally rotated ND gradient

Hi Jan,

Wow! These are such beautiful scenes. I hope to see further work here as they make great pictures. That stone house structure and the stone walls, BTW, are such good features. I really appreciate your use of diagonals in your compositions.

I tried adding a curve layer and set to "multiply" and added 1-20% for each image and then a Hue Sat layer with a slight amount increase in sat and a tad strong green. Better done with selective color.

Anyway, one cannot expect a perfect image in one shot unless one catches the peak of color naturally in the landscape.

Asher

BTW, the neutral density filter was on the lens or done in PS?

Hi Janet,

I have to say that your images are quite beautiful. My only comment is that I would like to rather stronger colour.

I'm tempted to post some similar shots of a walk along the river Esk (Lake District), but as you will soon discover it's a waste of effort and web-space. The numbing lack of interest will soon discourage you :-(

Regards,

Stuart

Stuart,

There is a 10:1 ratio of people who look at post to people who ever respond! However, you picture still stimulates and gives pleasure. Sometimes a picture even you have forgotten will be found and valued by someone 6 months or a year down the road. I have had images ignored and I wonder why and then other times something clicks and lots of discussion and images follow. So if you have images, share them. Each time, I personally find something that informs my own work.

When you do follow up, the thread suddenly can get traction as a group of likeminded people commit themselves to that subject.

Asher

I'm sure I am one of the guilty ones that does not post or comment very often. It's really just from not feeling too experienced or knowledgable enough to offer anything up worthwhile. I will say that I do indeed like these images a lot, especially the first and third. I really like the tree in the first and the way the hills drop down from both sides. It's all topsy-turvy and almost makes me dizzy. I like that. I too like the diagonal lines and the shadows from the walls/fences in that third image. Is this just the way that to separate plots or fields to keep livestock in or is there some other reason for them? What a beautiful place you live in. I can only wish to have such great opportunities for beautiful landscapes around Houston. There is beauty here but you really have to look hard and differently sometimes to find it. Your location seems full of great views every way you turn.
James

James Newman said:

I too like the diagonal lines and the shadows from the walls/fences in that third image. Is this just the way that to separate plots or fields to keep livestock in or is there some other reason for them? What a beautiful place you live in. I can only wish to have such great opportunities for beautiful landscapes around Houston. There is beauty here but you really have to look hard and differently sometimes to find it. Your location seems full of great views every way you turn.
James

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Hi James

Thank you for you comments, I always appreciate feedback, it helps to keep me going, so far this week I have photographed flowers, the river and yesterday a one year old little boy taking probably around 700 shots in total, this seems to be coming an average week for me now, I'm always busy with photography one way or another, housework and other mundane matters are often left now until there is no option but to get on with them....

You asked about the dry stone walls, the Yorkshire dales are known for their dry stone walls, most are hundreds of years old and are still used to enclose livestock, I love them, they become a habitat for birds and small animals.

Asher, Thank you for you comments too, the light was incredibly harsh with very strong intense sunlight and a gentle mistyness in the distance, the colours here in the winter are very muted, I'll be going again over the weekend the weather forecast is for a heavy frost and bright sunshine, so we'll see what the weekend brings. Yes the ND filter was on the lens in shots 3 & 4, polariser on 1 & 2. Did you manage to make them look better after you had worked on them? I'd like to see the result if you saved it....

Stuart, Thak you too for your comments, however I have to say that I will never become discouraged, there have been many photographs that I have loved and for whatever reason haven't commented on, I have found lots of inspiration from looking at the work of others on this forum and elsewhere, I don't think you should take a lack of response as a lack of interest, or be discouraged by it, photography to me is an absolute obsession, I am completely and utterley compelled to get out my camera every day and find something to phototgraph, you just have to look around your home, your family, your garden, food, wildlife etc etc the list is endless, therefore I can say with as much certainty as anyone can ever have, that I for one will never be discouraged (sorry if I've gone on a rant)

Asher and Jan,

I may have been a bit harsh - after all I have no reason to expect comments, and I'm probably as guilty as anyone when it comes to keeping quiet.

Jan - I'm not discouraged from taking photos, just from publishing them.

And to prove there's no bad feeling, here are a few I took in November 2005. Although it was a glorious day, there was a slight haze which softened the long views. In addition they were taken with my Powershot Pro 1, which never seemed to perform as well as I'd hoped. After 18 months I swapped it for a 350D.

I love walking by rivers - they chatter away and keep you company, and the Esk is no exception. In it's middle reaches it's full of little falls and cascades and is a charming companion.





At the top of the valley is the vast bowl of the Great Moss, where the Esk is born. It's difficult to show the scale of the scene, but Esk Buttress, the rock face in the centre of the image, offers climbers 400ft of clean rock. Rear left is Scafell Pike, England's highest mountain.



Regards,

Stuart

Hi Stuart

Lovely images of another of my favourite spots, I'm glad you decided to post them, you've inspired me to go back to the Lakes, it's been way too long since I've been there. Thank you showing these, I prefer the 1st & 2nd out of these, looks like you were lucky with the weather for November.....

StuartRae said:

Asher and Jan,

a few I took in November 2005. Although it was a glorious day, there was a slight haze which softened the long views. In addition they were taken with my Powershot Pro 1, which never seemed to perform as well as I'd hoped. After 18 months I swapped it for a 350D.

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Hi Stuart,

A magnifcent bunch of images but more so the words. As I pointed out to .... Mike Spinak's introductions put us in the palce of the images and introduce us to the sensibilities of the imagery.

StuartRae said:

I love walking by rivers - they chatter away and keep you company, and the Esk is no exception. In it's middle reaches it's full of little falls and cascades and is a charming companion.

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"They chatter and keep ypu company and the Eske is no exception" " This is beautiful and puts us in the location with all our senses. I really like the economical but rich language.

Then

StuartRae said:

At the top of the valley is the vast bowl of the Great Moss, where the Esk is born. It's difficult to show the scale of the scene, but Esk Buttress, the rock face in the centre of the image, offers climbers 400ft of clean rock. Rear left is Scafell Pike, England's highest mountain.

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This explains some of the challenge in taking the shots. Still I'd advocate a wider sweep by combining several adjacent images as the curved winding river seems to demand this if you might actually be able to see wider from your vantage point.

Now did you increase the saturation?

Asher

An idea, in the first picture, note the big rock on the right. That anchors the image. That's a great feature. In the next image, considering dropping your position to catch a clump of plants or other structure might similarly srengthen the composition.

Jan,

Thanks for commenting. Upper Eskdale is definitely my favourite place. On several occasions I've found a comfortable rock at the bottom of Cam Spout and just sat there for hours, resisting the temptation to do the next 2000ft to Scafell.

Asher,

I'd advocate a wider sweep by combining several adjacent images as the curved winding river seems to demand this

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I've got a 12x40 inch print hanging on my wall

Now did you increase the saturation?

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Not directly, although I usually use the Shadow Contrast slider in RSP to set the black point, which makes the colours richer.

In the next image, considering dropping your position to catch a clump of plants or other structure........

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Thanks for the advice.


Regards,

Stuart

Hi Janet. Lovely photographs, especially the first one. I would love to see that same scene taken in early morning (does it get misty there?) or late in the evening.

Marcus Peddle said:

Does it get misty there?

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Yes it definately does, I've been again today, light was still very intense, the river even lower, it was very cold last night so there was quite a bit of ice around the river bank, made it quite treacherous on the rocks but I've got some more nice ones. May post some tomorrow when I've gone through them. Thanks for you nice comments......

My pleasure. I'm looking forward to seeing your photographs. I got some pictures scanned at the lab today so I'm able to post a few as well.

As promised here's one from yesterday....



Icy on the river bank, very, very, slippy!!

Another cracker Jan. I'm pleased you survived the conditions, which is more than I once did when crossing a stream!

The recent weather makes me want to get up to the Lakes again. Warm sun, cold air, perfect for walking. All I need is a new pair of knees and I'm off...........

Regards,

Stuart

StuartRae said:

Another cracker Jan. I'm pleased you survived the conditions, which is more than I once did when crossing a stream!

The recent weather makes me want to get up to the Lakes again. Warm sun, cold air, perfect for walking. All I need is a new pair of knees and I'm off...........

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Hi Stuart

Thankyou, I really like this one, I've just spent the last couple of hours tweaking these and after taking prints off, I think I prefer the originals, it's a frustrating business at times!

Yes it would be lovely in the lakes right now, shame about the knees!

janet Smith said:

Thankyou, I really like this one, I've just spent the last couple of hours tweaking these and after taking prints off, I think I prefer the originals, it's a frustrating business at times!

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I like your icy on the river bank, but I do wonder how it would look if you made 2 Raw conversions (one optimized for the highlights with plenty of highlight contrast due to gamma, compensated for brightness, and one optimized for the foreground shadows, and with a slightly warmer whitebalance), and then blend them e.g. with 'Enfuse'.

Bart

Hi Bart

I'm just in the midst of trying exactly what you have suggested, have just got one that I think looks better, it's a question of getting the balance right isn't it, the colours very easily start to look too much, but I think I'm getting the hang of it (may be about to have a eureka moment fingers crossed) Either that or I'll have to go and do something else for a while and come back to it later........

Bart_van_der_Wolf said:

I like your icy on the river bank, but I do wonder how it would look if you made 2 Raw conversions (one optimized for the highlights with plenty of highlight contrast due to gamma, compensated for brightness, and one optimized for the foreground shadows, and with a slightly warmer whitebalance), and then blend them

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Hi Bart

Here is the amended version made by blending the 2 conversions together, do you think it's better? I'm not sure......