Thanks everyone
Thanks to Kers and his comment about the balance between real and fairy tale. This is always an interesting scale to work on and probably will never pull me entirely to one or the other end of the spectrum. I think it is the scene that speaks to me and makes me go for what I feel. Not that I post process for "what I saw" as many photographers will say. For me it is a combination of the composition on the location and the post processing that will make it real or fairy tale.
Many thanks to Pieter for the time we had in Tuscany in May. Btw. I can never work out if I like May or November the most, it is like different locations.
Thanks to Tony and the comment on compositions. I always try to composition many different compositions when on a location and then choose later behind the computer what I feel works the best. I'm never able to tell in the field which one will come as the one I like the most. Probably a shot coming I'll have to live with
Thanks Terry, you are right about the many times when it was either not very good or just average. But what thrills me and my workshop students when I'm with them, is the highs when everything is amazing. In Italy I only shoot at the extremes of the day and I always find it fascination that an ordinary scene in Tuscany can look that amazing at or before sunrise. In Scotland and in Norway I also shoot during the day time sometimes as the light is often suitable for it, where in Italy the light almost always gets harsh and much too strong.
Thanks Doug and for the time when you joined me in Tuscany. The Canon 11-24 is an amazing lens. The optical quality is not the most amazing thing in my view (strange to say perhaps the optical quality is outstanding as is the price of the lens). I hesitated for a while to buy the lens until I tried it on one of my workshops where a participant had it and I saw the potential. It is alens that grows on you if you like that extreme view. You have to go very close to the foreground to make the pictures. For those interested Ian Plant has made a great set of tutorials on the Ultra Wide Photography where he shows also the 11-24 and what can be achieved with this lens. I still have a way to go to exploit this lens.
And thanks to the rest which I did not comment on
