Fountains Abbey revisited

[graeme]

Finally got to revisit Fountains Abbey last week. During the one & a half hour drive there we couldn't believe how good the light was. Arrived, had coffee, set camera up during which time the sky clouded over and we were stuck with the the flattest most diffuse light imaginable for the rest of the day. Oh well...

Here are some of the shots we got. I'll post more over the next few days. Comments most appreciated ( as ever ).

Graeme

[Kirk Gittings]

Nice. I have been there but the light was not right so I took nothing and it is a loooong trip back to shoot it in good light.

[wolfnowl]

Looks like an amazing place to be!

Mike.

[WalterEG]

Rule 1, Page 1:  Take the pictures while the light is good THEN have the coffee.

On peregrinations of th UK I have shot these motifs myself and they invariably result in shortcomings.

[David Eckels]

I have shot these motifs myself and they invariably result in shortcomings.

Me too, but I find them fascinating. Requires more study on my part. What would be considered "good light" for such subjects? These look like they were probably shot on an overcast day. Update: Which is what you say in the original post. Duh!

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

I think the light was just right for these captures. It shows the textures beautifully in both light and dark areas. With direct sunlight I don't think the first one could hold the detail inside the arch nearly as well (without some gruesome "HD" treatment).

Fine shots!

[RSL]

Very nice, Graeme. I've never been there, so I can't judge the relative significance of these shots, but I'd be willing to bet they show the soul of the place.

[Kevin Gallagher]

  Hi Graeme, #'s 1,3,4 to me are perfect, in that they draw me into the shot. #2 Not so much because of the column in the middle but's that just a niggle on my part

[Harald L]

Very impressive. I don't believe that sunlight would help you to make better pictures from that scenes.

Harald

[cjogo]

Perfect light and great images ---  show more ~!

[graeme]

Rule 1, Page 1:  Take the pictures while the light is good THEN have the coffee.

I guess I had that coming.

[graeme]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

The flat light probably did help with some of the shots. I think I was initially disappointed becaused I'd been psyched up to get some images with heavy shadows cast by the arches which I've done in the past.

Eric, I actually used the 'Merge to HDR Pro' function in photoshop on the first image and reimported it back into Lightroom as a 32 bit tiff. I found it quite useful but tried hard not to touch the 'gruesome' slider.

Hope to be back at Fountains this Friday. The weather doesn't look promising but we have to start relocating our stained glass workshop in a few days so it's my last chance this year. Wish me luck.

Graeme

A couple more from the other day.