Glen Shiel Woodland

[Dave (Isle of Skye)]

From a couple of days ago.

Dave

[HSakols]

Very nice.  It reminds me that I should get out and take more photos.  I'm sure it was a splendid day.

[sdwilsonsct]

Really good structure. I imagine it took a bit of finding.

[brandtb]

nice

[Dave (Isle of Skye)]

Really good structure. I imagine it took a bit of finding.

Oddly enough and a bit annoyingly for me, it was taken right at the side of the car in a layby at the side of the busy main road.

I had gone to this wooded area which I knew was looking very autumnal, got all my gear out and happily trudged around in the woods and boggy undergrowth for several miles and about 5 hours. I took lots of shots and really enjoyed myself, but realised I wasn't getting any worthwhile compositions, the wood was just too dense and with the fine detail of the lichen covering all the trees, there was actually too much detail to capture, it was sort of visual overload. So eventually after many hours of trying my best, I gave up and lugged all my gear back to the car, happy but a bit disappointed in the fact that even though there appeared to be so much beautiful autumn colour everywhere, there seemed to be nothing that looked any good on the review screen, because the wood was dense I just couldn't isolate anything and there was no view through it. So I was having to stop right down to try and hold DoF, but everything then looked too soft due to diffraction - so the long and short of it was, that I just couldn't get anything usable, no matter what I tried.

So eventually I got back to the car, put the gear away and got in and started the engine, then happened to look across the road and saw this scene through the windscreen. I realised that I could now isolate the scene as I wanted to from where I now was, due to the clear view across the road to the edge of the trees, so I got all the gear back out of the car, set up the camera and tripod etc right at the side of the car and took the above shot.

When I got home and reviewed my days efforts, all the other shots were soon dispatched to that great big digital dust bin in the sky and this 'no effort' shot, turned out to be the keeper.

- I am sure there must be a moral to this tale somewhere  

Dave

[sdwilsonsct]

Great story, Dave. That's the kind of finding I was thinking of, much effort capped by something falling into your lap. You might not have recognized it if you hadn't worked so hard before?

The biggest print I have on the wall has a similar history, hours of fooling around followed by a parking lot epiphany.

[Dave (Isle of Skye)]

Would it still have looked too soft after deconvolution sharpening?

Thanks for the suggestion Isaac, but I did try all the various tricks and methods I know of to firm up the appearance of sharpness, but there was just so much detail (and micro detail), that I was never satisfied with anything I did, so it was off to the recycle bin with them all, except this one of course.

Great story, Dave. That's the kind of finding I was thinking of, much effort capped by something falling into your lap. You might not have recognized it if you hadn't worked so hard before?

The biggest print I have on the wall has a similar history, hours of fooling around followed by a parking lot epiphany.

Perhaps we should create a book on Lula called "Shot From the Car Park"   (c)

Dave

[fike]

Oddly enough and a bit annoyingly for me, it was taken right at the side of the car in a layby at the side of the busy main road.

I had gone to this wooded area which I knew was looking very autumnal, got all my gear out and happily trudged around in the woods and boggy undergrowth for several miles and about 5 hours. I took lots of shots and really enjoyed myself, but realised I wasn't getting any worthwhile compositions, the wood was just too dense and with the fine detail of the lichen covering all the trees, there was actually too much detail to capture, it was sort of visual overload. So eventually after many hours of trying my best, I gave up and lugged all my gear back to the car, happy but a bit disappointed in the fact that even though there appeared to be so much beautiful autumn colour everywhere, there seemed to be nothing that looked any good on the review screen, because the wood was dense I just couldn't isolate anything and there was no view through it. So I was having to stop right down to try and hold DoF, but everything then looked too soft due to diffraction - so the long and short of it was, that I just couldn't get anything usable, no matter what I tried.

So eventually I got back to the car, put the gear away and got in and started the engine, then happened to look across the road and saw this scene through the windscreen. I realised that I could now isolate the scene as I wanted to from where I now was, due to the clear view across the road to the edge of the trees, so I got all the gear back out of the car, set up the camera and tripod etc right at the side of the car and took the above shot.

When I got home and reviewed my days efforts, all the other shots were soon dispatched to that great big digital dust bin in the sky and this 'no effort' shot, turned out to be the keeper.

- I am sure there must be a moral to this tale somewhere  

Dave

It always happens to me like that.  I soothe myself by claiming that I HAD to go out on the fruitless hike in order to see the easy shot in the parking lot or by the side of the road or in my backyard, or beside a trash heap or beside a liquor store or....blah blah blah.  For me these shots are also taken very quickly...almost rushed....though the technique often remains excellent. You get in a zone and it works. 

[Colorado David]

This strikes me as being a "the harder I work, the luckier I get" story.  Well done.

[fike]

...

Perhaps we should create a book on Lula called "Shot From the Car Park"   (c)

Dave

I have often thought that almost every landscape photo ever made has civilization in it...even if it is only behind the camera in the form of a trail or road.  Roads and trails provide vantage points that you  can't otherwise get of the natural landscape.  Without the human artifice to get to the wild areas, we wouldn't have any landscape photography.  Without clear-cuts, we wouldn't have access to those beautiful lines of tall trees lined up so neatly with their pretty autumn faces.   

[John R]

I used to wonder why many of my images appeared soft until I understood what diffraction is. But as time passed, it dawned on me that I could use this to my advantage. F22 has its advantages as well as disadvantages and should be thought of as a tool. We would not presume to sharpen any image unless we have a mental expectation of that it should be sharp. I really like the soft look Dave. An excellent image.

JMR

[brandtb]

Dave - looked at the several times more...and what you captured (albeit ad hoc(?) way)...the subtle rhythm and modulation of color throughout...don't see this to often done well. The variation across the picture plane from pale and whitish grays, taupes, cool celadons of the Lichens, light and dark greens, pale yellow wheat colors...really great...one the best I've seen this fall.  /B

[sdwilsonsct]

Dave - looked at the several times more......really great...one the best I've seen this fall.  ?B

Yeah, finally saw it on a bigger monitor. Nice! Pointillist. Did you deliberately bring that out in processing?

[mattpallante]

Nice patterns and texture, Dave! My eye wants to stay on this image and explore.

Matt

[Chris Calohan]

I've been experimenting with a similar image and last night I made a color pick selection, loaded the mask and copied only the leaves to a new layer, applied a high pass sharpening with a 3% blur layer atop that and discovered it worked pretty dang well. Adjusting the opacity of the layer is useful as is playing with a channel mask or two. I made a light lights but even that may be subject to change as I continue to dink about. I'm out today to find the perfect tree/leaves shot to see if it will work on a full image.

Your image prompted all tis experimentation, so I thank you for the inspiration and an image I'd hang on my wall (if there was any space left).

[Dave (Isle of Skye)]

I used to wonder why many of my images appeared soft until I understood what diffraction is. But as time passed, it dawned on me that I could use this to my advantage. F22 has its advantages as well as disadvantages and should be thought of as a tool. We would not presume to sharpen any image unless we have a mental expectation of that it should be sharp. I really like the soft look Dave. An excellent image.

JMR

Thanks John and I agree, stopping right down certainly has its uses once you realise all its effects and how you can use them. 

Dave - looked at the several times more...and what you captured (albeit ad hoc(?) way)...the subtle rhythm and modulation of color throughout...don't see this to often done well. The variation across the picture plane from pale and whitish grays, taupes, cool celadons of the Lichens, light and dark greens, pale yellow wheat colors...really great...one the best I've seen this fall.  /B

Thank you so much Brandtb, I am so glad I have been able to share this image with you, albeit a smaller low res version 

Yeah, finally saw it on a bigger monitor. Nice! Pointillist. Did you deliberately bring that out in processing?

Thanks Scott 

Actually I did very little work on this image (yes I know, photographers always say that don't they?), but I will freely admit that working on some of my images can take me many hours, or days and even sometimes weeks - in fact I have one image I keep going back to from 5 years ago, that I just don't seem able to let go of, but this image was loaded from my flash card onto the PC as a raw, worked on and then up on Lula within two hours, and that includes reviewing all the other images from that day. I will be honest though, I have since gone back to the raw and tried to give it the full treatment, but it gains nothing more from it, so this is one of those rare images (for me at least) that needed only a slight lightening of the dark areas, a small piece of bright bark cloning out and the slightest bit of smart sharpening, I haven't even dust spotted it. 

Nice patterns and texture, Dave! My eye wants to stay on this image and explore.

Matt

Thanks Matt, again I am so happy that you like what I have done here 

I've been experimenting with a similar image and last night I made a color pick selection, loaded the mask and copied only the leaves to a new layer, applied a high pass sharpening with a 3% blur layer atop that and discovered it worked pretty dang well. Adjusting the opacity of the layer is useful as is playing with a channel mask or two. I made a light lights but even that may be subject to change as I continue to dink about. I'm out today to find the perfect tree/leaves shot to see if it will work on a full image.

Your image prompted all this experimentation, so I thank you for the inspiration and an image I'd hang on my wall (if there was any space left).

You are absolutely welcome Matt, because isn't this sharing of images and ideas and cross pollination what this should all be about?

Thanks folks, you have made me one very happy puppy 

Dave

[Dale Villeponteaux]

Reminds me of Jackson Pollack, whom I did not appreciate until seeing a large one at the Tate Modern.

Well seen,
Dale