Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: Chairman Bill on January 03, 2012, 05:22:15 am

Title: Dartmoor B&W
Post by: Chairman Bill on January 03, 2012, 05:22:15 am
I was on Dartmoor yesterday. Lots of weather - hail, sleet, snow, squally showers, torrential windblown hail, rain, more hail, lots more wind. Most precipitation was horizontal rather than vertical. This isn't the best shot of the day, but the one I most want some feedback on. It really was dark & gloomy, and I've emphasised this a bit in this B&W conversion. Question is, have I strayed into over-cooking rather than simply creating a darker mood?

Title: Re: Dartmoor B&W
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on January 03, 2012, 09:07:45 am
It does not look overcooked at all to me, Bill. It expresses very well the dark and foreboding nature of Dartmoor (which I know only from fictional accounts).

I like it just as it is.

Eric
Title: Re: Dartmoor B&W
Post by: Chairman Bill on January 03, 2012, 09:32:33 am
Thanks Eric
Title: Re: Dartmoor B&W
Post by: francois on January 03, 2012, 09:57:41 am
I'm with Eric on this image. I like it a lot and the dark mood doesn't seem overdone at all.
Well done!
Title: Re: Dartmoor B&W
Post by: Jim Pascoe on January 03, 2012, 11:07:12 am
Lovely Bill.  Not all my experiences of Dartmoor look like this, but it sums up how I always think of it after a very wet D of E expedition there as a teenager, and a few years later doing Practical Leadership exercises there while in the Navy in very wet conditions.  My daughter lives on the edge of Dartmoor now and I have had some sunny days too!  This sort of picture and it's treatment is what got me into serious photography.  More please.

Jim
Title: Re: Dartmoor B&W
Post by: RSL on January 03, 2012, 11:16:05 am
Is that Holmes and Watson I see disappearing behind that hill in the middle distance on the right?

Fine shot, Bill. The mood comes through powerfully.
Title: Re: Dartmoor B&W
Post by: Chairman Bill on January 03, 2012, 11:22:34 am
Thanks each. I conclude that it's a keeper.
Title: Re: Dartmoor B&W
Post by: Slobodan Blagojevic on January 03, 2012, 11:22:49 am
+1
Title: Re: Dartmoor B&W
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on January 03, 2012, 03:23:59 pm
Thanks each. I conclude that it's a keeper.
Wonderful shot. I feel cold and miserable just looking at it. All I need to perfect the mood is a Shostakovich symphony on the CD player.

Jeremy
Title: Re: Dartmoor B&W
Post by: Chairman Bill on September 24, 2015, 12:32:44 pm
I know it's been a while, but rather than start another thread, I thought it best to just add to this one
Title: Re: Dartmoor B&W
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on September 24, 2015, 01:34:26 pm
I think the foreground in the third adds nothing and distracts from the magnificent swirling cloud, mist and rain (I assume) in the distance. Apart from that, great set, the fourth in particular.

Jeremy
Title: Re: Dartmoor B&W
Post by: Chairman Bill on September 24, 2015, 02:24:05 pm
OK. Fair comment. I was intitially attracted by the colour contrast, but converting it to B&W I was thinking of the contrast between the spiky grass & reeds & the swirling cloud. You're probably right - it doesn't work so well. Maybe one for colour.
Title: Re: Dartmoor B&W
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on September 24, 2015, 02:37:50 pm
Never having been anywhere near Dartmoor, I am impressed with the mood these images convey, which matches so well what I've read about the place.

Jeremy is probably right about the third one, but the way I see it is that even under bright light Dartmoor has a sinister look to it.

Fine set.

Eric
Title: Re: Dartmoor B&W
Post by: armand on September 24, 2015, 06:57:05 pm
I know it's been a while, but rather than start another thread, I thought it best to just add to this one

Is that the 18-35?
Title: Re: Dartmoor B&W
Post by: Chairman Bill on September 24, 2015, 07:18:51 pm
Yep
Title: Re: Dartmoor B&W
Post by: graeme on September 25, 2015, 08:36:56 am
Very nice images Bill. I initially agreed with Jeremy's opinion of the third one but I find that it's growing on me. You could probably post it in the 'Abstracts' thread.