Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: Jim Pascoe on July 12, 2012, 04:41:18 am

Title: Tuscany in Mono. (and colour)
Post by: Jim Pascoe on July 12, 2012, 04:41:18 am
Inspired by the 'Whats New' article on Tuscany, I pluck up the courage to show a picture I took in May this year on a five-day trip.  It is such a beautiful region that anyone prepared to get up early and go for a walk will see some beautiful scenes.

What do you think?

Jim
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono.
Post by: John R Smith on July 12, 2012, 04:57:58 am
Jim

What a landscape. Beautiful light, nice viewpoint and composition, lovely picture.

John
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono.
Post by: francois on July 12, 2012, 05:05:54 am
Jim,
Superb! This image has everything to be pleasing, no need to say more, bravo.
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono.
Post by: Chris Calohan on July 12, 2012, 08:29:24 am
Quite lovely, no thinking needed. There is both simplicity and complexity in composition and exposure which makes my eye "sigh sweetly" with the feeling of having seen a perfect photograph.
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono.
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on July 12, 2012, 10:35:10 am
Wonderful shot, Jim.

I have been to Tuscany once (for six weeks), and I found it to be the most continuously photogenic place I've been. And the Tuscan landscape just screams "color," so I never converted any of my shots to monochrome, even though I am a B&W addict generally.

Your shot is just stunning, and the B&W treatment works so well!

Eric
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono.
Post by: popnfresh on July 12, 2012, 11:44:42 am
You captured the light perfectly. Good job.
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono.
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on July 12, 2012, 12:54:04 pm
Perfect.

Jeremy
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono.
Post by: Jim Pascoe on July 12, 2012, 12:59:29 pm
Wonderful shot, Jim.

I have been to Tuscany once (for six weeks), and I found it to be the most continuously photogenic place I've been. And the Tuscan landscape just screams "color," so I never converted any of my shots to monochrome, even though I am a B&W addict generally.

Your shot is just stunning, and the B&W treatment works so well!

Eric

Thanks for the kind words Eric and everyone else.  Like I say, I am not a landscape photographer but more into people really.  Usually I am shooting at f2, and it was quite a change to stop the lens down for a change to f11 and use a tripod.  Amazing how dirty the sensor was though - never really noticeable at f2!
I have some colour pictures too and this is one of them, taken with the same Zeiss 50mm lens, this time before dawn.

Jim
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono. (and colour)
Post by: popnfresh on July 12, 2012, 01:17:46 pm
The color shot is stunning. Gotta love that Zeiss glass. I love the wildflowers in the foreground. The light almost makes it look like the background is a painting. It's an amazing effect. This is really one of the most beautiful color landscapes I've ever seen on LL.
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono. (and colour)
Post by: RSL on July 12, 2012, 01:20:59 pm
Wow! Stunning color shot Jim. Bravo! F11 again I see.
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono. (and colour)
Post by: Jim Pascoe on July 12, 2012, 01:37:35 pm
The light was so soft and still quite dark - quite a slow shutter speed and you can see a few tall grasses blurred in the mid-foreground.  About 30 seconds later the outside light on the house went out.  All I have done is to lighten the foreground a bit and darken the sky a tad, both in Lightroom.  The biggest job was spotting all the dust marks from the sensor - it had not been cleaned for a about three years and I had no idea because I rarely stop the lens down.  That job took about 20 minutes!

I tell you - you cannot go wrong at dawn in Tuscany.

Jim
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono. (and colour)
Post by: William Walker on July 12, 2012, 01:57:27 pm
I love the wildflowers in the foreground. The light almost makes it look like the background is a painting. It's an amazing effect. This is really one of the most beautiful color landscapes I've ever seen on LL.

My thoughts exactly.

Now I know why I love landscape and why it is worth doing. Something to aspire to...

William
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono. (and colour)
Post by: popnfresh on July 12, 2012, 02:17:15 pm
The biggest job was spotting all the dust marks from the sensor - it had not been cleaned for a about three years and I had no idea because I rarely stop the lens down.  That job took about 20 minutes!


I wouldn't think that stopping down a lens would make any difference as far as seeing dust on the sensor is concerned. Are you sure it wasn't dust inside the lens? Zeiss lenses are great, but aren't sealed very well.
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono. (and colour)
Post by: Chris Calohan on July 12, 2012, 02:29:46 pm
Yummy treat for the eye.
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono. (and colour)
Post by: Jim Pascoe on July 12, 2012, 02:42:43 pm
I wouldn't think that stopping down a lens would make any difference as far as seeing dust on the sensor is concerned. Are you sure it wasn't dust inside the lens? Zeiss lenses are great, but aren't sealed very well.

Believe me - it makes a huge difference!  Try taking a picture of something continuous tone like a clear sky with the lens at say f2.8, then take it again with the lens at f11,  See the difference.  Of course this assumes you have dirt on your sensor!  :)  In fact dirt in the lens is unlikely to show up because it would be far too out of focus.  One of my old Nikon lenses has a big lump of fungus in between the glass elements, but you can't see it in pictures.

Jim
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono. (and colour)
Post by: wolfnowl on July 12, 2012, 02:46:59 pm
Beautiful work.  Both of them!

Mike.
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono. (and colour)
Post by: RSL on July 12, 2012, 03:03:18 pm
I wouldn't think that stopping down a lens would make any difference as far as seeing dust on the sensor is concerned. Are you sure it wasn't dust inside the lens? Zeiss lenses are great, but aren't sealed very well.

Pop, stopping down a lens always will show up problems on the sensor. To really get an idea of how much crud is on your sensor crank the focus on your lens in as close as it'll go, set aperture to its smallest hole, and shoot a blank blue sky without changing the focus.

Dust inside a lens will never make spots on your sensor.
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono. (and colour)
Post by: popnfresh on July 12, 2012, 03:23:33 pm
I guess I need to stop down more often.
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono. (and colour)
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on July 12, 2012, 04:18:04 pm
Oooh!!! The color one is fantastic, too!
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono. (and colour)
Post by: RSL on July 12, 2012, 04:26:59 pm
I guess I need to stop down more often.

Try what I said just once. You may be shocked! Shocked! If you're not shocked at first sight, bring up Auto Levels. Be sure you're sitting down.
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono. (and colour)
Post by: Dave (Isle of Skye) on July 12, 2012, 08:02:28 pm
Superb work Jim - I prefer the colour one myself by a long way, in fact I might even go as far as to say, it is the best landscape shot I have seen on this forum.  :)

Dave
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono. (and colour)
Post by: michswiss on July 13, 2012, 01:14:36 am
I'm definitely not a person to comment on landscape shots, but this one is quite special.  I can only imagine how wonderful it must have felt being there on that hill in the early dawn.  Magical.
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono. (and colour)
Post by: Rob C on July 13, 2012, 03:50:26 am
Also, Jennifer, one of the reasons people living in cities can get violent and depressed. Of course, folks in the stcks find their own reasons for doing and feeling much the same: the human condition, I guess.

Parts of the Dordogne also allow for that sort of atmospheric display, though the 'design' of the place is quite different; a beautiful example of the genre, indeed.

Rob C
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono. (and colour)
Post by: Jim Pascoe on July 13, 2012, 06:38:47 am
Thank you all for your positive comments.  I really have no great skill in this but it is just important to get in place at the right time.  This last picture was taken three minutes before the previous colour picture, but looking a bit further to the east, and with a 135mm lens.

Jim
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono.
Post by: jule on July 13, 2012, 07:53:22 pm
Thanks for the kind words Eric and everyone else.  Like I say, I am not a landscape photographer but more into people really.  Usually I am shooting at f2, and it was quite a change to stop the lens down for a change to f11 and use a tripod.  Amazing how dirty the sensor was though - never really noticeable at f2!
I have some colour pictures too and this is one of them, taken with the same Zeiss 50mm lens, this time before dawn.

Jim
This colour one has brought out not a very good quality in myself..  ENVY!!!!

:-)

Julie
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono. (and colour)
Post by: sdwilsonsct on July 15, 2012, 04:46:47 am
About 30 seconds later the outside light on the house went out.

Really, really nice, Jim. The porchlight is a big part of the strength for me. Inspirational.
Title: Re: Tuscany in Mono.
Post by: Jim Pascoe on July 15, 2012, 06:22:57 am
This colour one has brought out not a very good quality in myself..  ENVY!!!!

:-)

Julie

Ah Julie - I know that feeling well.  Envy is something that is absent in every area of my life - except photography!

These pictures of Tuscany were taken on a photo workshop with a friend of mine, Ian Badley.  Ian had been to Tuscany before and decided to organise a workshop there - he normally runs them in the UK.  He asked me if I would like to help him run the training, and our wives would be on hand to help entertain the other photographers partners if necessary.  My area of experience is more in people photography, but my wife Nicky really wanted to go to Tuscany and so we went.  Ian had booked a hotel very close to the location of these pictures and we did several dawn shoots.  In addition we took the group into local towns including Sienna and here I was able to help the pupils with their street photography.  All in all it was a great trip and the dawn pictures alone made it worthwhile.  For landscape work I am now a firm convert to tripods and f11.  We are going to run the same workshop in the first week of May 2013.  The poppies were amazing too!

Jim