Sunset at Castle Ewen Fairy Glen, Isle of Skye

[Hans Kruse]

This photo was shot my last photo workshop on Isle of Skye in September 2017. This is a quite special place.

The camera was the Canon 5DSR and the Canon 16-35 f/4L IS lens at 16mm.

Direct link to the picture https://www.hanskrusephotography.com/Workshops/Isle-of-Skye-workshop-2019/i-xhd89DS/A

[guido]

Wow! Lovely image! What an amazing location!

[RSL]

Very nice, Hans. Another winner.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Very nice, Hans. Another winner.

It sure is.

[Dave (Isle of Skye)]

Yes that is another lovely shot Hans of a place near(ish) to where I live and that I have been to and go back to many times 

Now this is not a criticism as such and please do not read it as such, as it is probably more about me than anyone else, but starburst lens flare around the sun I just love, but random blobs of flare I don't and so I do everything I can to either avoid them altogether or remove them afterwards if I can, but as I say, that is probably just me.

So nitpick aside (but probably only for me and for my way of working), this shows the area well and is a really lovely composition. 

I have just looked at the shot again, and I might be wrong and it isn't lens flare at all, but rain blobs on your lens - if so then oops, my mistake....

Dave

[Paulo Bizarro]

Very atmospheric light, well done. I am not sure about the "blobs", they seem to both add and detract from the image, if that makes sense...

[Bob_B]

Absolutely beautiful, but where are the hobbits? 

[Hans Kruse]

Thanks very much for all the comments. And for the blobs I was looking at them for a while to decide if I wanted to remove them or not. Somehow I came to the conclusion that they didn't bother me. But I must admit I was a bit puzzled by why they were there since the sun was already behind the hill. So maybe there were some rain drops that I did not remember.

The group of sheep came across while I was shooting and I hoped they would assemble in an area where they would add to the image. This is an almost surreal location with the rock in the middle and the stones arranged by visitors and the sheep added as well.

[RSL]

It's a lovely shot, Hans, even taking into account Dave's non-criticism criticism. I have trouble with flares too, unless they're deliberately introduced for effect.

But that's the trouble with photography and landscape. If you really want fantastic landscape you have to take brush in hand. Example: Bierstadt's Among the Sierra Nevadas. He grossly exaggerated linear perspective, but the result is a painting that truly FEELS like the mountains -- something you simply can't do with a camera.

The photographs by Hans I've seen so far are about as close as you can come to landscape done with a brush. That's a compliment, Hans, in case somebody suggests otherwise.

[farbschlurf]

I'm waiting for the hobbits, too.
;-)

Flare and "blobs" don't bother me a lot in general. Sometimes I think it's because I wear glasses and although they are super-duper anti-glare-coated-whatever I see flare and blobs all the time. When I forgot cleaning them, it's even worse ...

[Dave (Isle of Skye)]

But that's the trouble with photography and landscape. If you really want fantastic landscape you have to take brush in hand... ...The photographs by Hans I've seen so far are about as close as you can come to landscape done with a brush. That's a compliment, Hans, in case somebody suggests otherwise.

I totally agree Russ and as I said quite some time ago in the critique section if you recall - try to shoot your landscapes as near as you can to how you would want to make a painting of them if you could paint - in other words, try to shoot paintings.

So I am really quite happy to hear that you have now come around to a point of almost agreeing with me Russ

Hans, I do now think that they are indeed rain spots, what with the configuration of them and how they seem to overlap each other, which is something that lens flare doesn't normally do in this way I don't think and also if it was after the sun had sunk below the hill in the background as you mention.

But as I said before and as I am more than happy to say again, this is a really lovely shot and I think it would only ever be another landscape photographer of the more pixel peeping, pedantic and anally retentive type (that would be me that would ) who would ever even notice, as everyone else on the planet would look at this shot and just say WOW!

Dave

[pcgpcg]

This not a criticism - just a comment on something very unusual. To me.
This photo really confuses my brain. Remove the sheep and it appears to be a landscape of distant objects. The tower in the upper right appears to be hundreds of feet high (because my brain initially does not notice the two people on top) and the spiral design on the bottom of what appears to be a large valley appears to be constructed as a spiraling road. If a truck were on it, the truck would appear as a speck. Then my eye works its way up the side of the valley to the left and encounters... giant sheep! I still am unable to reconcile the scale of various objects in this photo. This is a strange place!

[Dave (Isle of Skye)]

This not a criticism - just a comment on something very unusual. To me.
This photo really confuses my brain. Remove the sheep and it appears to be a landscape of distant objects. The tower in the upper right appears to be hundreds of feet high (because my brain initially does not notice the two people on top) and the spiral design on the bottom of what appears to be a large valley appears to be constructed as a spiraling road. If a truck were on it, the truck would appear as a speck. Then my eye works its way up the side of the valley to the left and encounters... giant sheep! I still am unable to reconcile the scale of various objects in this photo. This is a strange place!

Well it is called the fairy Glen for a reason and if you go there in the middle of winter on a still day and the tiny lochan in front of Ewan's Castle is shining like a mirror and reflecting the castle, then you can really feel the other-worldliness of the place, as it really is magical, quite small and hidden away, but totally magical.

Dave

[sarrasani]

   clap hands from me.
sandro

[Peter McLennan]

Amazing location.  Agree on the Hobbits.  I didn't see the raindrops until they were mentioned.  I'd get rid of them if this were my image.

Whatever.  Spectacular.  Evocative.  Inspiring.

[Rajan Parrikar]

Lovely photograph.

Those blobs can be easily fixed by the texture/colour separation technique.

[Peter McLennan]

Lovely photograph.

Those blobs can be easily fixed by the texture/colour separation technique.

Care to elaborate or point to a tutorial? My first weapon would be the healer brush in PSCC. Apparently not the best choice.

[guido]

Care to elaborate or point to a tutorial? My first weapon would be the healer brush in PSCC. Apparently not the best choice.

Yes, this would be quite interesting!

[Rajan Parrikar]

Care to elaborate or point to a tutorial? My first weapon would be the healer brush in PSCC. Apparently not the best choice.

Peter,

This technique isolates texture and colour on two separate layers so that you can clone out the colour and leave the texture (detail) untouched. I use Tony Kuyper's V6 panel which has this built in as a 1-click action. However, as seen in the linked video, it is not hard to do it manually -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_3026130903&feature=iv&src_vid=y9niGvZClh8&v=zQNkKiLDD88

[john beardsworth]

Care to elaborate or point to a tutorial? My first weapon would be the healer brush in PSCC. Apparently not the best choice.

You can fix these flare spots pretty easily with the obvious tools - clone stamp, content aware fill.