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Author Topic: Of hills and valleys  (Read 2038 times)

Wolven

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Of hills and valleys
« on: November 02, 2014, 04:12:41 am »

Please help critique and improve my photography!

Thanks in advance.

Note: It has been a cloudless day so far...

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Tony Jay

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Re: Of hills and valleys
« Reply #1 on: November 02, 2014, 04:52:00 am »

This looks like a typical day in Eastern Australia!

A nice image but possibly a little generic.
What I mean by this is that there is nothing, particularly in the foreground, that helps capture the essence of the place.
Down in the bottom right of the image is some coloured foliage that, were it a bit closer in the scene, might help in this regard.

Some will comment about the bland sky, but, as you mention - no clouds - so not a lot can be done about that.
You have minimised the sky, which is a good ploy, but, depending on your composition, even eliminating it completely may have been an option too.

This area seems to have plenty of scope for good compositions and if you are able, try marking certain spots as places where there are excellent compositions and then returning in different light and different weather conditions.
Ultimately it is the light that transforms a so-so image in to something truly special.
BTW there is nothing intrinsically wrong with the light in that image - it seems to have been shot in the late afternoon - and so the low angle, slightly warm light can be ideal for good landscapes.

Doing good landscape photography is an exercise in time and patience.
I recently spent five days on Fraser Island but the weather was pretty unexciting for landscape photography and I only managed a few OKish images of Lake Mackenzie one afternoon and another few of the Maheno on the last afternoon I was there otherwise it was hot, dry, and cloudless all the time. I did take note of several locations where I would like to shoot when the light is a bit more conducive though.

Tony Jay
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degrub

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Re: Of hills and valleys
« Reply #2 on: November 03, 2014, 03:49:27 pm »

The lower half makes an interesting pano.... into the darkness of the forest.
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Wolven

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Re: Of hills and valleys
« Reply #3 on: November 03, 2014, 07:42:45 pm »

Many thanks for this Tony!

This was taken on the way to Mt. Tomah in NSW. I had to park the car along the road and step over a railing to get to a cliff face that has this vista.

You absolutely right, it turned out to be a very generic image with possibly too much going on. A mistake I end up repeating.

The light is at just past 6 AM in the morning so it was the right time but just not the right mood/weather.

Without the clouds and standing on the cliff's end I couldn't add a lot more detail in the foreground or background. I hope to get a different vantage point the next time around.

I hope to look through some of your work and develop some sense of light and mood going forward.

Thanks a lot for taking the time.

This looks like a typical day in Eastern Australia!

A nice image but possibly a little generic.
What I mean by this is that there is nothing, particularly in the foreground, that helps capture the essence of the place.
Down in the bottom right of the image is some coloured foliage that, were it a bit closer in the scene, might help in this regard.

Some will comment about the bland sky, but, as you mention - no clouds - so not a lot can be done about that.
You have minimised the sky, which is a good ploy, but, depending on your composition, even eliminating it completely may have been an option too.

This area seems to have plenty of scope for good compositions and if you are able, try marking certain spots as places where there are excellent compositions and then returning in different light and different weather conditions.
Ultimately it is the light that transforms a so-so image in to something truly special.
BTW there is nothing intrinsically wrong with the light in that image - it seems to have been shot in the late afternoon - and so the low angle, slightly warm light can be ideal for good landscapes.

Doing good landscape photography is an exercise in time and patience.
I recently spent five days on Fraser Island but the weather was pretty unexciting for landscape photography and I only managed a few OKish images of Lake Mackenzie one afternoon and another few of the Maheno on the last afternoon I was there otherwise it was hot, dry, and cloudless all the time. I did take note of several locations where I would like to shoot when the light is a bit more conducive though.

Tony Jay
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Wolven

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Re: Of hills and valleys
« Reply #4 on: November 03, 2014, 07:46:16 pm »

The lower half makes an interesting pano.... into the darkness of the forest.

Now that you mention it, that is perfect!! It seems like the light on the hilltop seems to have made this into two separate photographs!
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francois

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Re: Of hills and valleys
« Reply #5 on: November 04, 2014, 04:22:54 am »


Some will comment about the bland sky, but, as you mention - no clouds - so not a lot can be done about that.
You have minimised the sky, which is a good ploy, but, depending on your composition, even eliminating it completely may have been an option too.


I'd say that trying to save a bland sky often results in a ruined image.

In this image, the sky doesn't bother me but excluding it from the frame would also work perfectly.
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Francois

Wolven

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Re: Of hills and valleys
« Reply #6 on: November 04, 2014, 09:01:21 am »

I'd say that trying to save a bland sky often results in a ruined image.

In this image, the sky doesn't bother me but excluding it from the frame would also work perfectly.

As degrub mentioned before, I tried to crop to a pano and worked on that shot. To me this seems like a much stronger image than my first go. What do you think?

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francois

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Re: Of hills and valleys
« Reply #7 on: November 04, 2014, 10:16:31 am »

As degrub mentioned before, I tried to crop to a pano and worked on that shot. To me this seems like a much stronger image than my first go. What do you think?



I find that it's an improvement, definitely.
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Francois

Jeremy Roussak

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Re: Of hills and valleys
« Reply #8 on: November 04, 2014, 03:02:18 pm »

As degrub mentioned before, I tried to crop to a pano and worked on that shot. To me this seems like a much stronger image than my first go. What do you think?

It's a huge improvement, giving a much stronger image.

Jeremy
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Tony Jay

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Re: Of hills and valleys
« Reply #9 on: November 04, 2014, 03:12:01 pm »

As degrub mentioned before, I tried to crop to a pano and worked on that shot. To me this seems like a much stronger image than my first go. What do you think?


Yes it is!
And the whole atmosphere of the image is different.

Tony Jay
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wolfnowl

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Re: Of hills and valleys
« Reply #10 on: November 04, 2014, 11:54:57 pm »

Definitely.

Mike.
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Wolven

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Re: Of hills and valleys
« Reply #11 on: November 05, 2014, 02:22:56 am »

Many thanks Francois, Kikashi, Tony and Wolfnowl!

I think I've learnt an important lesson here. I'll keep my eye peeled for such opportunities.

Thanks and hope to post more for critique! Cheers.
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stevenf

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Re: Of hills and valleys
« Reply #12 on: November 05, 2014, 07:33:53 pm »

The suggestion to crop to a panoramic definitely makes this a stronger image. If there is a bald sky nothing in it I tend to not include it. Just an idea - to try and help create framing cards that allow you to see the panoramic image before you take them. You could create different aspect ratios 1 to 3, 1 to 2.5 etc. You could create the framing cards out of matt stock. I shoot with a Horseman 617 that has a viewfinder for each lens. The viewfinders are kind of expensive.

Steven

http://www.friedmanphoto.com
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