Waiting to catch the light! Something that marks you out as different from the tourist photographer who doesn’t have the time to stop and wait. On a cloudy day you have a number of options: 1) wait for the sunlight to break through in the places you want to accentuate and focus on; 2) avoid the sky altogether; 3) go small and take pictures of things close to you … and probably others as well.
At this spot I decided to choose the first option and wait for the sun to break through the clouds and leave the Langdale Pikes in sunlight and hope that I could get some good shadows and sun in the foreground as well.
[EXIF: 1/8sec @ f/16; ISO 200; Sony ILCE-7R; Sony FE 24-105 F4 G OSS @ 56mm]
The alternative was to make the background “incidental” and focus on the piece of farm machinery …
… but by then the sun was showing itself much better!
[EXIF: 1/20sec @ f/16; ISO 200; Sony ILCE-7R; Sony FE 24-105 F4 G OSS @ 41mm]
The composition in the first photo is balanced and interesting. The shape of the tree dipping its branches into the water is echoed in the large bush/tree in the middle distance and again in the top of the hill/mountain in the distance. The angle of your shot has placed them all in line…. a good decision in selection of this position! The winding track on the other side of the water gently leads the eye into the hills. The blast of russet in the top right hand corner where the sun has broken through the clouds creates a strong contrast with the dark shadows on the water. In my opinion – this is a lovely photo! If I am permitted to be ultra critical I would suggest that the right hand side could have been raised slightly to level the waters edge….but I wasn’t there so that could be a daft suggestion!
In the second photo, I found the lime green of the grass too startling and that prevented me from wanting to analyse it!
Thanks Frances, I appreciate that. The lime green was the way it was! You can see the same colour in both photos. Low angle autumn sun???? Anyway, I’ll try the crop you’ve suggested with the grad filter adjustment from Bobbie and we’ll see what comes of it ?
I agree Frances, a little cropping at the bottom works – I’ve replaced the image on the website.
Would the top photo benefited by using ND to smooth water and accentuate the reflection of trees and clouds?
Hi Bobbie! I’m not sure about that. I could have used a polarizing filter I suppose which would have taken away sone of the glare from the water, but I think the gain in reflection would have been minimal. I’ll try it however and see what it looks like.
Hi Bobbie, I’ve tried applying a Grad Filter in Lightroom, but it doesn’t improve the image. I think (on reflection), I should have used a polarizing filter in front of the camera. Some things you just can’t do in post-production 🙂