Winter colours

[Bearface]

Today was the first day in a while that we'd had a clear, sunny day in my part of West Yorkshire (UK), so I thought I'd go out and capture some random images showing the beauty and colour we sometimes miss at these times of year. I've added five of these to my gallery here, but I thought I'd post a few in this thread for comment or critique.

The images were shot at around 2.30pm as the sun was falling. The location is a forestry reserve and reservoir close to Stocksbridge, South Yorkshire, UK. It's about ten miles from my home.

Contrast and saturation have been boosted a tad in all the images, but they're otherwise unmolested.

[Bearface]

Re: Winter colours

Here's another...

[Bearface]

Re: Winter colours

And the last one...



Thanks for your interest

[Caz]

Re: Winter colours

They're all cracking, but for some reason I'm really drawn to the second one with your eye being led through the trees... absolutely amazing.

Lovely to see, since it's just taken me almost an hour to drive the 20 miles home from work through dense fog... we hardly saw the light all day

Carol

[Tom]

Re: Winter colours

Of the three the third one is my favourite. I feel the contrast and saturation is a bit excessive especially in the first one.
The second one; The rectangle of whitish background looks as if someone has hung a sheet out to dry in the woods.

[Autumn]

Re: Winter colours

Lovely pictures Tim. The second and the third are my favourites. For my taste the saturation and contrast are a little too much but I do see where you are coming from and it certainly gives a different view to the images.

You do not mention sharpening, but they all look as though they have been heavily sharpened. Is is the contrast boost that gives this effect, or have they been sharpened?

Anyway it is good to see a different take on an image.

Audrey

[Bearface]

Re: Winter colours

Lovely pictures Tim. The second and the third are my favourites. For my taste the saturation and contrast are a little too much but I do see where you are coming from and it certainly gives a different view to the images.

You do not mention sharpening, but they all look as though they have been heavily sharpened. Is is the contrast boost that gives this effect, or have they been sharpened?

Anyway it is good to see a different take on an image.

Audrey

Thanks Audrey. I tend to sharpen selectively, but with images for the Web I add a little more simply because I use an LCD monitor and images often look quite a bit softer on CRTs. My girlfriend (also a photographer) uses an Iiyama CRT and on there these images appear sharpish, but nothing like they do on mine. That said, the contrast boost, combined with the failing light producing a backlit effect on branches and other plant-life, will have the effect of making things look sharper in any case

Where colours are more than just incidental to a scene, I like to emphasize them to give a "larger than life" feel to the image. Not to the extent where detail is lost or colours destroyed, but enough to make a visible difference. Shots which simply reflect what the camera saw are fine if the intention is to simply record a scene or event, but for artistic images I think one needs to make a picture, which is different

Both yourself and Tom have suggested that the saturation / contrast thing is a little much, so in allowing for the fact that my monitor is more contrasty and saturated than a CRT, I've probably gone a little too far. Point taken

[Bearface]

Re: Winter colours

Of the three the third one is my favourite. I feel the contrast and saturation is a bit excessive especially in the first one.
The second one; The rectangle of whitish background looks as if someone has hung a sheet out to dry in the woods.

Fair enough

Can you see the area in the woods around the trees - directly below the drying sheet? I wondered if your monitor might be a little dark, because that would highlight the backlit area and create the idea that it's floating in the dark. On the screens I have access to, it just looks like background light on the other side of the wood

Thanks Tom.

[Autumn]

Re: Winter colours

Fair enough

Can you see the area in the woods around the trees - directly below the drying sheet? I wondered if your monitor might be a little dark, because that would highlight the backlit area and create the idea that it's floating in the dark. On the screens I have access to, it just looks like background light on the other side of the wood

Thanks Tom.

On my TFT monitor, I see the path leading over a little hillock and out of focus trees, the other side of the field, in the background. The only light colour is the sky and that is just off white.

[Autumn]

Re: Winter colours

Thanks Audrey. I tend to sharpen selectively, but with images for the Web I add a little more simply because I use an LCD monitor and images often look quite a bit softer on CRTs. My girlfriend (also a photographer) uses an Iiyama CRT and on there these images appear sharpish, but nothing like they do on mine. That said, the contrast boost, combined with the failing light producing a backlit effect on branches and other plant-life, will have the effect of making things look sharper in any case

Where colours are more than just incidental to a scene, I like to emphasize them to give a "larger than life" feel to the image. Not to the extent where detail is lost or colours destroyed, but enough to make a visible difference. Shots which simply reflect what the camera saw are fine if the intention is to simply record a scene or event, but for artistic images I think one needs to make a picture, which is different

Both yourself and Tom have suggested that the saturation / contrast thing is a little much, so in allowing for the fact that my monitor is more contrasty and saturated than a CRT, I've probably gone a little too far. Point taken

The sharpening on the first and second pictures gives the effect of "A touch of frost," particularly on the lower right, this side of the stream in the first pic and the foliage on the trees and the bracken in the second. I have a TFT monitor.

Also, on the first image in the same area the ground foliage/grass etc. definitely looks quite blue in places. This is not a criticism, just an observation, however, I am wondering if that is how you intended it to be or whether it is my monitor. Perhaps you would let me know. It's about 6 weeks since I calibrated it.

[Pol]

Re: Winter colours

I'm not too keen on the first one. Nice light on and through the trees but what spoils it for me is the blue (UV?) - especially the OOF strand in the foreground (just behind those lovely mossy rocks).

Lovely colours, composition, detail and dof in the second one. I love
those details and colours on the water's edge,also love 'watching' the gentle flow of the water and 'slow stroll' along the fenced path on the opposite bank (to check if the sheet is dry yet ..... LOL) Shame about the lighter,newer wood of the gate but it's weathering nicely so that's ok.

The third one - lovely scene, good dof and about spot on for my taste but this one triggered off one of our 'debates' this end. David slighty disagrees. He said his eye was led too much to the centre and he thinks it might be better with a bit off the left side (as viewed on-screen) - after much discussion, we finally agreed (in a manner of speaking ) a crop from approximately at the sharpish rock in the midle of the water, just left of the edge of the river bank in the foreground - to include the rock in the picture.

All of them magical Wintery colours though.

Pol

[Tom]

Re: Winter colours

Fair enough

Can you see the area in the woods around the trees - directly below the drying sheet? I wondered if your monitor might be a little dark, because that would highlight the backlit area and create the idea that it's floating in the dark. On the screens I have access to, it just looks like background light on the other side of the wood

Thanks Tom.

Yes Tim I can see the area below the sheet. Nice brown colour.
Really it was just the almost uniform shape (straight sides etc) of that particular background area that reminded me of a drying sheet.

[Archangel]

Re: Winter colours

Here's another...

Hi Tim,

This one works for me better than the other two.
Apart from the "Winter Colors", it includes more elements than the other two. A lake, a small path, a fence on the side, more depth and visible colorful background behind the trees.

Regards

George

[Bearface]

Re: Winter colours

I'm not too keen on the first one. Nice light on and through the trees but what spoils it for me is the blue (UV?) - especially the OOF strand in the foreground (just behind those lovely mossy rocks).

Lovely colours, composition, detail and dof in the second one. I love
those details and colours on the water's edge,also love 'watching' the gentle flow of the water and 'slow stroll' along the fenced path on the opposite bank (to check if the sheet is dry yet ..... LOL) Shame about the lighter,newer wood of the gate but it's weathering nicely so that's ok.

The third one - lovely scene, good dof and about spot on for my taste but this one triggered off one of our 'debates' this end. David slighty disagrees. He said his eye was led too much to the centre and he thinks it might be better with a bit off the left side (as viewed on-screen) - after much discussion, we finally agreed (in a manner of speaking ) a crop from approximately at the sharpish rock in the midle of the water, just left of the edge of the river bank in the foreground - to include the rock in the picture.

All of them magical Wintery colours though.

Pol

Thanks Pol

I'm the first to admit that the first shot is slightly odd, in that it's a pretty random visual assault of colour and texture, as opposed to a flowing, balanced scene. The colour-balance does lean towards a blue-ishness in the foreground area, and in relation to the upper portion of the scene this is primarily because it was in shadow, while the trees were still being lit directly by the sun. I could've made some adjustments to counter this, but I left it alone. And you are right about that OOF branch in the foreground...

I'll give that crop some thought. It is admittedly a fairly flat scene in the sense that it leads nowhere in particular (in fact it directly cross-sections the most logical flow), but I was hoping to relay as much of the view as I possibly could, hence the crop. But it's food for thought, definitely

Thanks to David, too. I think...

[Stephen]

Re: Winter colours

Thanks to David, too. I think...

I feel David is our 'member by proxy'