Middlesmoor, Upper Nidderdale

[Stephen]

We visited one of my favorite locations in the Yorkshire Dales yesterday, mainly because it has one of the most fantastic views from the churchyard, but also because its been virtually unchanged by the ravages of time. Middlesmoor sits near the top of a hill at the head of Upper Nidderdale.

This is the view from the churchyard, looking down the cemetery steps and to the valley beyond

I was fascinated by this gap in the wall allowing access to the 'snicket' along the side of the churchyard. I found the light on the Yorkshire gritstone rather appealing and took many shots at different angles, waiting for the sun at times.

To give you some idea of its position, here is another shot of Middlesmoor church in its elevated position overlooking the valley

[Autumn]

Re: Middlesmoor, Upper Nidderdale

An interesting set Stephen.

As the first one was loading I thought it was in mono as the sky is so grey so it was a surprise to see the beautiful colour - the green field on the right almost looks sunlit.

I like the old angled steps leading to the cemetery where the eye travels down the wall and into the valley.

The depth of field shows No 2's wall and gap to advantage. I look at these with trepidation these days (wondering if I can get through).

What a full and colourful picture No 3 is. I keep seeing these bales in the fields but we are usually passing in the car and not in any position to take pictures. Then I tell myself that it would be better with the evening sun on them.

Cows, bales, sheep, church and cemetery, trees and hills. You have everything there depicting, Yorkshire countryside and unusually but suitably in a portrait format!

Your camera is working well with all that detail (or is it the photographer?)

[paul.r.w]

Re: Middlesmoor, Upper Nidderdale

And another lovely summer's day as well Steven. Every time I have a day off it's cloudy or raining.

[Pops]

Re: Middlesmoor, Upper Nidderdale

I love the contrast in the 1st shot which catches the mood of the weather nicely.
Autumn seems to have covered everything else except.......the one tiny splash of yellow from the dandelion. I really want to grab that before it seeds.

[Stephen]

Re: Middlesmoor, Upper Nidderdale

Your camera is working well with all that detail (or is it the photographer?)

Nah its not me Audrey, I only point the camera

[Pol]

Re: Middlesmoor, Upper Nidderdale

Nah its not me Audrey, I only point the camera

Pointing the camera's a good start though. You're coming on nicely, pettil. So who presses the shutter button for ya?

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I love the picci of the gap in the wall. The dof and textures work well to give it a good and realistic 3D effect.

Pol

[StuartR]

Re: Middlesmoor, Upper Nidderdale

Snicket I had to look that up and found this by way of translation on http://www.languagehat.com :

"In the central part of Yorkshire (Wakefield) where I am from you'd say ginnel for an alley and snicket for a cut or gap in a fence. I only realised it wasn't 'proper' English when I directed a visiting friend from Cambridge "up the ginnel acroos the road, then through the snicket's quicker"!

[Andrew Thatcher]

Re: Middlesmoor, Upper Nidderdale

Another set of great images Stephen. Love the hole in the wall one.

[lumix]

Re: Middlesmoor, Upper Nidderdale

One question though, unless I'm very much mistaken you've used a vignette on the first shot as the edges are noticeably darker? (either that or my work monitor is on the way out!). I note that you (and others on this forum) use this technique quite regularly. Personally I'm not sure if the effect improves this picture or not although I can understand the principal that it "draws" people's attention to the centre of the frame. I can follow this logic where there's a central subject but not when the picture is a scenic shot?


Poll on vignetting perhaps?

Is this a sign of old age or do I just except Stephens images as beyond critique? I know he don't want to here "nice shot," or "lovely picture," so rarely comment on them. I had not noticed the vignette. It must be that well done it looks like a natural lit scene. My Eye went straight to the water in the distance so if there is a vignette it has done the job. My wife has always said I never look at the content in a picture, only how it was taken and to look for faults. Perhaps I'm changing my ways at last and excepting images for what they are.

[pewidane]

Re: Middlesmoor, Upper Nidderdale

I uses vignette in all my pictures but not as distincly as stephen.Great photograps Stephen.

[Stephen]

Re: Middlesmoor, Upper Nidderdale

Well thanks everyone for your comments so far. I purposefully didn't put these in Critique, mainly I suppose because I wanted them to be viewed together and as a body of work, and not especially individually for critique. Perhaps had I been less confident about one I may have asked for critique. However I always really appreciate constructive comments, and in this instance I am really gratified that the pictures stimulate some serious photographic discussion, whatever it is.

Whilst I was shooting outside outside the churchyard, trying to come up with the definitive angle on the gap in the wall, the gates of the adjoining Manse/Vicarage were opened and out marched a very 'county' sounding lady with half a dozen B/W spaniels, who came bounding down the path towards me, just to see what I was up to. The lady was not aggressive in the least, but was obviously keen to establish what I was up to. Imagine the scene when someone turns up outside your house with a Pro Canon camera with a big 'white' on it supported on a monopod. I'd be curious as to what was going on. She suspected I was doing something for a magazine, but I was quick to assure her it was all for personal use. She was interested to hear and see what I was doing,and we chatted briefly. Oh she said, thats our 'snicket' Now being a Yorkshire lad I knew exactly what she meant, and instinctively was able to appreciate it was not a 'ginnel' Anyway, enough of that, she went off calling for her dogs and happy I was no threat and I continued to shoot.

As for the vignetting, in actual fact iirc, all three had some form applied to them, to a greater or lesser degree. But Stuart you are right it is more obvious in the first shot. I may have even applied that one in Lightroom, I can't exactly remember. As you say it is a technique I use a lot, and is generally accepted as a method of concentrating the attention on the centre of the image, though frankly you can move the centre point to another area if it's more appropriate. Normally I might make it less obvious, but as I usually feather the selection by approx 200-250pixels it is not so noticeable and I'm pleased in some ways that Ron says he never really noticed it. Ideally I think this is how it should be, but the fact is the eye is drawn and as a viewer you are not aware of it so much

Lens vignetting of course is a different thing, and so software that corrects that is useful. Photoshop and Lightroom have similar functions. So if you get it with some lenses and you don't want it in the shot, as indeed I don't in many, then its great to be able to correct it. Frankly though Stuart I don't get it with my 17-40 lens and thats with a 1.3 crop, so I'm surprised you have the problem.

Here's another shot in the series taken in the churchyard. Its a scene I missed on my last visit, but I was certainly attracted this time by the curve of the gravestones. I've played a little,(as you may imagine) to make it slightly more dramatic

[StuartR]

Re: Middlesmoor, Upper Nidderdale

One of the down-sides of using the "new posts" option when dropping in on DPNow is that you don't always notice which forum posts have been made on. I know it's there, plain to see, but I guess I sometimes either don't read it or it doesn't register.

So apologies to Stephen for my critique on a post to a non-critique board but I'm fairly sure he won't be that offended. I'm also sure he doesn't mind someone giving him the occasional ever-so-slightly negative critique or comment either, as he's a hard-as-nails pro tog , it would be a boring old world if we all liked the same after all...

I'll come out of the closet, except in rare examples I don't like vignetting! I'm probably in the minority but, hey, that's my view....However, if I was a pro and it increased sales then I'd vignette every shot

[Stephen]

Re: Middlesmoor, Upper Nidderdale

One of the down-sides of using the "new posts" option when dropping in on DPNow is that you don't always notice which forum posts have been made on. I know it's there, plain to see, but I guess I sometimes either don't read it or it doesn't register.

So apologies to Stephen for my critique on a post to a non-critique board but I'm fairly sure he won't be that offended. I'm also sure he doesn't mind someone giving him the occasional ever-so-slightly negative critique or comment either, as he's a hard-as-nails pro tog , it would be a boring old world if we all liked the same after all...

I'll come out of the closet, except in rare examples I don't like vignetting! I'm probably in the minority but, hey, that's my view....However, if I was a pro and it increased sales then I'd vignette every shot

Absolutely no problem Stuart, if anything I'm really pleased you raised the issue. Peder has already said he uses the method, and I know Tim does also. Anyone else got an opinion?

[StuartR]

Re: Middlesmoor, Upper Nidderdale

Lens vignetting of course is a different thing, and so software that corrects that is useful. Photoshop and Lightroom have similar functions. So if you get it with some lenses and you don't want it in the shot, as indeed I don't in many, then its great to be able to correct it. Frankly though Stuart I don't get it with my 17-40 lens and thats with a 1.3 crop, so I'm surprised you have the problem.

Hi Stephen - your reply just beat mine!

I've read in several reviews that the 17-85mm is particularly susceptible to vignetting and barrel distortion at the wide end (see below) and this is certainly the case with mine. It's not a major issue in the real world but the vignetting is noticeable on a light blue sky for example and the barrel distortion on any straight lines. I still rate the lens highly, certainly higher than I did the 18-55mm kit lens, and the IS is a bonus so, given that DxO "fixes" both issues, I'm happy. However, when I go "L" I reserve the right to revise this opinion!


Couple of comments I've just lifted from a review site below.

DISTORTION: The lens broke a new record here - at 17mm it shows the most pronounced barrel distortions of all (supposedly) corrected lenses tested to date and that's by quite a margin

VIGNETTING: So far most of the tested lenses were full-frame variants. APS-C DSLRs such as the EOS 350D can take advantage of the sweet spot of the lens here usually resulting in pretty decent vignetting figures. However, the EF-S 17-85mm is a native APS-C lens with a reduced image circle so it is not surprising that vignetting is far more pronounced exceeding 1.3EV at 17mm @ f/4 and 0.7EV at 85mm @ f/5.6. As usual stopping down a little helps to reduce the problem significantly.

These are perhaps the harshest comments I've read as the lens typically gets good press.

[StuartR]

Re: Middlesmoor, Upper Nidderdale

Absolutely no problem Stuart, if anything I'm really pleased you raised the issue. Peder has already said he uses the method, and I know Tim does also. Anyone else got an opinion?

Well if I'm up against you, Tim and Peder, as posters of some of the best landscape pics on here, I might just go and sit in the corner quietly.....