First snow of the autumn.

[Tringa]

A couple of shots from this morning in NW Scotland. The first snow of the autumn arrived this week. There was much more on the big Torridon hills but when I got there the conditions had changed so there was nothing to see.

All comments welcomed.

Dave

[tbob]

Excellent. The colour and composition of the second is well done.

My only suggestion is to try increasing the saturation slightly to make the colour jump out a little more

[FootLoose]

I like them both but I think the 2nd has a stronger composition. It might also benefit from a gentle nudge on the clarity slider.

[Geoff F]

Both work well.

With the first image that dark patch of cloud balances the hill and with #2 the tree nicely does the same job.

[CBImages]

I think both are really lovely images Dave, well done.

I can see great care has been taken with the composition of the first image to get the reflection of the mountain in between the 2 spits of land. However I don't think the light has done you any favours with the bright area sky in the top left of the image, for perfections sake it would be better if the sun was further round to the left throwing light into the trees and mountain to give them that added boost of colour and contrast. Still a lovely image though.

The second is stunning, again great attention to detail and the placement of objects in the scene.
This time the lighting is perfect and I don't really think you could improve on it other than a little bit more space beneath the reflection of Slioch.

I'm jealous - wish I was up there.

Keep up the good work.

[John 2]

Two very nice shots. I too would go with a slight saturation boost. My only other thought would be to just reduce the brightness in the patch of sky on the far right of the second image. Not too much though because it's adding depth.

[Manfred M]

Lovely late autumn images. I prefer the second one as well and would crank up the clarity and vibrance a touch as well.

Soon the golden colours are going to be gone, I expect, replaced by something a bit lighter in colour?

[mstrozewski]

I really like #1 but I enjoy them both! Great scenery and captured nicely

[batmura]

Both are great images; I can't decide which one I like better.

[Brownbear]

Gorgeous. I too, can't decide which one I like better, both are stunning.

[Hui Song]

Fabulous. Just love them both.

[Tringa]

Many thanks for the comments.

Chris, I agree about the light area in the top left of the first one. That was the part I was least happy about. I should have waited a bit longer. Also take the point about the area below the reflection in the second, it should have been a bit bigger.

I think my eyes must be going (well more than they are already) as quite few have suggested increasing the vibrancy/saturation. I try not to overdo the colours and for these I backed things off a bit to what I thought looked OK, but perhaps they are too muted.

Thanks for your time all.


Dave

[escaladieu]

Nice colours

[Downrigger]

These are lovely and I agree with the favorable comments on composition. Such lovely images invite endless tweaking, but it wouldn't occur to me to go beyond what you already may have done. Thanks for sharing these.

[CBImages]

Many thanks for the comments.

Chris, I agree about the light area in the top left of the first one. That was the part I was least happy about. I should have waited a bit longer. Also take the point about the area below the reflection in the second, it should have been a bit bigger.

I think my eyes must be going (well more than they are already) as quite few have suggested increasing the vibrancy/saturation. I try not to overdo the colours and for these I backed things off a bit to what I thought looked OK, but perhaps they are too muted.

Thanks for your time all.


Dave

I hate to go against the tide but I think your images are fine as they are and don't need saturating.
As for 'clarity' again I don't think they need it, their beauty is in the composition and the lighting, suitable sharpening will enhance the contrast in the images.
In my opinion if you go too far with the saturation and clarity sliders you risk taking the image out of the 'natural' and into the 'surreal'.

If you haven't seen his site already take a look at Ian Cameron's Transient Light web site, he is a true master of landscape images and yours would sit nicely in one of his galleries as they are. However photography is an art and art is subjective - take photographs that you like and process them to suit you.
http://www.transientlight.co.uk

[Downrigger]

Thanks for the website tip, Chris. Nice examples of going easy on saturation/clarity, though he wasn't shy with these on some of his shots of the US southwest. Agree that the sliders tend to seduce one into overuse of them. I'm a novice, but at the end of my first year of digital/Lightroom, I'm learning to use them less and less.

[Tringa]

Thanks Chris. I know Ian Cameron's work, I was looking at a few examples in the coffee shop above the Outdoor Store in Ullapool in September; some great stuff.

I try to get things looking, to my eye, as natural as possible, even if it sometimes looks a bit dull, but everyone sees things differently.

Agree Mark, I find some of my first examples of photo editing a bit embarrassing now.

Dave

[Donald]

Dave

I know everyone's said it already, but I just want to add my little compliments in as well. Wonderful.

And to comment on the wonderful home-baking in the gallery cafe in Ullapool. Sitting amongst the wonderful images on the walls enjoying delicious scones/cakes etc, is what a good day out is about! And then wander along the road to the Ceilidh Place for lunch!