2016 Project 52, second quarter by Lindsay (CormacD)

[joebranko]

Nice work Lindsay. The mono treatment looks very good. #1 is my favourite in this series. I agree with Geoff about cropping this **** although I thought of cropping a bit from the left, although from the right and making it square is also very interesting. #2 is a bit busy IMHO. #3 is very artistic but too stark for my taste. I wonder how it would look with a little less shadow?

[IzzieK]

My favourite is #1, Lindsay...even if all of them are all good ones too...

[CormacD]

Thanks fro your ongoing support and comments, Geoff, Joe and Izzie. I've had think about the suggestions to crop #1 and think it looks good and have attached. I agree #2 is pretty messy and not the best composition, however I included it to show how the locals moor their boats along the river in amongst the foliage,..cheers Lindsay

[Geoff F]

That edit has concentrated the scene and the far distance now becomes part of the overall view. Looks much better to me.

[CormacD]

Travelling south of state, been wet and windy.
#1 Tin Horse Road to Kulin Race Track, local farmers in this wheat belt town have made dozens of tin horses.
#2 Lake Dumbleyung, where Donald Campbell broke speed boat record in 1964 276.33 mph, bit dry at moment, I think this could have been his old crankshaft??? Ha ha.
#3 Middleton Beach, Albany, looking out to southern ocean.
#4 National Anzac Center, Albany, where the first lot of troops sailed from the port at start of WW1, not the best composition but trying to show harbour entrance and a bit of the Anzac Centre on right.

#1 Iso 100, f/2, 18.5 mm, 1/1000s, 5/5/16 11.04



#2 iso100, f/9, 1/250s, 18.5 mm, 6/5/16, 1.05 pm


#3 iso 100, f/7, 18.5 mm, 1/60s, 6/5/16, 5.11 pm


#4 Iso 100, f/11, 18.5mm, 1/200s, 7/5/16, 11.12 am

[IzzieK]

I like #1 of this batch. It is so cute...

[Geoff F]

Yes, well spotted for #1.

There is quite a lot of foreground in #2 but it is sharply focused and there are items of interest so it does work for me.

You obviously had a lighting problem with #3, but not your fault. Maybe I would consider reducing the foreground beach area by around one third?

The last one works OK and with a nicely positioned ship.

[Shadowman]

Travelling south of state, been wet and windy.
#1 Tin Horse Road to Kulin Race Track, local farmers in this wheat belt town have made dozens of tin horses.
#2 Lake Dumbleyung, where Donald Campbell broke speed boat record in 1964 276.33 mph, bit dry at moment, I think this could have been his old crankshaft??? Ha ha.
#3 Middleton Beach, Albany, looking out to southern ocean.
#4 National Anzac Center, Albany, where the first lot of troops sailed from the port at start of WW1, not the best composition but trying to show harbour entrance and a bit of the Anzac Centre on right.

#1 Iso 100, f/2, 18.5 mm, 1/1000s, 5/5/16 11.04



#2 iso100, f/9, 1/250s, 18.5 mm, 6/5/16, 1.05 pm


#3 iso 100, f/7, 18.5 mm, 1/60s, 6/5/16, 5.11 pm


#4 Iso 100, f/11, 18.5mm, 1/200s, 7/5/16, 11.12 am

Nice set of images.

[CormacD]

Just returned from our travels in the south of the state and a couple of days behind posting week 20. Had a lot of trouble getting good quick hand held shots in places like river banks where the shadows are dark and the sky is bright. I need to convince my travelling companions that I need a little more time to set up my tripod and do some exposure bracketing. I’ve picked out three that I like and that is the main thing. Two were taken at the Nannup Caravan Park not long before sunset. Nannup is a small historical timber town in the Jarrah forest and in the Blackwood River Valley.

#1 Blackwood River at Nannup.

#2 Autumn colours beginning to fall at Nannup Caravan Park. The Camp Kitchen is below the tree.

# 3 Sheep Napping – a farm near Collie. Collie has been a coal mining town for a long time and has a lot of interesting rivers and dams nearby.

#1 Blackwood River, 12/5/16, 4.43 pm, ISO 400, 18.5 mm, f/8, 1/40 s.



# 2 Autumn Colours, 12/5/16, 5.06 pm, ISO 250, 18.5 mm, f/7.1, 1/40 s.



# 3 Sheep Napping, 15/5/16, 10.37 am, ISO 100, 18.5 mm, f/10, 1/200 s.

[Geoff F]

These work OK for me.

When faced with a situation where I can't shoot multiple images for exposure stacking I take one Raw shot but make sure the highlights aren't actually over exposed then do two or three conversions from the one Raw file with different exposure edits and merge them together with masks and layers.

[Shadowman]

Similar elements in Blackwood River and Autumn colours, yet the degree of separation is better handled through color contrast in the second image. In the first image the elements (shrubbery) are too similar in color and tone to give a sense of dimensionality. The lower river bank has good contrast but the upper sections of the composition needs a bit more work. Third image has nice composition yet the sheep are too much in the shade to add any substance to the scenery. Nice efforts.

[joebranko]

These work OK for me.

When faced with a situation where I can't shoot multiple images for exposure stacking I take one Raw shot but make sure the highlights aren't actually over exposed then do two or three conversions from the one Raw file with different exposure edits and merge them together with masks and layers.

That is really in interesting Geoff. I have never tried that. I normally just rely on a graduated filter applied to the sky.. I must try that.

[joebranko]

#1 Blackwood River, 12/5/16, 4.43 pm, ISO 400, 18.5 mm, f/8, 1/40 s.



# 2 Autumn Colours, 12/5/16, 5.06 pm, ISO 250, 18.5 mm, f/7.1, 1/40 s.



# 3 Sheep Napping, 15/5/16, 10.37 am, ISO 100, 18.5 mm, f/10, 1/200 s.

Love the blackwood river shot! The autumn colours shot, too bad the shed is in the foreground. 🙄. Re #3, if it were mine I would crop a little on the right perhaps to the end of the first tree, and a corresponding crop on the bottom.

[IzzieK]

I like the view in#1 -- the contrast at the bottom is excellent. The backlighting in #2 is K -- very attractive to my eye. I like the camp kitchen thing as it anchors the photo. Just my opinion...

[CormacD]

These work OK for me.

When faced with a situation where I can't shoot multiple images for exposure stacking I take one Raw shot but make sure the highlights aren't actually over exposed then do two or three conversions from the one Raw file with different exposure edits and merge them together with masks and layers.

Thanks Geoff, when I think about it that is an obvious solution, I'll do that. In the fluster of the moment I did not even think along those lines.The reason I was taking shots on the river with the large variation in light was to learn and you have helped me a lot....Lindsay

[CormacD]

Similar elements in Blackwood River and Autumn colours, yet the degree of separation is better handled through color contrast in the second image. In the first image the elements (shrubbery) are too similar in color and tone to give a sense of dimensionality. The lower river bank has good contrast but the upper sections of the composition needs a bit more work. Third image has nice composition yet the sheep are too much in the shade to add any substance to the scenery. Nice efforts.

Thanks for your comments, John, I really appreciate your perspective. I agree it is very difficult to get a three dimensional composition with this type of scenery, it is messy. I was pleased with the focus, DOF and lighting but looking at it again, as you suggest, the top half has been cut back too much and now lacks a distant point of focus to give a good perspective overall.
Yes the sheep in the field are in the shade, as we were driving along the narrow country road I saw a lot of very good scenes with great light but there was no where to pull over and stop,this was just a quick decision and an attempt to catch some green grass as we have very little during the hot summer months. ....Lindsay

[CormacD]

Joe, thanks for your comments. I think your suggestion on the crop for # 3 is a good one and could really bring about some improvement, I'll give it a go....Lindsay

[CormacD]

I like the view in#1 -- the contrast at the bottom is excellent. The backlighting in #2 is K -- very attractive to my eye. I like the camp kitchen thing as it anchors the photo. Just my opinion...

Thanks Izzie, I agree with you about the camp kitchen, it adds context and interest to the shot, otherwise it would be just another sun lit tree...Lindsay

[CormacD]

Yes, well spotted for #1.

There is quite a lot of foreground in #2 but it is sharply focused and there are items of interest so it does work for me.

You obviously had a lighting problem with #3, but not your fault. Maybe I would consider reducing the foreground beach area by around one third?

The last one works OK and with a nicely positioned ship.

Thanks Geoff, I liked the late afternoon sun on the water and the headland in # 3 and as you suggest I now think it is a bit overpowered with too much beach in the foreground. Get bit closer next time or try a bit of a crop on this one...Lindsay

[CormacD]

Well I'm struggling to get any good shots this week as there has been a nasty cold front moving over and it has been very wet with strong winds. So I have been trying to learn from Geoff's advice last week about taking hand held shots of scenes with vey big tonal range. I have two shots from our trip down south taken on the 12th and 13th. I had exposed onto the bright sky so that it would not wash out, lightening the shadows made it very wishy washy. All I've done is take the RAW version and dropped it straight into HDRtist, software for my MAC, I think the result is fantastic, what does everyone else think? (PS I know some people do not like HDR, but there you go).

#1 Original shot Windy Harbour from the nearby headland, very windy I assure you. Windy Harbour is a fishing village on the south coast of Western Australia.
#2 Tonal mapped Windy Harbour
#3 Original shot Old Rail Bridge in Nannup, Jarrah Forest Country.
#4 Tonal mapped Old Rail Bridge.

#1 Windy Harbour unprocessed. 13 May 16, 1.26 pm, ISO 100, 18.5mm, f/10, 1/800s



#2 Windy Harbour tonal mapped



#3 Old Rail Bridge unprocessed. 12th May 16, 4.52 pm, ISO 400, f/7.1, 1/320s



#4 Old Rail Bridge tonal mapped