Davie's got his fire lit

[Donald]

C & C welcomed.


40D, 17-85 f4-5.6 IS USM @ 64mm. ISO 100. 1s@f11
Dec 13 2009: 4:12pm.

[Steve S]

Very nice donald, i like the composition, and the smoke stream. Is it my screen, or does the smoke have a light greenish tint to it?

[Dave Humphries]

does the smoke have a light greenish tint to it?

Perhaps we shouldn't ask what Davie was burning!!!!!!

(But I agree, it does, and I think, on the roofs too, but not in the sky)

I also wondered about a little less foreground and a bit more at the top of frame - I'd like to see the top of the distant and right hand trees.

But it is a nice shot

[arith]

I think it's great especially the green smoke.

[Donald]

Thank you all for your comments.

Re green tinge, not sure in which proportion we can blame:
1) My colour blindness
2) The tone applied at the end
3) The tweak on the green curve, after conversion, just to get the smoke popping a bit more.

Dave - re less on the bottom and more on the top. This is the full picture. No cropping at all. So, I will need to hike the 30/40 metres from my front door to this spot this coming weekend and try again. However, according to the weather forecast we should be seeing lots of snow in the scene by this weekend.

ps - Davie is a master carpenter who has lived all his life in Glenfarg. He is an artisan and a craftsman. A dying breed indeed. What he doesn't know about wood and how it can be worked, ain't worth knowing.

EDIT - Just thought - If the green is on the roofs as well, then it must be 2) with the influence of 1), because the tweak on the curve was done with a mask in place and only applied to the smoke.

[arith]

Snowing here now.

[Dave Humphries]

Here too, on and off

[Wirefox]

Donald

I really like this style that you are developing. Full of atmosphere and mood. Its really difficult to develop a style that can be immediately attributed to a certain photographer but I think you may be on to something here. The tinge, green or otherwise, is irrelevant. This method would work a treat on some of the abandoned crofts you see in the remoter parts of Scotland.

Steve

[Donald]

Donald

I really like this style that you are developing. Full of atmosphere and mood. Its really difficult to develop a style that can be immediately attributed to a certain photographer but I think you may be on to something here. The tinge, green or otherwise, is irrelevant. This method would work a treat on some of the abandoned crofts you see in the remoter parts of Scotland.

Steve

Steve
Many thanks for your comment. It's also fascinating what you say ... and is really fitting with what's happening for/to me (sounds very touchy/feely).

When I picked up a camera in anger just a year ago, after many years away from photography, I was quite certain of what I would be doing. It would be the sweeping vistas of Scottish lochs, glens and mountains. Glencoe would never have seen a photographer of such skill and vision! But ........

I'm finding that what's really getting me excited and 'lighting-my-fire' is this sort of thing. And maybe, if your assessment of the images is accurate (for which I thank you), that passion is being translated into an acceptable quality. So, maybe what we've read and heard about this being as much an emotional activity as a technical one, is correct.

I am now much clearer about what it is I want to be doing ... and the enjoyment (and learning) level increases proportionately.

[Colin Southern]

How do you think a straight grayscale conversion, with some of the foreground cropped off would look? Possibly with a colourlised HSB layer set to about 38, with saturation around 8% to give a sepia look?

[Donald]

How do you think a straight grayscale conversion, with some of the foreground cropped off would look? Possibly with a colourlised HSB layer set to about 38, with saturation around 8% to give a sepia look?

I need to translate this (2nd sentence) into GIMP. But, watch this space. I'll get back to you.