Strathy bay, Sutherland.

[Manfred M]

The discussion about the light vignette is interesting. I think I've mentioned on here before that one of the contributors to B & W Photography magazine, to which I subscribe, was vehement in his condemnation of light vignettes. Thought they were the work of the devil.

I wouldn't go quite that far, but I do find the white vignettes and / or "soft" light coloured frames do need to be handled with great care. Not every image works with one, in fact I would have to say that most images do not. I do use white vignettes in scenes where they work well, As an example, snow scenes can work brilliantly with them as can high key images.

Sharon has explained why she took the route she did I understand her motivation in using this particular technique. Does it work in the way she is suggesting AND does it strengthen the composition? That is something that each individual viewer will have to decide for themselves.

[Daisy Mae]

I wouldn't go quite that far, but I do find the white vignettes and / or "soft" light coloured frames do need to be handled with great care. Not every image works with one, in fact I would have to say that most images do not. I do use white vignettes in scenes where they work well, As an example, snow scenes can work brilliantly with them as can high key images.

Sharon has explained why she took the route she did I understand her motivation in using this particular technique. Does it work in the way she is suggesting AND does it strengthen the composition? That is something that each individual viewer will have to decide for themselves.

I'd be really interested to hear what everyone else would have used to give that feeling of 'endlessness'

[Donald]

I'd be really interested to hear what everyone else would have used to give that feeling of 'endlessness'

I don't know if using the 'Film Noir 1' present in Silver Efex pro could have been a worthwhile starting point. By that I mean apply the preset, but then adjust things like get rid of the border, cut back on the amount of grain, work the dynamic brightness and contrast a bit.

Only a thought. Don't know if would be as effective. All of the above would, of course, produce a completely different image.

[Manfred M]

I'd be really interested to hear what everyone else would have used to give that feeling of 'endlessness'

Sharon - Pointing out a potential issue is usually much easier than finding a solution.

I think I might have tried a slightly different approach than you did and would work with the crop, more so than with the borders. I seem to remember reading somewhere that we humans have a field of view that is roughly 90° vertically and around 180° in the horizontal plain, so something that is much wider than is high is going to give us a feeling of something "going on forever". This means I'd look at either shooting this scene as a panorama that gives me a 4:1 or even 5:1 width to height ratio. That would be one way of telling our brain that this scene just keeps on going and going.

Once I did that, I might experiment with framing / vignettes; perhaps a subtle oval gradient that starts out in the centre and goes light (or dark?) at the edges. I might also try a gradient that fades to white at the left hand and right hand side and leave the ground and sky with a more or less "normal" edige.

[Brownbear]

Hi Sharon,

No experience here, just my thoughts...

I think you've already captured that feeling of endlessness because of the leading lines in the foreground that lead to the hills and the sky. The sky because of the way the clouds are lined up/disappear into the horizon gives me that feeling of going on forever, especially combined with the vignette with the clouds So perhaps the vignette could be more subtle on the bottom half/sides of the image - fade away look. Perhaps another way to emphasize the endless feeling would be to emphasize all those beautiful leading lines leading to the horizon?

This image is exquisite and I'm delighted to for the opportunity to learn from this discussion. Conveying a feeling of endlessness - something to ponder.

[Daisy Mae]

Thank you Manfred and Christina.

I am SOOOO glad I don't do lanscapes. I leave them to the professionals, lilke Donald ...those with more patience than I will ever have.

It seemed almost insulting not to photograph the wonderful vistas of Caithness & Sutherland but I felt happier recording the people around me ..or distorted forests.

Dunnet forest ( as in a dream )

I have an 'okish' eye for a landscape...but that isn't really where my heart lies, and that almost certainly shows.

[Aeros]

Hi Sharon, I understand what you are doing with the light border. I have used "Creative Edges" for decades, and just like cropping, they can make or break a picture. I experimented on your "Strathy Bay" by adding a different kind of border. I would like to post it here for general discussion but only with your permission. I have very strong feelings about people downloading my work or others and reposting their own edits.

Out of respect for your work , I limited my input to the border only, I feel it adds a lot to the drama of the sky-scape and my motive is simply to share a technique with a fellow artist who's work a admire.

[Aeros]

Sailing Haiida Gwaii-fancy border. by Richard Jones, on Flickr

Sharon does this have any interest from you?

[Manfred M]

So that's what Haida Gwaii really looks like. When we were there for around a week a few years ago we had brilliant sunshine pretty well the whole time. I understand happens extremely rarely.

I like the moodiness of the clouds and sky. The border, I could probably do without as I'm not sure it does anything for the image.

[Brownbear]

I am SOOOO glad I don't do lanscapes. I leave them to the professionals, lilke Donald ...those with more patience than I will ever have.

Dunnet forest ( as in a dream )

Jeez... I was hopeful that you'd be switching to landscapes... It's a breathtakingly beautiful landscape, and has inspired me to continue trying to capture the beauty of the area I live. It also tweaked my curiosity about processing for monochromes, and white vignettes.

I meant what I said when I stated... Exquisite, and absolutely magical! I was hoping to see a few more landscapes from you. However, I understand that it is best to follow your heart.

[Daisy Mae]

Christina...there are a few more to come..!

Richard..I appreciate your input hugely...but in this case i am afraid I don't understand how this pertains to my shot....

[Aeros]

Its' coming hold on.

[Aeros]

Strathy Bay by Sharon Reid , on Flickr[I]
hope this is of interest to you Sharon. Flickr is giving me credit for your work. I don't know how to circumvent that. I think from this thread that everyone will know who is the true author. I think this border is very simpatico to the subject and adds rather than detracts, but then It's all subjective. PS. I was able to edit the credit, "All's well that ends well".

If someone can advise me how to post photos directly from my computer without a Flickr link. I will be most grateful.

[Manfred M]

If someone can advise me how to post photos directly from my computer without a Flickr link. I will be most grateful.

CiC does not host files, so you will have to use some hosting site, like Flickr and then link to your images. I use Flickr for my postings as well.

Other members use other hosting sites, but the result is the same. I don't get too hung up about using my Flickr account for this type of work. Doing an edit on someone's image is the easiest way to demonstrate the technique or suggestion you are making. If anyone objects; I have no issues taking down the image. That has not happened to me so far.

[Aeros]

CiC does not host files, so you will have to use some hosting site, like Flickr and then link to your images. I use Flickr for my postings as well.

Other members use other hosting sites, but the result is the same. I don't get too hung up about using my Flickr account for this type of work. Doing an edit on someone's image is the easiest way to demonstrate the technique or suggestion you are making. If anyone objects; I have no issues taking down the image. That has not happened to me so far.

Thanks Manfred.

[Cantab]

CiC does not host files, so you will have to use some hosting site, like Flickr and then link to your images. I use Flickr for my postings as well.

Other members use other hosting sites, but the result is the same. I don't get too hung up about using my Flickr account for this type of work. Doing an edit on someone's image is the easiest way to demonstrate the technique or suggestion you are making. If anyone objects; I have no issues taking down the image. That has not happened to me so far.

Manfred, are there advantages to using Flickr rather than, e.g., tiny pics?

[Manfred M]

Manfred, are there advantages to using Flickr rather than, e.g., tiny pics?

I've never used TinyPics as I had a Flickr account long before I joined CiC.

I see three downsides to TinyPics

1. If I recall correctly, their terms and conditions allow them to remove any of your images at any time and for any reason (like they want to free up some space on their servers), so your images can disappear somewhat randomly.

2. I know they have some strange technical glitches that show up from time to time where they substitute some random image for the one you have linked to. This seems to be an inconsistent issue as I've had members alert me to issues that they were having, but the image I saw was not the same one that they saw.

3. TinyPics = they downsample the images so you can't display a large, high quality image.

There may be other issues as well, but these are the one's I've run across. I also run into issues where FireFox only displays some of the TinyPics images, but I'm not sure is this is a TinyPixs or FireFox issue.

[Cantab]

I've never used TinyPics as I had a Flickr account long before I joined CiC.

I see three downsides to TinyPics

1. If I recall correctly, their terms and conditions allow them to remove any of your images at any time and for any reason (like they want to free up some space on their servers), so your images can disappear somewhat randomly.

2. I know they have some strange technical glitches that show up from time to time where they substitute some random image for the one you have linked to. This seems to be an inconsistent issue as I've had members alert me to issues that they were having, but the image I saw was not the same one that they saw.

3. TinyPics = they downsample the images so you can't display a large, high quality image.

There may be other issues as well, but these are the one's I've run across. I also run into issues where FireFox only displays some of the TinyPics images, but I'm not sure is this is a TinyPixs or FireFox issue.

Thank,you for your comments. With respect to #3, I wasn't aware that Tinypics downsampled. I don't post photos frequently but have always shrunk them before uploading to Tinypics, partly so they'd load relatively quickly on the CiC web page.
It seems maybe I should use Flickr or I suppose my existing but little used Smugmug site.