2016 Project 52, second quarter by Lindsay (CormacD)

[Geoff F]

I also wondered about the foreground but it is sharply focused so not really an issue. Perhaps try reducing it by around one third and a balancing amount from the left side?

Maybe the Hay Bale is cropped fractionally on the tight side? Or did you have to exclude something?

The others are fine. Highlights are a little on the bright side with #4 but they don't appear to actually be clipped so it looks like you have managed to constrain a potential problem.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Lindsay,

#1 - I'm not sure I'd go as far with the lower edge crop as Joe suggests because that would chop the trees off in their prime (over on the LHS), but I would remove some, I might also take an equal measure (about 10% image height) from the top too.

#2 - Conversely, this feels a little too tightly cropped - there's no pleasing some folks

#3 - I find the red rock quite a distraction, if I move the LyteBox off to the right edge of my monitor, I can then concentrate on the textures of the grasses and logs and the lighting on those logs, however, the composition is then too 'almost square'. Depending upon circumstance, I'd have been tempted to physically remove the red rock if no one would care.

#4 - I always find myself agonising over exactly where to crop shots such as the Rock Wall
I like the light angle you captured, I am left wishing there was more colour in the lichen and wonder what it would look like if wet, but for all I know, in that locale, 'wasting' water watering rocks to take their photo might get you shouted at!

Well, for what they are worth, those are my musing on this week's shots, I hope they are of some help, or if nothing else; amusement

Cheers, Dave

[IzzieK]

Nice job Lindsay...I like the scene in #1 and the hay bale but not the last one as it is too bright and overly coloured? Perhaps hold back on the saturation a little might be the key.

[CormacD]

Re # 1 Road Leading to Burnt Crops
Thanks Joe, Geoff and Dave for your comments and suggestions re the crop. I've redone it below and now we can see the focal points much clearer.

[CormacD]

Re # 2 Hay Bale
Geoff and Dave, In hindsight the bale may have been better placed in the middle of the composition. I did have to crop out something on the top right side so thats how it ended up. I rather like it.

[CormacD]

Hi Lindsay,

#1 - I'm not sure I'd go as far with the lower edge crop as Joe suggests because that would chop the trees off in their prime (over on the LHS), but I would remove some, I might also take an equal measure (about 10% image height) from the top too.

#2 - Conversely, this feels a little too tightly cropped - there's no pleasing some folks

#3 - I find the red rock quite a distraction, if I move the LyteBox off to the right edge of my monitor, I can then concentrate on the textures of the grasses and logs and the lighting on those logs, however, the composition is then too 'almost square'. Depending upon circumstance, I'd have been tempted to physically remove the red rock if no one would care.

#4 - I always find myself agonising over exactly where to crop shots such as the Rock Wall
I like the light angle you captured, I am left wishing there was more colour in the lichen and wonder what it would look like if wet, but for all I know, in that locale, 'wasting' water watering rocks to take their photo might get you shouted at!

Well, for what they are worth, those are my musing on this week's shots, I hope they are of some help, or if nothing else; amusement

Cheers, Dave

Dave, all comments on my photos is always very welcome and I really appreciate your 'musings'. I see your point about the red rock it does draw the eye away from the timber, I will give that more thought to this type of shot next time so that the textures become the main focal point.

I think the rock wall turned out very well and close to real, yep maybe after some more rain we might get some greener lichen.

Thanks for promoting the P52, it certainly has got me off my big A and out doing some shooting.

Cheers....Lindsay

[CormacD]

I also wondered about the foreground but it is sharply focused so not really an issue. Perhaps try reducing it by around one third and a balancing amount from the left side?

Maybe the Hay Bale is cropped fractionally on the tight side? Or did you have to exclude something?

The others are fine. Highlights are a little on the bright side with #4 but they don't appear to actually be clipped so it looks like you have managed to constrain a potential problem.

Thanks Geoff for your support, I'm aware that when we post to the web the photos lose a little sparkle at times so I probably did over work the rock wall just a tad. Cheers... Lindsay

[CormacD]

Nice job Lindsay...I like the scene in #1 and the hay bale but not the last one as it is too bright and overly coloured? Perhaps hold back on the saturation a little might be the key.

Hi Izzie, Thank you so much for your ongoing support and interest. The rocks are very bright and red in reality however, I may have overdone it a tiny bit. Cheers.....Lindsay

[CormacD]

All really nice shots Lindsay, with beautiful light! If it were mine I would crop the landscape shot to eliminate the dry grass in the foreground, maybe all the way to the bottom of the winding road as I think it would improve the composition. But that's just personal preference 🙄

Thanks for your ongoing support and comments for my P52 thread. Cheers ....Lindsay

[IzzieK]

Remind me of that song -- Hold that tiger...hold that tiger...LOL
meaning easy on the sliders as Simon once told me of my images...

Hi Izzie, Thank you so much for your ongoing support and interest. The rocks are very bright and red in reality however, I may have overdone it a tiny bit. Cheers.....Lindsay

[CormacD]

This week’s selection highlights my back yard and shows signs of the changing seasons. There has been a run of rainy murky mornings and then on Tuesday morning after sunrise I looked out the back and the mist was in, the first in a few months. The three ducks spotted me and headed over hoping for a feed, not much luck. Thought it looked a little better in black and white.

About a half hour later I got down the end of our street and picked up the second shot with the mist in the distance.

The third shows the contrast the next morning at sunrise on a clear morning taken from our boat landing looking across the canal.

#1 Here come the ducks in the early morning mist 19/4/16, 7.53 am, ISO 100, 18.5 mm, f/9, 1/250 s.



# 2 Mist on the inlet 19/4/16, 8.28 am, ISO 100,18.5 mm, f/9, 1/250 s



#3 Sunrise looking north across canal 20/4/16, 6.28 am, ISO 100, 18.5 mm, f/10, 13.0 s.

[Geoff F]

I have said many times, Lindsay, that misty shots need to have a clear 'reference point' in the foreground otherwise they just look out of focus and you have nicely demonstrated that point with the first two images. A clear well exposed sharply focused foreground which nicely fades into a misty background.

The third shot appears to have some rather harsh lighting conditions but I would leave it as you now have it. I fear that any attempts to 'improve' the heavy shadows would simply turn them 'muddy' looking.

[Shadowman]

And a nice backyard it is, nicely captured.

[IzzieK]

Man o man! I like your backyard -- no gardening to do...!!! so much to say for mine.

[joebranko]

What a beautiful back yard! And the shots are superb!

[CormacD]

Thanks Geoff, John, Izzie and Joe for your ongoing support and encouragement.

[bnnrcn]

Very nice set, I especially like the B&W image

[CormacD]

Thanks, Binnur, much appreciated.

[CormacD]

This week’s challenge was to photograph some jetties in in the river during the early morning golden light. I got up early every morning and it was wet, windy and dark. This morning it was beautiful but I wasn’t quick enough and got a few shots later in the morning. Because the light was a bit harsh I changed my challenge to a few black and white shots along the Murray River near where I live in Western Australia. People who live on the road near the river are allowed to build a jetty for their own boat and most of these are tucked in amongst the riverbank trees and foliage as you can see in these examples.

The next two weeks we will be traveling down to the south of the state and I plan to get a few shots of our travels and the places where we are camped, should be a bit of variety.

This week:

#1 Public jetty at one of the local riverside pubs. 9.05 am, 30 April, ISO 100, 18.5 mm, f/10, 1/125s.



#2 A private jetty and boat. 10.02 am, 30 April, ISO 100, 30 mm, f/9, 1/125s.



# 3 A tree near the river. 9.54 am, 30 April, ISO 100, 30 mm, f/9, 1/1600s

[Geoff F]

You have certainly set yourself a challenge with these scenes. Bright highlights (but not over exposed) together with deep shadows; however, they do work as high contrast images.

I just wonder about a crop from the right side of the first image? You could lose a matching amount from the sky or maybe crop even tighter and go to a square size?

The tree works well for me. Not too much dark foreground and good crisp edges to the branches without any fringing problems.