Quinag and the old road to Kylesku

[Donald]

Quinag is one of the iconic mountains of north-west Scotland. In fact, Quinag is a range within which are a number of individual peaks. But collectively and commonly, they are called Quinag.

I don't know when the 'new road' to Kylesku was built (which is just behind me), but nothing on it matches the beauty of this old bridge.

This image has a huge amount of dodging and burning in it. Making it in the digital darkroom was as much of a challenge and as much fun as capturing the photo in the first place. The capturing process was brought to an abrupt end when the gale wind and horizontal rain that I could see coming, reached me.

Your analysis and critique are always welcome.

[mugge]

Donald, a very moody scene. I think you must have done some micro dodging on that brickwork? The lighting in the lower left of the sky is beautifully done as is the water under the bridge. How long did you take doing the bridge?
Cheers Ole

[Donald]

How long did you take doing the bridge?

The great advantage of digital over the old darkroom days is that, of course, we don't have to do all our dodging and burning in that very short period when we have the enlarger light on. We can do a bit, take a break, come back to it, change our mind, etc. I suppose, overall, I spent well in excess of an hour, maybe 2 hours, working on this image.

[Mike Buckley]

We regularly discuss the importance of viewing a print from an ideal distance but my experience is that we tend not to discuss that when viewing an image displayed on a monitor. I was struggling last night with the composition of this image from the outset and didn't understand why. Then I realized just minutes before I went to bed that I was so interested in the details throughout the image that I was viewing it at a distance that was so close that it was impossible to see the entire composition all at one time. The moment I created more distance between me and the image, suddenly the composition worked for me.

In summary, the overall composition and the fine details throughout the entire image are compelling. The distance that I would view the image from at any given moment would depend entirely on the mood I'm in regarding whether I want to more fully appreciate the details or the composition.

[Donald]

In summary, the overall composition and the fine details throughout the entire image are compelling.

Thank you, Mike.

I haven't printed it yet, but intend to do so.

I am grateful for your critique which, I think, raises important points we can all learn from in terms of studying detail, but also in stepping back to see the whole picture.

[billtils]

+1 to Mike's comments