The River Farg in the Glen

[Donald]

Gave my camera Storm Jacket its first serious outing today as the rain fell. I got wet, but the camera and lens were fine.

What do you think?


40D, 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM @ 35mm. ISO100. 0.3s@f16. Manual. 15:10

[MiniChris]

You certainly captured the feeling of a bleak, February day. I would like to see a bit more white in the water highlights, but given the location and the dullness (appears dull as there aren't any light pops anywhere) of the daylight, probably not possible...Nice shot for capturing feeling. I shivvered thinking of how cold it probably was.

[Katy Noelle]

Beautiful, Donald!!! Tangled branches and tunnels! I was photographing more tangled branches, today, too. (er, but closer.) Anyway, I can just hear the brook!

I was reading about those storm jackets for cameras. It's on the list.

[mythlady]

Ah, Donald, how do you say so beautiful in Scottish? I agree with Chris that a little more brightness in the water would add to it, but even without it, it's great.

[Camellia]

Hi Donald

Another shot that conveys feelings: a brisk walk, crackling leaves and branches, icy cold water. Nice one!

R

[Donald]

Thank you for your responses.

Interesting point on how the water has been presented. The RAW file does, in fact, have it brighter and I actually toned it down a bit (via a bit of burning). You have now prompted me to review (which I'll do tomorrow) the PP work I've done.

The reason I toned it down was because I felt it was dragging attention away from the foreground tree trunks, to which a fair amount of dodging has been applied to lift them up a bit.

[Katy Noelle]

Hi Donald

Another shot that conveys feelings: a brisk walk, crackling leaves and branches, icy cold water. Nice one!

R

Cool, Raylee! I was timid and didn't say it. It's like one can smell the damp earth and leaves and hear dripping rain. I just wasn't sure if I felt it because he had told us it was raining or not.

[rob marshall]

Nice detail and mood, Donald, but I can't help thinking it looks too dark. The histogram seems to bear that out. Have you calibrated your monitor?

[Donald]

Nice detail and mood, Donald, but I can't help thinking it looks too dark. The histogram seems to bear that out. Have you calibrated your monitor?

Rob

Yes, I am all calibrated and profiled. I spent a long time with it DxO and the Gamma and Intensity sliders making adjustments. I also took the exposure down 0.5 to give me the mood I wanted. So, getting to this was very much a deliberate act rather than accident and gave me the 'feel' that I wanted.

Just to complete the story - I had been out earlier in the day (when it was even wetter) and shot this. But when I uploaded it was very obvious that I hadn't got the lighting right. The dead leaves in the foreground were dull. I wanted a shine from the rain coming off them. So, knowing where the sun would be at around 3pm, I decided to go back.

I was lucky in that there was a small, short break in the cloud out to the west (which is the direction I'm more or less facing). The sun was at the 1 o'clock position ahead of me (sort of just at the top right corner of the frame. I knew I was going to be cropping this to a 4:5 ratio, so the pretty extensive flare that was at the top right of the original was always going to go, so it didn't bother me.

And ....... what you can't see are the Shetland ponies out of frame at the bottom! I've got the tripod over fence. One leg is at full stretch on the other side of fence. The other side dropped down about 2 feet. There are 3 very small (3' - 3'6") Shetland ponies live in that area. They saw me and obviously thought I was a source of food. So, to get this, I've got the cable release in one hand and am stroking the face of a Shetland pony with the other and suggesting to it that neither the leg of the tripod nor my jacket are really much good for eating.

[whited3]

I Love this shot. It's desolite.....like a scene from Cormack McCarthy's movie "The Road". Interested to see a colour version.

PS: What does Farg mean in Scottish?

[Donald]

PS: What does Farg mean in Scottish?

Thanks for your comment, Mark.

Where the name Farg came from is lost in the mists of time. But, obviously, and following Scots naming, Glenfarg is the glen (valley) through which the Farg runs. The fact that the village in which I live takes it name from the Glen (the village is not actually in the glen but at the head of it), is a matter of marketing rather than anything more historical or profound.

Up until the time that the railway was built through the village, it was known as Damhead. But with the arrival of the railway and the rail companies selling the place as a nice, healthy location in which to escape from the dirty cities, the name was not quite what the ad-men wanted. So, it was changed to Glenfarg.

[Tord]

As other has commented, a little more sparkle would have been nice. Even though I've visited Glenfarg a few times, I have missed Farg itself :-(! Donald, Did you convert a colour photo, or did you take it as a B&W?

[Donald]

Donald, Did you convert a colour photo, or did you take it as a B&W?

I always shoot RAW which captures all the image data, including the colour data. If you shoot in JPEG and shoot it as a B & W then not only are you losing all the colour data, but you're losing a lot more, as the camera is making a number of decisions about how the picture should look and taking control out of your hands.

The fact is that 99% of my work is B & W. And when I take the photograph I am doing so knowing that it will be a B & W. So, this shot was always going to be a B & W. As I stood there getting wet and firing the shutter, there was never any thought that it might be a good colour image. I never change my mind once I'm back in the digital darkroom. A frame shot for B & W will never be made into a colour image, or vice-versa. It's just part of the discipline that I impose upon myself in order to be able to 'see' in B & W.

But I want to be in control of how the finished image will look, not the camera. I have my camera set to Monochrome. But the reason for this is so that I can see a B & W version alongside the histogram on the LCD. That give me a better 'feel' for the image when I'm out in the field. But the colour data is still in the file.

So, after that long-winded account, the answer to your question is - I don't shoot colour or B & W. I shoot RAW. All the post-processing work to make it into the B & W image is then done once the file has been uploaded to the computer.

[Benjy]

Hi Elsie,I think aye it,s braw is close to so beautiful in Scottish

[Apo]

Beauty...i like the clarity and the details of the branches and twigs...

[djg05478]

I've got the tripod over fence. One leg is at full stretch on the other side of fence. The other side dropped down about 2 feet. There are 3 very small (3' - 3'6") Shetland ponies live in that area. They saw me and obviously thought I was a source of food. So, to get this, I've got the cable release in one hand and am stroking the face of a Shetland pony with the other and suggesting to it that neither the leg of the tripod nor my jacket are really much good for eating.

I want to see that picture

However I do like this one as well. I'm glad to see that you felt the image was still worth pursuing even with the little branches in front of the brook. I have run into this same scenario as well and wondered if its too distracting, I'm sure in some instances it can be depending on circumstances. But now I see that, little branches are not a deal breaker, they can be dealt with and it can be done (and done well); you can see past them.

Debbie