Llangollen sunrise & a wander around Dinorwig

The 4th seems a bit overcooked (the clouds are almost in front of the chimneys), but I do like the 2nd and 3rd...
 
Nice set Simon. Love Number 2 Love the fiery layers of colour in the sky, it has a sort of pentagonal shaped opening in the center to the heart of the burning yellow, very effective with that band of almost black cloud above. Nice contrast between the wisps of cloud and the strong diagonals of the dark hillsides. Nice silver ribbon of road winding downhill. Hard frost highlighing the foregroundand funneling you into the picture with the other diagonals.
No 1 next, gives me that real cold clear feeling, almost feel the bite of the cold (As the filter fogs up). Love that layer rolling up over the mountain. The road leads you bang into the shot really like this and the dusting of snow looks great. Really strong diagonal lines again. Looks Great wish i was there!

Those are my two favorites, I'm always a sucker for crepuscular rays to i like the developing light in 3 (I guess a change in focal length away from 1) but 2 and 1 eclipse this one.

I like 4 and 5 but not the biggest fan of B&W, in 4 really strong foreground and lovely textures and strong processing not sure if its this that seems to make them all run in together and loses seperation and gets lost a bit toward the trees (only my opinion). but there is still something intriguing about the shot, with some great threatening clouds behind. 5. Like the large rock face and the path walking you down to the cottages, i like the perspective.

Nice Set Simon
 
69Bonni said:
Nice set Simon. Love Number 2 Love the fiery layers of colour in the sky, it has a sort of pentagonal shaped opening in the center to the heart of the burning yellow, very effective with that band of almost black cloud above. Nice contrast between the wisps of cloud and the strong diagonals of the dark hillsides. Nice silver ribbon of road winding downhill. Hard frost highlighing the foregroundand funneling you into the picture with the other diagonals.
No 1 next, gives me that real cold clear feeling, almost feel the bite of the cold (As the filter fogs up). Love that layer rolling up over the mountain. The road leads you bang into the shot really like this and the dusting of snow looks great. Really strong diagonal lines again. Looks Great wish i was there!

Those are my two favorites, I'm always a sucker for crepuscular rays to i like the developing light in 3 (I guess a change in focal length away from 1) but 2 and 1 eclipse this one.

I like 4 and 5 but not the biggest fan of B&W, in 4 really strong foreground and lovely textures and strong processing not sure if its this that seems to make them all run in together and loses seperation and gets lost a bit toward the trees (only my opinion). but there is still something intriguing about the shot, with some great threatening clouds behind. 5. Like the large rock face and the path walking you down to the cottages, i like the perspective.

Nice Set Simon
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Thanks Steve.. the 1st shot is pre-sunrise and the cloud on the hillside a passing snow shower that caught me just a couple of minutes before taking the shot. It's a photo I've thought about for ages but it's never really looked quite right, I think the snow makes all the difference so a nice bit of luck.

2 & 3 are the best early light I've managed to catch for a good while so nice to get the shots.. tricky though, I used 5 stops of NDgrad and underexposed a further 3 stops to keep the highlights, that D800 does a fantastic job of recovering shadow detail without generating any noise, still impresses me.

I was trying for a few detail shots of Dinorwig rather than the "big views" and am reasonably pleased with the results.. I've toned down the processing on the 4th shot but it hasn't updated on here.. if you click on the image though it shows the updated version on my website, less contrast which I thing works better than this one

Simon
 
Lovely to see the snow on the peaks, I dare say there will be more to come with some great opportunities to come... No1 is the sort of simple shot that you never think about taking but its very effective i thing with the road winding off into the distance.
Thats was a fair old amount of filter then! I always find i'm rushing to get the filters on sometimes as the light can change so fast. I have got into the habit of always putting the adapter ring on as soon as i get the camera out, so its quicker to put on the filter holder. I have always been amazed quite how fast the light can change.

Dinorwig is a great place need to get back there when i come up. i havnt been there for a long time and your photographs have reminded me of what a great location it is for some shots.
Just popped along to your site and yes i can see the difference, i think that works much better, just goes to show what a bit of tweaking does!

I have struggled recently trying to get some decent light, but trying to jiggle, time off, decent location and right light seems to have been a physical impossibility. Why is it every day your working you get great light and every day you have some free time the weather / light is rubbish?

I use a D700 and D300.... Loved the D300 and the natural progression was the D700 which was a game changer for me. But the D300 is getting a little behind the game now, so next year it might be time for either a D800 or D810 to back up the D700. This means my beloved D300 will have to go:(.

Keep the shots coming, Simon its a great place!
 
No 1 and no 3 really work for me, no 1 I like the cloud over the top of the mountain and no 3 I really like the strong light.

The other 3 are a bit over cooked in the PP for me.
 
stumeech said:
No 1 and no 3 really work for me, no 1 I like the cloud over the top of the mountain and no 3 I really like the strong light.

The other 3 are a bit over cooked in the PP for me.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated... any chance you can explain what you mean by "overcooked"? 4 I'd certainly agree as I went a bit mad with Nik Silver EFex and I've toned it down now (click on the image itself to see the new version) Shot 2 is basically 5 stops of NDgrad and 3 stops underexposure whilst shooting just recovered in raw, not much else

Cheers

Simon
 
69Bonni said:
Lovely to see the snow on the peaks, I dare say there will be more to come with some great opportunities to come... No1 is the sort of simple shot that you never think about taking but its very effective i thing with the road winding off into the distance.
Thats was a fair old amount of filter then! I always find i'm rushing to get the filters on sometimes as the light can change so fast. I have got into the habit of always putting the adapter ring on as soon as i get the camera out, so its quicker to put on the filter holder. I have always been amazed quite how fast the light can change.

Dinorwig is a great place need to get back there when i come up. i havnt been there for a long time and your photographs have reminded me of what a great location it is for some shots.
Just popped along to your site and yes i can see the difference, i think that works much better, just goes to show what a bit of tweaking does!

I have struggled recently trying to get some decent light, but trying to jiggle, time off, decent location and right light seems to have been a physical impossibility. Why is it every day your working you get great light and every day you have some free time the weather / light is rubbish?

I use a D700 and D300.... Loved the D300 and the natural progression was the D700 which was a game changer for me. But the D300 is getting a little behind the game now, so next year it might be time for either a D800 or D810 to back up the D700. This means my beloved D300 will have to go:(.

Keep the shots coming, Simon its a great place!
Click to expand...


Can be a bit tricky with the filters so I leave the filter ring on permanently now and use the Lee lens caps (http://www.dalephotographic.co.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/DalePhotographicOnline/_Leecapsx3) - saves a lot of time messing around

Must admit I've been amazingly lucky this year with light, which is great as I've needed to get so many shots for the book.. most times I've been out I seem to have returned with usable shots - certainly something that hasn't happened in previous years.

Whilst I'm one for saying that any camera can take good photos the D800 does handle dynamic range incredibly well and I'd honestly say I've managed shots that otherwise wouldn't have happened.. it's a camera I'm going to live with for a long time


Cheers

Simon
 
simonkit said:
Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated... any chance you can explain what you mean by "overcooked"? 4 I'd certainly agree as I went a bit mad with Nik Silver EFex and I've toned it down now (click on the image itself to see the new version) Shot 2 is basically 5 stops of NDgrad and 3 stops underexposure whilst shooting just recovered in raw, not much else

Cheers

Simon
Click to expand...

Hi Simon. I appreciate 2 is taken in hard lighting conditions, I just find the colours to be a bit unnatural for some reason, compared to 3 where they look pretty spot on.

With the black and whites I think the contrasts between the two are very heavy, I think it would look a little less 'cooked' if that wasn't so heavy.

If that makes sense?

But like I say fine shots!
 
stumeech said:
Hi Simon. I appreciate 2 is taken in hard lighting conditions, I just find the colours to be a bit unnatural for some reason, compared to 3 where they look pretty spot on.

With the black and whites I think the contrasts between the two are very heavy, I think it would look a little less 'cooked' if that wasn't so heavy.

If that makes sense?

But like I say fine shots!
Click to expand...


Thanks.. I think the 2nd shot is pretty close to how it looked, it was a great sunrise although overall the photo is perhaps a tad darker than it was stood there, lightening it up any more blows the highlights though so it's a slight compromise really .

I'm torn a little with the B&W conversion to be honest, I prefer them to the colour versions but maybe the scenes themselves don't quite have the necessary qualities to ultimately make them great B&W images
 
simonkit said:
I'm torn a little with the B&W conversion to be honest, I prefer them to the colour versions but maybe the scenes themselves don't quite have the necessary qualities to ultimately make them great B&W images
Click to expand...

That one I can't answer, I'm a bit rubbish at working out what landscapes could be B&W! :)
 
Lovely set.
For me, #2 seems overdone on PP a little. There's too much light in the mid & foregound for the light that's actually there. It's as light as the 3rd image, but the sun has slipped behind the hills.
 
simonkit said:
Can be a bit tricky with the filters so I leave the filter ring on permanently now and use the Lee lens caps (http://www.dalephotographic.co.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/DalePhotographicOnline/_Leecapsx3) - saves a lot of time messing around

Must admit I've been amazingly lucky this year with light, which is great as I've needed to get so many shots for the book.. most times I've been out I seem to have returned with usable shots - certainly something that hasn't happened in previous years.

Whilst I'm one for saying that any camera can take good photos the D800 does handle dynamic range incredibly well and I'd honestly say I've managed shots that otherwise wouldn't have happened.. it's a camera I'm going to live with for a long time


Cheers

Simon
Click to expand...
Great thanks for that link Simon! never even thought that there would be such a thing ..... On order already! I have been pretty unlucky with light and getting out, maybe nexy year will be better for me. Hows the book coming along.... I take it you have a deadline!
As for the D800, i have seen its work throughout TP so next year will look for either a low mileage one if they have stopped selling them or i'll compair against the D810.

Cheers
Steve
 
69Bonni said:
Great thanks for that link Simon! never even thought that there would be such a thing ..... On order already! I have been pretty unlucky with light and getting out, maybe nexy year will be better for me. Hows the book coming along.... I take it you have a deadline!
As for the D800, i have seen its work throughout TP so next year will look for either a low mileage one if they have stopped selling them or i'll compair against the D810.

Cheers
Steve
Click to expand...

Really useful those lens caps Steve.. book's coming along well as pretty much all the locations are shot and the publisher has started on the layouts, deadline is a little flexible but the aim is early Feb for a May publication, shouldn't be far off

Cheers

Simon
 
I can only see 3 images logged in at my computer but on the iPad there was a vertical black and white shot that looked very tasty. I like the first, shots like that show how well a digital camera can see in the dark but sometimes I think you can lose the feel of how the scene actually was, if it was darker than this to your eye, as you say pre sunrise then possibly try a darker edit. The second one is possibly over grad'd, a slight push of the highlights would really make it pop imo. Lovely shots though, I always look out for your snowdonia stuff.
 
Craig_85 said:
I can only see 3 images logged in at my computer but on the iPad there was a vertical black and white shot that looked very tasty. I like the first, shots like that show how well a digital camera can see in the dark but sometimes I think you can lose the feel of how the scene actually was, if it was darker than this to your eye, as you say pre sunrise then possibly try a darker edit. The second one is possibly over grad'd, a slight push of the highlights would really make it pop imo. Lovely shots though, I always look out for your snowdonia stuff.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the feedback... the 1st is definitely a little lighter than it actually was at the time but I do like the end result, I don't think it would have the same "feel" if I darkened it and I'd definitely lose some of the snow shower passing over the hillside.

The 2nd one was heavily gradded, needed to be to retain the highlight detail and as it stands at the moment it's on the edge of the highlights so any further tweak would blow out the shot around the sun position so it's a compromise.. more pop vs all the detail, I've actually gone with a slightly darker version (on my website by clicking the image here) as it is closer to what I hoped to capture.. the atmosphere in the misty valley and sun just starting to rise behind the hillside.. thanks for the suggestions though, always appreciated
 
2 & 3 are excellent.

It's great to actually SEE this scenery as I'm normally hacking through here on a motorbike, and it's bloody distracting/dangerous when the view is this good!!!
 
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