Beginner Stonehenge

sarah_mnstr

sarah_mnstr

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Name
Sarah
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I know it's probably been done to death, but a very moody Stonehenge for cc. Am pretty new at all this so any and all hints and tips are welcome :)

Visited on that really stormy weekend a couple of weeks back, knew it had to be bad as even all the English Heritage staff were hiding in the car park away from the wind!

Many thanks!
 
Too much bland foreground, if you have a wide angle lens you could get much closer and still show the circle, with perhaps those rocks as forground interest.
 
I took this on a bridge camera, so it has a fixed lens unfortunately. That's not a bad idea though, and definitely food for thought for when I upgrade!
 
The shot has potential.
Personally I'd lose a little of the foreground grass. It doesn't add anything, and that would then de-centralise the horizon.
Also, it appears you've been just a tad enthusiastic whilst lightening the central (largest) set of stones, because there are small areas around the edges of the stone (sky areas) which are now much too bright.
They are small, but they draw the eye.
 
Hi Ruth, I see what you mean about the lightening - definitely something I should be able to fix. I'll try cropping as you suggest too and see how it looks - Thanks!
 
sarah_mnstr said:
Nope, and thanks - amazing the obvious things a fresh pair of eyes can spot.

Here's a straightened version
Click to expand...
And immediately it looks better.

seaodyssey said:
Too much bland foreground, if you have a wide angle lens you could get much closer and still show the circle, with perhaps those rocks as forground interest.
Click to expand...
I think I agree. Reckon you could crop out some of the grass so the small rocks are foreground. Would have loved more sky but does look broody.
 
Thanks Omens - I wish I could have got more sky too, but was restricted by my lens. It did look very dramatic - I took some pictures the next day when the weather was better but I didn't think they looked anywhere near as good. Definitely going to try cropping it though.
 
oldandintheway said:
It does look very flat...sorry
You need early morning or late sun to warm things up a tad
Click to expand...

I agree, but there is actually some quite nice light, and shadows cast by the stones, that can be pulled from this image.
The image is under-exposed.
I know we should always aim to get as much right in camera as possible, but not all non perfect images should be discarded IMO.
 
oldandintheway said:
It does look very flat...sorry
You need early morning or late sun to warm things up a tad
Click to expand...

I do know what you mean, and would have liked to go for sunrise/sunset but I was visiting with a friend so needed to work around her plans too. A good excuse for another visit in the future though I think!

viv1969 said:
I agree, but there is actually some quite nice light, and shadows cast by the stones, that can be pulled from this image.
The image is under-exposed.
I know we should always aim to get as much right in camera as possible, but not all non perfect images should be discarded IMO.
Click to expand...

Thanks Ruth. This is the first image I've ever tried any processing on outside of general sharpening so I'm learning in that area too. I do try to avoid it, as like you say I'd like to get to the point where I can take a great image in-camera and keep the processing afterwards to a minimum, rather than taking mediocre pictures and relying on processing to save them, if you see what I mean.

I just loved the clouds in this one, which is why I tried to work with it a little.
 
When the light is not ideal, shoot some bracketed shots (overexposed, underexposed and correctly exposed) so you can try an HDR version. I've taken the liberty of using a screenshot to create two more images (-1.3 and +1.3 ev) and put them together using Photomatix. HDR is not everyone's idea of fun but sometimes it can bring a shot to life when you haven't got things 'spot-on' in camera! Even if you haven't taken more than one shot, you can still 'cheat' like I did and make your own bracketed shots to put through HDR software! I've also cropped a bit off the bottom so that the base of the stones are sitting a third of the way up the shot (rule of thirds). I hope you don't mind...! :)

 
I forgot to say that there was also a bit of dodging and burning to improve what light you already had! :)
 
Don't mind at all Mike, I really like that! I've seen some brilliant HDR images and can't wait to have a go myself :)

Looks much better cropped too.

Edited to add - and also hadn't realised that you could HDR from one shot too!
 
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sarah_mnstr said:
I do know what you mean, and would have liked to go for sunrise/sunset but I was visiting with a friend so needed to work around her plans too. A good excuse for another visit in the future though I think!



Thanks Ruth. This is the first image I've ever tried any processing on outside of general sharpening so I'm learning in that area too. I do try to avoid it, as like you say I'd like to get to the point where I can take a great image in-camera and keep the processing afterwards to a minimum, rather than taking mediocre pictures and relying on processing to save them, if you see what I mean.

I just loved the clouds in this one, which is why I tried to work with it a little.
Click to expand...


Sarah, I'm a sucker for similar scenes too :)


henge by viv1969 on Talk Photography
 
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