A few from Tutzing and Starnberg yesterday

S

Steve

Guest
We took an early morning bike ride from Tutzing to Starnberg See. The light was poor but we wanted some fresh air before the forecast rain arrived. This is a definite route that I need to revisit in the snow later this year and better light of the early summer next year. As usual I took along my camera and shot a few things on the way.

This has been converted to black and white, then a slight tint added and finally some noise to age the picture slightly.

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The following are photos that I shot with the fortnightly theme in mind. I had up until yesterday not photographed any autumn images this year but the chance of it being the winner gave me the motivation. I like these a great deal, especially the last two but I have another shot held back just in case autumn wins the poll ;)

Early morning looking across the lake.
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The old bench besides the church.
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Clearing autumn’s leaves.
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More to follow as I process the mass from yesterday. :p

Comments welcomed as always.
 
Superb shots mate.

I think my camera has the edge over yours though..I can get better noise than your first one straight off the camera.

Seriously, your PP on that shot has worked really well.
Can't make my mind up about #2 but #3 and #4 are superb!
 
I likw 4 - the fact that everything is covered in leaves makes her job of clearing them look negligible;)

Also impressed with picture 2 - I like the way you have captured the varying depths, with the buildings rising from amongst the trees.
 
i really like no.4, her almost defeated expression says it all really.
 
all good but #4 is the winner for me. Timing is everything!
 
No.4 is excellent, but I really like no.3 aswell... maybe even a bit more. If "autumn" is the next comp subject, I would've been overjoyed with no.3 as my entry, it just says autumn to me without even trying. You've now got me wondering what you held back :ponders: :)
 
What's the first one like without the grain Steve? Just my opinion but the boat looks to have such nice clean lines that I "think" it might be better as a straight B&W.
 
All good, but No4 has it all, great colour, interesting textures, and a super candid shot to boot. :thumb:

I like No1 in sepia - I think it suits the shot. You might try increasing the saturation Steve, to deepen the sepia effect? I developed a love for those old really deep brown sepia shots, mainly through restoring so many of them.
 
dod said:
What's the first one like without the grain Steve? Just my opinion but the boat looks to have such nice clean lines that I "think" it might be better as a straight B&W.
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Here is the picture in colour

IMG_4626_01.jpg


and converted to B+W without the noiseÂ…slight blue tint.

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CT said:
All good, but No4 has it all, great colour, interesting textures, and a super candid shot to boot. :thumb:
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Thank you sir :)

CT said:
I like No1 in sepia - I think it suits the shot. You might try increasing the saturation Steve, to deepen the sepia effect? I developed a love for those old really deep brown sepia shots, mainly through restoring so many of them.
Click to expand...

I can see were you are going but I didnÂ’t do the shot with grain as anything other than a save for web picky so donÂ’t have the original to work with just to increase the saturation. Being lazy I canÂ’t really be bothered to mark off a section and do it that way either ;)
 
I do prefer that without the grain, just my opinion though :)
 
All good shots mate but the last two really do it for me. The simplicity of the composure, add to that the colour and texture, I really like them. Was there much processing done? I would be very happy to put my name to those shots.

As an aside, I know you shouldn't judge/critique photos because of the framing but for some reason your framing really adds to them. I've seen many styles of framing but not seen that before, might not be new to alot of you on here but I really haven't noticed it before. I like your style, very effective, doesn't detract from the picture but adds a nice touch.

Good job! :icon_cool
 
Blimey they are stunning shots.. Going to be a high standard in the fortnightly assignment.
 
Agro said:
All good shots mate but the last two really do it for me. The simplicity of the composure, add to that the colour and texture, I really like them. Was there much processing done? I would be very happy to put my name to those shots.
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Thank you for the kind comments. For the last two shots there has been very little work done to them, on the leaves I just increased the saturation slightly after the usual levels adjustment during raw convertion and for the lock I again increased the saturation slightly and applied a very small amount of blur on the left hand side of the picture (only on the wood) to balance up the very short depth of field I used. I deliberately shot the photo that way but felt the addition of more blur balanced the picture better. The sharpening for both pics was done after they had been reduced to web size using "smart sharpen" in Photoshop CS.

Agro said:
As an aside, I know you shouldn't judge/critique photos because of the framing but for some reason your framing really adds to them. I've seen many styles of framing but not seen that before, might not be new to alot of you on here but I really haven't noticed it before. I like your style, very effective, doesn't detract from the picture but adds a nice touch.

Good job! :icon_cool
Click to expand...

I have to admit that I have played around with many different frames but have settled on this design now for just about all my shots. I sometimes reverse them so that they are all black with lighter keylines if the pictures suits it better but always use the same style. The design was picked up from something I was already doing and my partner suggesting the added second close keyline. Like you I think it is simple but effective at finishing off the pictures and neither dominating nor making them too fancy.

Hope that answers your questions :)
 
No.#1 works best for me - just like HP5 in the good old days :)

The woman sweeping the leaves looks as though you ambushed her - where are the follow-on shots? The ones you took after you'd explained what you were up to..
 
I don't speak the language yet so had no means of communication with her, this shot was about the third and last I shot of her as she was unsure of what I was doing and nervous for the other two. I guess her expression looks like one of confusion but she had the look of a woman that has worked hard outside for many yearsÂ…almost weathered. She was sweeping with some vigour and I caught this one as she looked up for the third or fourth time, she had all but finished sweeping at this point so it was the last chance grab before she replaced the broom, closed the door and then smiles as she walked past back towards her house.
 
Just kidding. I do like it, it just lacks something - there's a sense of distance, a lack of connection with the subject: maybe getting closer with a wider lens would have helped?
I know what you mean about the language barrier - how do you think I feel not speaking Arabic or Pashtun? Sign language and talking in a calm voice - they may not get the words, but the tone of your voice should convey that you pose no threat - lots of smiles and laughing helps as well. Even the border guards in Zimbabwe agreed to photos after I smiled and had a laugh with them for 5 minutes - normally they steal your kit and gang-rape you back-door stylee...
 
Arkady said:
normally they steal your kit and gang-rape you back-door stylee...
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PMSL! :D

A lad I used to work with, went with an aid column to Bosnia. I strongly advised him not to go as he had a wife and 3 rug rats at home, but his real motivation in going was to get out there and do his 'boy war photographer' thing, and he was the most accident and disaster prone kid I ever met anyway, so it didn't bode well at all.

They ended up at a village not far from the fighting, and everyone was advised not to stray far from the column while they were unloading. He totally ignored this of course and wandered off with his camera. Seeing a border checkpoint manned by guards, he began to walk towards it when one of the soldiers signalled to him in no uncertain terms to f*** off! He responded with a cheery wave and continued to walk forewards when the guard dropped on one knee and drew a bead on him! In his own words he "Turned on a tanner" and went straight back to the column.

Best bit of all.. they were NATO soldiers apparently.
 
Hah! If they'd been Serbs or Croats he'd have been fine - of course NATO troops woould have shot him. Especially the Americans - the CBS car we were escorting into the Green Zone two weeks ago took two .50" Cal rounds through the engine block coz they didn't slow down fast enough. Despite the fact that we were in 'green' vehicles...

Honestly, more journalists have now been killed in Iraq by coalition forces than by insurgents... and by coalition, you know who I really mean...:(
 
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