Derwent Dam

Messages
2,185
Name
Dave
Edit My Images
Yes
I spent Saturday up in the Peak District and then on Sunday over in Beverley to try and find something to photograph. The weather / light was't great on either day, so I ended up with nothing I was happy with.

After 2 early starts I hadn't planned on getting up early on Monday as well plus the weather apps said lots of low cloud.

I was awake anyway - I think my body clock now thinks 3:30am is time to be up and at-em :) So out I went.

Mam Tor was covered in low cloud and none of the valleys showed any signs of mist so I decided to head home - luckily I had a coffee with me and stopped next to Ladybower to watch the world go by as I drank it. Once the caffeine kicked in I was ready to at least give it until sunrise to see if anything happened. I headed up to Howden Dam, but the water was not still.

I drove back down to Derwent Dam and could see the water was still and that there was a glimmer of colour showing in the sky over the hills.

Over the next 30 minutes it just got better and better - even a bit of mist made an appearance at one point :)

(EDIT: Image updated to slightly darken sky after discussions below)
Tranquility by Dave Semmens, on Flickr


Dave.
 
Last edited:
You could maybe pull a grey grad down over the sky as the clouds there look a bit washed out?
Yes - I think they could do with a slight tweak looking at it again :)

I am always conscious of not darkening too much as it was the brightest part of the scene and almost blown out on some of the clouds over the hill.

Thanks

Dave.
 
Last edited:
In a technical sense I would have used a slightly stronger grad to hold back that sky just a bit.

In every other sense this is the best picture ever taken of the peak district. These reflections, colours and the fantastic architecture of the reservoir tower are to die for.

This is an image which stirrs and captivates the soul - slightly hot cloud or not.
 
In a technical sense I would have used a slightly stronger grad to hold back that sky just a bit.

In every other sense this is the best picture ever taken of the peak district. These reflections, colours and the fantastic architecture of the reservoir tower are to die for.

This is an image which stirrs and captivates the soul - slightly hot cloud or not.

Thanks Steve - I am honoured that you have enjoyed the last 3 of my Peak District images so much :) I don't use grads but do bracket - so I have latitude to tweak the sky.

I will take a look when I get the computer booted up next time :)
 
Lovely moody image Dave- worth the early start - those pastel shades just sing out fresh Dawn to me

Les :)
 
It is lovely. The reflection is perfect, I would love to be out in conditions like this.
 
It is lovely. The reflection is perfect, I would love to be out in conditions like this.

Thanks Dale - the conditions 30 minutes before sunrise looked pants. I am just really glad I decided to stay up in the area and have a scout around :)

Lovely moody image Dave- worth the early start - those pastel shades just sing out fresh Dawn to me

Les :)

Thanks Les.
 
I like this overall.

Most won't notice or flag up the highlights but if we want to drill down deep:

In a technical sense I would have used a slightly stronger grad to hold back that sky just a bit.

In every other sense this is the best picture ever taken of the peak district. These reflections, colours and the fantastic architecture of the reservoir tower are to die for.

This is an image which stirrs and captivates the soul - slightly hot cloud or not.

I clearly see hot highlights in the clouds. It could be just a quick careless sRGB conversion and it might be just fine in Adobe or P3, which is what you use for printing and archiving anyway. My intuition would be to add some local adjustments to darken only the clouds just a little.

A grad will do nothing positive but darken foliage way too far and leave the hot highlights in the reflection. The sky overall is well exposed except for these bits. Just deal with them in isolation. You know I'm 100% against anything in front of the lens, particularly if its made of plastic :)
 
I like this overall.

Most won't notice or flag up the highlights but if we want to drill down deep:



I clearly see hot highlights in the clouds. It could be just a quick careless sRGB conversion and it might be just fine in Adobe or P3, which is what you use for printing and archiving anyway. My intuition would be to add some local adjustments to darken only the clouds just a little.

A grad will do nothing positive but darken foliage way too far and leave the hot highlights in the reflection. The sky overall is well exposed except for these bits. Just deal with them in isolation. You know I'm 100% against anything in front of the lens, particularly if its made of plastic :)

I have a 3 shot bracket with 2 stops between each - so more editing is always possible.
I agree about the filters - I used expensive Firecrest glass filters for a few years but found that there are compromises with grads and I also got fed up of them misting up. It's also a bit crazy spending almost £2000 on a lens then sticking things in front of it :)
Dave.
 
Burnt highlights in the clouds in this situation don't bother me in the slightest. I bet looking at these clouds and portions therein, at that moment in time, they would've been overwhelmingly bright to the naked eye anyway.
 
Burnt highlights in the clouds in this situation don't bother me in the slightest. I bet looking at these clouds and portions therein, at that moment in time, they would've been overwhelmingly bright to the naked eye anyway.

Yes - sometimes there comes a point when editing that you don't believe the image as you have pulled that much from the dark areas and crushed so much of the highlights. It is a bit of a battle. I normally edit then leave a while then tweak again - but high dynamic range scenes are tricky to get looking right.
 
Back
Top