B&W Early Mist

Messages
1,505
Name
Stuart McGlennon
Edit My Images
No
I had some really misty conditions at Ullswater a few days ago - this shot was on the way home and was something of a grab from the roadside, although in the end it's probably the one I was most happy with and a nice change from the usual stuff I end up doing.

I struggle with editing these low-contrast scenes so all critique very much welcome. I've already chopped a fair bit from the bottom as it seemed to suit more of a letterbox crop.

Early Mist by Stuart McGlennon, on Flickr
 
I struggle with editing these low-contrast scene



Welcome to the club Stuart, everybody does.

The mistake I did was to wish to do magic ¹ with magic ² !
I will try to explain:

A foggy, misty scene caught your eye, why? Was it…
  • the atmospheric condition in itself (magic ²)?
  • the fact that everything, the details, in the scene is
    rendered unclear by the presence of a "vail"?
  • or was it the same vail effect on the colours?
  • or even all of the above? :confused:
The human nature is all curiosity, we investigate anything and
everything. We want to see, fell, and experience more, specially
when the source of interest does not yield easily the information.

So what is it? Is it the mystery in the scene that holds the fasciation
or is it the viewer's poetic creativity that holds the attraction (magic ¹)?

The magical "interest" in a scene is a composition of both usually,
and this is where the difficulties appear: trying to render an interest
that magic did not reveal but that human nature wants to grasp. Let
magic be… as magic was.

In this posted scene, the fog seems brighter than the day, does it
convey the magical character that caught your eye in the first place?
 
In this posted scene, the fog seems brighter than the day, does it
convey the magical character that caught your eye in the first place?
Thanks for the response - to answer your question yes I think so, the fog is relatively untouched and I've simply darkened some areas (though not much) to draw attention to it. I think if I was to do a colour version I may have adopted a different approach. My worry was putting too much contrast into a scene which didn't need it.
 
As Yoda, sorry, Daniel said, when the seagull follows the trawler.
Or was that someone else?
I like the tones as it is but you know I've simple taste and know hee-haw in colour, never mind B&W!
 
I like this a lot - big canvas job I reckon.

It's always a compromise for me between adding mood that wasn't there or settling for the best rendition I can of what was there. Capturing exactly what I saw is often beyond me/the kit/both.
 
I rather like it. Yes, fog/mist does not require contrast - I might have been tempted to push the contrast way down and make that foreground tree and the skyline less distinct, but it is fine as it is.
 
This is a nice scene Stuart, but the composition doesn't feel balanced to me. The tree is the dominant focal point in the foreground and the brightest area of contrast is just above it in the fog. As a result, the image feels a bit 'left heavy.'
 
This is a nice scene Stuart, but the composition doesn't feel balanced to me. The tree is the dominant focal point in the foreground and the brightest area of contrast is just above it in the fog. As a result, the image feels a bit 'left heavy.'
I think you could be right with the tree, I'm going to have a look at my other shots that I panned more to the right with, if i've nothing suitable there might be a case for artistic licence of cloning/moving it.

Thanks
 
Back
Top