Free Kilchurn the week before

chris2jz

chris2jz

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I took a trip with a friend up to Kilchurn Castle for sunrise the week before lockdown.

Didn't get anything ground breaking but two nice images I guess.



My castle by Chris Marr, on Flickr

Kilchurn Castle by Chris Marr, on Flickr

Wood or Rock?

The wood shot isnt quite perfect, my focus stacking skills aren't fabulous ..
 
Was there with my buddy mid January, it was close to being epic, not quite, but not far off.

First thing I notice is that they look a little flat (no pun intended). I'd do a levels layer or up the contrast.

One thing about Kilchurn is that you can compose with or without foreground interest and even better than that, if you do go for foreground inerest, you can still crop it out later and make a more central image, with the far waterline central and the castle off to one or other side. You have that option here, particularly with number 1 as I find the rock a little overpowering. I prefer the branch image but the tip of it cutting the hill reflection upsets it a little, I look at that rather than the whole scene. A bit of easy cloning would fix that. Pesky pylons, whoever put those there was obviously not a photographer.

Both nice images, I like them and they could be even better with a few tweaks.
 
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The rock for me, is too prominent in the frame- the log however: make a nice lead line

Les :)
 
A couple of things - I prefer the composition of one - with the conditions of two - but with a little more detail showing like the first.

Why -

1. Reflections cannot be broken or have distant ripples. Despite the better detail in the shadows I have to rule one out straight away. I wouldn't have fired the shutter had I been there at that moment
2. Perfect reflections in the second shot - simply perfect timing for the exposure. However I would have gone with composition one - better still a composition omitting all the foreground and just gone with the 50:50. I might lift a shade more detail out of the second shot - maybe a slightly lifting of the mid point on the tone curve.

With two - I might have pulled my GND down a bit more - the sky is quite bright above the cloudline. In the first shot you have a better cloud position and better balance of exposure between top and bottom.
 
The reflections better in the second and the log is less obtrusive than the rock. I am not keen on the log though and it appears foreground interest for the sake of it. If you did crop it out though,which would be my preference, you would sadly just be left with a stock image of the castle.
 
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