Local Wiltshire Hills

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Steve
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Since moving to the Wilts/Dorset borders at the end of July this area has become a bit of a magnet for me. It's a 5 minute drive from home and on the B3095 heading out of Mere towards Warminster.

When the weather isn't all grey and overcast, the cloudscapes can be quite stunning at times. I need to improve my technique, but we were just passing through and it was bitterly cold as I jumped out of the car, grabbed my bag and took a few shots as the clouds were playing ball.

clouds01 by Steve Jelly, on Flickr

clouds 2 by Steve Jelly, on Flickr

X-T3, 10-24 f4 and a Lee ND Grad.
 
I love this view and it is a favourite of Charlie Waite. I don't miss Warminster very much, but I do miss the hill and views from South Wiltshire.

Compared to West London, living in Mere is like going back in time!! :LOL::LOL:

If you know the area then I'm sure you'll understand how breathtaking it can be at times. And the we can go South up onto the Zigzag and get views from there, or Heavens Gate.... We are spoilt for views around here.
 
The first really has something for me. Wonderful lighting and clouds, well composed and a very tasteful black and white conversion. The second is lacking in comparison
 
That's a lovely viewpoint Steve, and you have a good eye for a pano.

A couple of things could be improved IMO - feel free to disagree. There's significant areas of blown cloud in the images as presented, and for me, that leaps out of the image as almost the first thing I see. The other thing is that they seem to be lacking detail, and going over to look on Flickr doesn't seem to help much, though the second image is better than the first in this area. Lastly, in the second image I think cloning out your shadow would improve the foreground enormously, giving a sense of landscape-unspoiled, rather than a distorted silhouette-self portrait.
 
Thanks for the comments Toni.

Firstly, the shadows in the second image are not of me, but of a fence, I've already cropped myself out in the pano ;), but I did want to get that late autumnal feeling with the long shadows.

As for the detail, well as I said, I jumped out of the car and shot them quite quickly as I didn't have a suitable jacket/coat and it was bitterly cold, so it was a bit rushed. However, saying that, I too realise that there could be more detail and I think that it's also partly to do with my editing technique (or lack of!).

I did have a Lee ND soft grad, but I would have usually taken at least 3 images and brought them together in LR to try and cover that off, but as I mentioned previously, it was a bit brass monkey's....

Drove past the same spot again today and it was all overcast and grey, but we were treated to a close up view of a Buzzard sitting on a fence post by the side of the road, so we slowed down to get a good look. He didn't seem that impressed and sort of scowled at me as we went past at about 5mph...
 
Out of interest are these jpg files straight from camera, rather than raws? That might explain the strong colours of the second and blown bits in the clouds.

My apologies for the wrong assumption of your shadow. :)
 
Out of interest are these jpg files straight from camera, rather than raws? That might explain the strong colours of the second and blown bits in the clouds.

My apologies for the wrong assumption of your shadow. :)

No, RAW, poorly edited by me.....

I’ve actually turned the greens down in the second shot. That’s typical of Fuji output.
 
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Compared to West London, living in Mere is like going back in time!! :LOL::LOL:

If you know the area then I'm sure you'll understand how breathtaking it can be at times. And the we can go South up onto the Zigzag and get views from there, or Heavens Gate.... We are spoilt for views around here.

Was born and bought up in Warminster and know the area well. Some very scenic countryside and some good sites for birds/wildlife if that floats your boat.
 
By my terms you're over-styling these images, as is evidenced and reinforced by what I see as the superfluous drop shadow and signature. I'd say that you need to pull back and consider what others see, and what your images' deeper meanings could be.

For instance, the lower foreground across image one, swelling to the right, is uncomfortably crystalline. Was that your truly considered intent? In terms of the possible overall meaning of the image, what's the purpose of that rendition?

Maybe you just want to make a splash, in which case forgive me. I could guess that you're fairly young, but I can see that you have photographic potential. But if gaudy canvasses are your only drift, I'd rather go to sleep, I think ...

It's not what photographs look like, but what they mean that makes them valuable. But of course what they might mean depends on how they look. That's a conundrum to take forward ... or not?
 
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By my terms you're over-styling these images, as is evidenced and reinforced by what I see as the superfluous drop shadow and signature. I'd say that you need to pull back and consider what others see, and what your images' deeper meanings could be.

:thinking: ....... Ah, you don't like the way I've presented them... Well that's fine, I do and I often present my images this way. I tend to drop the drop shadow when I print though. Signature? Well you could always crop it out.

For instance, the lower foreground across image one, swelling to the right, is uncomfortably crystalline. Was that your truly considered intent? In terms of the possible overall meaning of the image, what's the purpose of that rendition?

This is chalk downland. When ploughed, chalk fragments rise to the surface and give that effect. I wanted to keep it there as it is what the area is like. I had never considered it to be "crystalline" but that could be the effect of my PP, I'm not the best I admit.

Maybe you just want to make a splash, in which case forgive me. I could guess that you're fairly young, but I can see that you have photographic potential. But if gaudy canvasses are your only drift, I'd rather go to sleep, I think ...

That is just rude and uncalled for, so I suggest in future if you a thread from me you move along and ignore, as I will with you. I have time for CC, but no time for people like yourself. You are now one of only two people to ever get to my ignore list, in all the years I've been around this place so you've achieved something in your life....
 
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