Lochan na Lairige Panoramic

ShootinJack

ShootinJack

Messages
564
Name
Richard
Edit My Images
Yes
6 potrait shots merged in CS3, taken earlier this year.
Comments and criticism very much appreciated, thanks for looking.

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Very nicely done I like it, I am distracted slightly by the shadow area on the left but thats about all that is jumping out at me this time of the morning. Need my cup of joe before any sense is possible.
 
Think I must be lacking caffeine this morning... the only thing I can come up with in my head is "it's ok". I can't really see anything to dislike, but then there's nothing really grabbing me either. I dont feel drawn in, and am not really getting the urge to be there, walking along the edge of the water. But I can't tell you why. Sorry for being so vague.
 
imho as a merging job you have done that very nicely

As a finished image it comes over as being very flat. With a touch more PP it would be quite easy to bring more out of the sky, the fg stones and the cloud contrast on the hills.
 
Welcome to Landscape Hell :D Terrible place, isn't it? I agree with all of the above. FOr the record, I too can't make my Landscapes pop...timing and patience, thats what I keep telling myself :bang:
 
ShootinJack - agree with the above, but thought it may be resurrected using mono conversion - hope you don't mind:

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EdinburghGary said:
FOr the record, I too can't make my Landscapes pop...timing and patience, thats what I keep telling myself :bang:
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You keep telling yourself that, mate :LOL: I guess that's the only way to become perfect/genius.

For the record - I think your landscapes are pretty damn amazing.
 
Shutterman said:
Very nicely done I like it, I am distracted slightly by the shadow area on the left but thats about all that is jumping out at me this time of the morning. Need my cup of joe before any sense is possible.
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Thankyou, the shadow on the left is cloud cover, I did originally leave off the photo on the left but I felt the shot was too unbalanced. Thankyou for the feedback.

68lbs said:
Think I must be lacking caffeine this morning... the only thing I can come up with in my head is "it's ok". I can't really see anything to dislike, but then there's nothing really grabbing me either. I dont feel drawn in, and am not really getting the urge to be there, walking along the edge of the water. But I can't tell you why. Sorry for being so vague.
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No problem, I don't think it's the greatest panoramic myself, but I am here to learn. Thankyou for the feedback.

erding said:
imho as a merging job you have done that very nicely

As a finished image it comes over as being very flat. With a touch more PP it would be quite easy to bring more out of the sky, the fg stones and the cloud contrast on the hills.
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I tend to be quite cautious with PP as i don't like overcooking photo's. The stones were quite dark after all the editing and I used the exposure brush in lightroom 2 to lighten them up, could do with some more? If you have the time maybe you could do a quick edit to show me how the PP could be improved? Thankyou for the feedback.

EdinburghGary said:
Welcome to Landscape Hell :D Terrible place, isn't it? I agree with all of the above. FOr the record, I too can't make my Landscapes pop...timing and patience, thats what I keep telling myself :bang:
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I could have stayed up there all day waiting for the right light to come through the clouds, but I was there with my family and it wasn't really possible. Thankyou for the feedback.
 
Not really intentional - I was trying to up the light in the shadows and a bit of noise/grain was introduced. Give it a try on the original RAW file and it should come out a lot smoother.
 
For me, the image is missing the same thing most of my landscapes miss. Good foreground focal points, and good "depth points"....

You have the line of the coast which is good, and the valley is nice, but its just so wide and vast and it would be good if there were something to look at along the way to the valley.

Don't ask me how, I can never see these things either. But all the great landscape shots I enjoy ,not the good ones, but the great ones, seem to have this 3D feel induced by the lines, placement of features etc.

Bloody bloody bloody bloody hard...
 
ShootinJack said:
ekimeno - I shall give that a try thanks.

I am in full agreement about forground focal point Gary, unfortunately there wasn't much there.
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Sucky I know. It then comes down to taking the shot or not (This is in NO WAY me telling you that you should not have taken the shot)....but to the super fussy, and mega critical - it would be a case of moving on and finding something else.

I am trying to develop that part of my photography, I can only imagine for example with a roll of film, you would have had to be very critical and fussy over which shots to take. Digital = no need to care, which I think is a hard thing to break out of.

Taxi had a good idea, go out with card big enough for say 10 images, and see how you get on :D

BLooming tough game this. Did you get others?
 
ShootinJack said:
I am in full agreement about forground focal point Gary, unfortunately there wasn't much there.
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Always be prepared - invest in a blow up granite boulder :LOL:

Just did a quick bit to the sky in Lightroom 2 as an example:


ShootinJack.jpg
 
EdinburghGary said:
but to the super fussy, and mega critical - it would be a case of moving on and finding something else.
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I'm not sure I agree with this entirely.

If you were putting together a book and this was one of a number of locations that fulfilled the brief for the book, then yes, i'd move on to somewhere better.

But if you were looking to document the landscape of a given area you would need a shot from here. So you would need to get the best you possibly could. If there is no foreground focal point, do you not need to make one out of nothing? You have already proven with some shots of yours that I have seen, that get the lighting/processing/angle right, and even tarmac can have interest. I would think there was a ton of scope for foreground interest with the rocky bank.
 
68lbs said:
I'm not sure I agree with this entirely.

If you were putting together a book and this was one of a number of locations that fulfilled the brief for the book, then yes, i'd move on to somewhere better.
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Thats more or less what I mean. When I say super fussy, I really mean the guys who are either being paid / are top of the landscape game. Joe Cornish, Colin Prior, Colin Baxter etc. But surely there is nothing wrong with being a hobbyist and also having that same "thirst" for sublime photography?

68lbs said:
But if you were looking to document the landscape of a given area you would need a shot from here. So you would need to get the best you possibly could. If there is no foreground focal point, do you not need to make one out of nothing? You have already proven with some shots of yours that I have seen, that get the lighting/processing/angle right, and even tarmac can have interest. I would think there was a ton of scope for foreground interest with the rocky bank.
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Yes you are almost certainly right. Its probably the type of scene I would struggle to take advantage of though. I just cant see that killer shot from here.

Gary.
 
I suppose it depends where you are with your photography, for someone like yourself who is making great progress with landscape photography you would think a bit more critically about what to shoot. One thing about taking lots of shots, even if it's slight variation of the same subject you can then take the time to see what works and whats doesn't when you get home. Either way, it's all part of the learning curve and there is a lot to learn. :)

I do have some more yes, I will post them shortly.
 
EdinburghGary said:
But surely there is nothing wrong with being a hobbyist and also having that same "thirst" for sublime photography?
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Most definitely not anything wrong with this. I think it's bogging me down a bit at the moment, knowing I cant get out when there's good light. And i've spent too long looking at Joe Cornish books lately. I'm kinda thinking, "what's the point". Bit defeatist, and what I really need to be doing is learning to make the very best of ANY circumstance/location/light.
 
ShootinJack said:
I suppose it depends where you are with your photography, for someone like yourself who is making great progress with landscape photography you would think a bit more critically about what to shoot. One thing about taking lots of shots, even if it's slight variation of the same subject you can then take the time to see what works and whats doesn't when you get home. Either way, it's all part of the learning curve and there is a lot to learn. :)

I do have some more yes, I will post them shortly.
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"great progress"? :)

I hope I have not come across as a tit. All I wanted to point out, is just the way you might end up thinking I guess. I am still all very new to it, and in reality, my landscapes are poor - I can see it in all of them. On a personal level I feel the only way I can improve is to be hyper critical and really focus long and hard on the photo I want, instead of the photo I can currently get...

Sorry for ranting so much in your thread, I look foreward to seeing more of these.
 
68lbs said:
Most definitely not anything wrong with this. I think it's bogging me down a bit at the moment, knowing I cant get out when there's good light. And i've spent too long looking at Joe Cornish books lately. I'm kinda thinking, "what's the point". Bit defeatist, and what I really need to be doing is learning to make the very best of ANY circumstance/location/light.
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Killing me too mate. Perhaps we should start a support group. :LOL:
 
EdinburghGary said:
"great progress"? :)

I hope I have not come across as a tit. All I wanted to point out, is just the way you might end up thinking I guess. I am still all very new to it, and in reality, my landscapes are poor - I can see it in all of them. On a personal level I feel the only way I can improve is to be hyper critical and really focus long and hard on the photo I want, instead of the photo I can currently get...

Sorry for ranting so much in your thread, I look foreward to seeing more of these.
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Yes, great progress. And no, I don't think your a ranting tit :p it's a good discussion on how to look at landscape photography.
 
I prefer these, and of the two, the 1st I Feel works best. That would be amn AMAZING location in the golden hour!!
 
neither 1 or 2 work for me - imo the crops are just too tight - can you post the original as a reference point.

Will post back re the Lightroom edit when I am back at my editing m/c
 
Cheers Gary - here is a multimap link of where the place is. The dam faces south, the morning goldon hour may be better as in the evening the hills to the east may block the light too much. Not that far from you really.

Erding - unfortunately they are not crop's, Canon G7 does not have a very wide angle. I should have stepped back a bit, not sure why I didn't to be honest :thinking:
 
I had a wee fiddle with it too. Unfortunately I was not able to get it on here till I took it down to 800 on the long side. Must be me!
Lightened the dark left & darkened the right slightly.
Just say if you want it taken off.(y)
Mod_1.jpg
 
ShootinJack said:
sawman I like the left a lot more now, how did you do that?

Thankyou
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Cheers, I hoped you would. The detail was all there. I do not use PS as I canna get on with it. I use Nikons NX ( well learning to use!) In it there is a thing called Control points. All I did was put one in the dark area, Changed the radius of the circle in which it works. Then slide one of the sliders along to lighten a bit. Did the same to some of the clouds to darken slightly & for the shore line on the right hand side I just darkened a touch.
As I said I am no expert but slowly I am getting to grips with it.
 
Don't forget these top landscape guys have spent half a lifetime perfecting their technique on film!

They have never hadthe opportunity to fine tune their images like digital photographers do today.

They know what works on film (well, Fuji Velvia) and if they don't think a shot will work, they will move on to another location, or scout an area and come back later or at dusk/dawn, and they won't have their family/friends with them. They will know where the sun will be and when, they will know what different weather conditions will mean to the quality of the light, they will know how a location will look in different seasons.

I can tell you, I may not be in Joe Cornish's league but I can imagine the dedication (perhaps even obsession) that must be involved to get the quality he gets in his images. For him and his peers, second-rate will never be good enough.

There must be very few people who can fast-track their skills to match these guys standards - even with the advantages digital gives.
 
jerry12953 said:
Don't forget these top landscape guys have spent half a lifetime perfecting their technique on film!


They have never hadthe opportunity to fine tune their images like digital photographers do today.
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Yup, they are inspirational.

jerry12953 said:
They know what works on film (well, Fuji Velvia) and if they don't think a shot will work, they will move on to another location, or scout an area and come back later or at dusk/dawn, and they won't have their family/friends with them.
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Thats exactly where I think we guys can excel. I am more than happy to spend a month, all alone, cold, and without anything other than me, the scene and the camera. I will definately (going forward) without any hesitation do this for a worthwhile shot. Its all part of this hobby IMO.

jerry12953 said:
They will know where the sun will be and when, they will know what different weather conditions will mean to the quality of the light, they will know how a location will look in different seasons.
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Something that I hope will come with experience.

jerry12953 said:
I can tell you, I may not be in Joe Cornish's league but I can imagine the dedication (perhaps even obsession) that must be involved to get the quality he gets in his images. For him and his peers, second-rate will never be good enough.
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I love that attitude, and its something we can all learn from. I reckon its easy to be that critical, and I think you NEED to be that critical.

jerry12953 said:
There must be very few people who can fast-track their skills to match these guys standards - even with the advantages digital gives.
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Probably right, but hell - its fun trying :D
 
ShootinJack said:
Could you explain what you did please? I struggled to keep the image bright enough and bring out more detail in the sky like you have done.

Thanks
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As far as the sky is concerned In LR2 it was using a NG soft preset I have - approx density is a Lee 0.3 and dropping that down to the hill line. Then +13 on Blue saturation, Clarity +44, Vibrance -4, Contrast +22.

For the RH bank you could use the adjustment brush and work carefully on the saturation to bring out the stones. For the LH hills would suggest the adjustment brush and gently with the exposure slider
 
ShootinJack said:
Erding - unfortunately they are not crop's, Canon G7 does not have a very wide angle. I should have stepped back a bit, not sure why I didn't to be honest :thinking:
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Don't fret we have all been there done that and got a stack of T shirts :LOL:

I was rather hoping they were crops so there might be some room to play with. They both are dominated by a large featureless mass of concrete which is further compounded by what looks a cloudy day. imo if yu had been there at the golden hour with a nice sunglow on that concrete I would suspect both images would have worked reasonably well with no 1 having the edge.

For the conditions you had on the day I would have been inclined to be further back so that you are able to incorporate more of the surrounding area into the frame - that would have given you a bit of flexibility for PP.
 
Cheer erding, I have been playing with the ND grad feature in lightroom 2, very useful feature. Still not got the left hand side lighter and looking good.

Thanks to all those that contributed to a very interesting thread about landscapes. :)
 
ShootinJack said:
Cheer erding, I have been playing with the ND grad feature in lightroom 2, very useful feature. Still not got the left hand side lighter and looking good.

Thanks to all those that contributed to a very interesting thread about landscapes. :)
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You may want to consider this option as they will save you a lot of time for only a few euros.
 
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