Critique So I am a little bit obsessed with Buachaille Etive Mor

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Ranger Smith
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Steve
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Been busy reprocessing some older shots. All of these were composed around a 2:1 crop but as tastes evolve so do ones choices of aspect ratio and the near letter box look doesn't appeal quite so much as it once did.

May 2017

Here's a 5x4 - I'd have liked 4x3 but when trying to crop I couldn't get the frame edges right with the mountain centered well enough but it's fine on a 5x4. The original one was 2:1 and looks great but that sky seems to good to lose and some extra room above the mountain's never a bad thing for copy text etc when you sell commercially. I used the 16-35 and the softer frame edges are gone. This is a slight issue with the 2:1

_DSC0302 - Version 4 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr

A 7x5 also tidied up this shot of Buachaille Etive Mor. In terms of colour palate this is more some-elses kind of thing than mine.

_DSC0191 - Version 2 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr

May 2018 - I've never had it so good....

This was a 2:1 shot with the legendary sigma ART 24 - so it doesn't suffer with corner/edge softness to the same degree as the 16-35. However that's immaterial compared to the 2:1 - that sky. It seems criminal to have cut so much off with such a wide crop. Right now this is the version for me.

_DSC3300 - Version 2 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr

June 2018 - so much better than this years June it is unreal.

This I cannot make a 4:3 or 5x4. Too much mess in the waterpool but I've eeked out a desktop background out of it.

_DSC3574 - Version 2 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr
 
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Why do I want to see a reflection of the building in that 2nd shot?

If I could get one image on a par with the stuff you produce Steve I would be a very happy man.......
 
Why do I want to see a reflection of the building in that 2nd shot?

If I could get one image on a par with the stuff you produce Steve I would be a very happy man.......

It’s a fair comment. You need to get very very low to get the cottage to reflect. I’ve got an iffy back that plays up so probably didn’t feel like it at the time.
 
All good ones there, Steve. Number 2 for me too; I like the inclusion of the cottage and the bed of the loch.

And there are worse places to be obsessed by than the Buachaille.

Dave
 
The autism is interesting actually, I'm sure I am slightly on the scale. How did you find out, and for you has finding out made things easier? Although to be fair you have always appeared to have acceptance and conviction of your attitudes!

I still love the last one, Yes I understand they don't need to be letterbox but that crop just frames it so nicely and the light is the best.
 
The first one is competent but pedestrian :confused: . And I'm not normally big on reflections :(, but the third one is magical :giggle:! The placement of the light is part of the reason, but another key is the drift of cloud before the hill, compounded by its reflection - the effect is multi-dimensional.
 
The autism is interesting actually, I'm sure I am slightly on the scale. How did you find out, and for you has finding out made things easier? Although to be fair you have always appeared to have acceptance and conviction of your attitudes!

I still love the last one, Yes I understand they don't need to be letterbox but that crop just frames it so nicely and the light is the best.

No - I always knew I was different but was in a doctors appointment discussing anxiety and stress and it sort of came from that...
 
Right. The reflections are lovely, I’d love to have been there to see them, I might even have taken some photos of them. BUT. These are not very interesting photos. You’ve taken photos of a mountain and it’s reflection but that’s it, horizon through the middle, mountain, reflection. Nothing new or original or exciting.

If you like that, if that’s your thing then go for it (and I’m definitely not criticising you for that) but they don’t do anything for me as photos.
 
Right. The reflections are lovely, I’d love to have been there to see them, I might even have taken some photos of them. BUT. These are not very interesting photos. You’ve taken photos of a mountain and it’s reflection but that’s it, horizon through the middle, mountain, reflection. Nothing new or original or exciting.

If you like that, if that’s your thing then go for it (and I’m definitely not criticising you for that) but they don’t do anything for me as photos.

That’s okay. Not everyone likes pictures like this. I really do.

Conditions, compositions and locations like this do everything for me as pictures. There’s an emotional high getting out in conditions like this - it’s a buzz that never wears off.

Exciting doesn’t have to be original - not for me anyway. Expect more of the same from me :)
 
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That’s okay. Not everyone likes pictures like this. I really do.

Conditions, compositions and locations like this do everything for me as pictures. There’s an emotional high getting out in conditions like this - it’s a buzz that never wears off.

Exciting doesn’t have to be original - not for me anyway. Expect more of the same from me :)

The conditions look fantastic, absolutely agree about the buzz of being there, for me it’s one of those “lovely view but no photo” times.

I’ve got plenty of that kind of photo, they aren’t great at all but there is a personal meaning to me so I like them.
 
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