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The Mournes
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OK, so my colour photography isn’t the best, but it’s something I’d like to develop a little more.
I went up the Mournes a little on St. Patricks Day and took a few shots.Here is a colour shot – please be honest in your assessment, in particular the colouring.
There was a little saturation added and a little levels adjustment.
As far as taking pictures is concerned, I think I have an eye for composition – I like foreground interest and leading the eye a little (but that will also develop), but it’s my treatments that seem to bother me. I don’t know what it is, but I just feel this picture is lacking in something.
Chris,
I have a soft spot for subtle landscapes such as these. The colouring here is very honest and gets to the “personality” of the landscape in a way that super-saturated landscapes often fail. These images are sometimes skipped over in favor of razzmataz, but this is Ireland at its best.
So I think your colouring and your communication of atmosphere is very good. I actually think it is the composition which lets it down just a little. Firstly the line of blocks lead my eye out of frame. Secondly the line of blocks and central bush literally “block” my eye from moving into the valley which I guess is where you want me to look towards. There is a tendancy sometimes to include foreground to simply fill the frame with detail. Simplicity is the key to landscapes in my opinion and I feel that you might have found something stronger and simpler in the foreground.
But getting back to the strengths, I do really like the atmosphere that the heavy clouds give against the subtle browns of the winter heather.
Andy
the image is flowing out of the bottom left corner and the “missing thing” is a colour contrast – a bit dull but irish ( ; as well. The eyes can’t rest and are catched in a swirl in the right corner front where nothing is happening. Always try to take different compos of the same location. I am sure the greens were green, after your colour adjustment it looks greenyelloworange. Get back the green areas and your image will improve. Composition …don’tknow, you can’t really crop the frontpart because of the importance of the stone.
All together it captured the typical dull days in Ireland, which has its own beauty. Hope that helped. Cheers Madeleine
Ah, good points. I was interested by the big rock in the foreground, but really should have looked towards the middle ground too.
This was about 2pm in the afternoon too, so no dramatic light to be employed here either.The greens really weren’t that green actually, which is what I liked about it. I’ll post a small version of the original for comparison.
I rattled off loads of photos, and tried a few in black and white too – there was a nice, small waterfall on the way. Had a great few hours away from it all and will definitely return for some “golden hours” attempts.
Chris,
I’d absolutely agree with Andy in that the composition is lacking. The sliver of hill towards the top right unbalances the composition and that green bush dead centre really obstructs the flow.
I was looking through a Joe Cornish book (http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/576439/Scotland-Coast/Product.html) this morning, my first time really viewing any of his work, and I was amazed by the simplicity of some of his compositions. So, so simply but so effective.
I really think you need to refine you composition. I wouldn’t worry at all about post processing, colour saturation or anything else along these lines right now. Get the composition right and then you can do whatever you want with it after that.
J
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