Tent view

Final image for today, another grab shot with the camera phone. Final view of the first day at the beachside campsite in Wales. Taken through the mosquito net, looking out to sea. Fuzzy for two reasons - the mosquito net fooled the simple auto focus of the phone, and it was quite a noisy image, so I softened it a bit to hide it a little. I think it gives an almost dreamy quality to it, which nicely fits in with the beer and tiredness-induced sleepiness that was descending on me rapidly. We moved the air mattress into the main living area of the tent, and fell asleep with this as the view. No one on the campsite, and no one (save the fence) obstructing the view. A perfect end to a perfect day.

Ivan

Sable beach at dusk

I took this shot on Sable island on 11 January 2007 at 18:10, so quite late. It was shot on a tripod at 30 seconds, f9.0, ISO 100 with my 17-85mm lens set at 35mm. I selectively sharpened the sand in the foreground and left the remaining photo untouched. I really like the colours in this photo. The browns in the sand, the greens in the sea and the blurred surf zone. Damian

Another Sandwich Bay mono image

Just finished working on this one - really like how it's turned out in mono, the contrast in the sky and grasses, and that band of sea and beach (with tiny tiny walkers in the distance) works well to my eye.

Ivan

Holkam Beach, Norfolk

A picture from North Norfolk, between Wells and Holkam beaches. I was drawn to the shape of the snaking water inlet left by the retreating sea, so cropped it in this direction to make that a feature. I also included just the hint of interesting clouds, and also a scattering of people to indicate their smallness and how large the beach and sea are. I think it's a good mono image.

Comments?

Ivan

Beachwalkers; The Ann Miles/Gareth Marlow crop

This is the result of the Ann Miles crop (lose the sea) and Gareth's crop (lose the LHS to off-centre the figures).

I do think it's better all round, and a great way (as D says) to use the blog.

Regarding D's comments, this scene didn't exist, so it's an artistic interpretation of what I WANTED it to be. Myself - or anyone else - can enjoy it just the same, for it's appeal is purely visual and emotional. Artist's change stuff all the time when they paint, and it's not as if the scene is so fantastical that it COULDN'T exist; it could have, had the weather conditions been more conducive. The sky is from the same place, a little later in the day, so I've combined two elements from the same place to improve the image.

As for D's other point, some consideration before you take the picture is good, but sometimes time and the light mean you have to be quick; but then it's down to planning, knowing the area, anticipating the light, getting into position and being there, ready, when you need to click, so I see what he's getting at. Great landscape photographers put in the preparation to make sure they can have the time to plan and think, and be ready when the light gets great. Sometimes, snapshots work too, if you're lucky...

Comments welcomed as ever.

Ivan

Norfolk Coast; Beach Walkers revisited

After some mixed comments on the Beach Walkers series of pictures, I tried to beef up one of the images, but using a sky from the same photoshoot, to add drama. The result is below. I think it works very well, esp in black and white.



The sky is very dramatic, so I wanted it to dominate 2/3 of the image. I feel that this creates greater sense of scale with the small people against the sky and the sea is also in there too. The shapes and textures of the water, beach and sky all have ones interest, but the sky is the main focus after resting on the figures.

I listened to critique, and removed the distant people over the right shoulder of the main pair (per Gareth).

Comments welcomed as ever.

Ivan

Sable Island south beach

Hi,

Here is a vertical shot from Sable Island, south beach. The photos feels quite atmospheric to me and I like the different layers: overcast sky, cloudy sky, sea and beach.

1/125 sec at f5.6 Focal length 38mm ISO 100 RAW Adobe RGB Shot late afternoon

Comments welcome. Damian

Sanderling crop

Damian

This is what I meant when I described cropping your middle Sanderling image. It makes more of the procession, I think, puts them on a level bit of ground and eliminates the uninteresting white foreground.


Also, a general comment and pertinent to these; sometimes your images seem to lack contrast "punch". Is this deliberate or do you think they have enough?


What do you think of my crop?

Original:

Cropped:

Ivan