I was buzzing around Batsford Arboretum in glorious Gloucestershire on Monday this week (2nd November to be precise) while a foggy mist was seriously restricting views and landscapes.
At the same time, it did make for interesting atmospherics. Here's a sample. Anyone else tried that and what success did you have?
I was quite taken up with the atmospherics to be honest so I have let myself go a bit here with one or two more shots attached than normal!
Thank you so much for the various replies which are highly appreciated as anyone who posts on the forum will understand.
It is so interesting that of the five images, three different ones have been highlighted in comments. Actually, number three (the beech hedge) was not the shot I meant to upload - so here it is!
Ed asked some great questions: Ed, Shot 1 is not HDR as I remember; Shot 2 is not HDR but I took it with a WB setting for shade adjusted in the camera for pretty high mauve colouring. The challenge was to keep the sun in check. I then raised the lighting on the hedge at the bottom of the picture and tweaked the colours - I really think that autumn produces subtlety in colouring as well as beautiful bloom with riotous impact - and that is what I have tried to show. Shot 3 is now replaced with a shot below in which I was mesmerised with the mist on the bend of the hedge into the far haze and the glister on the grass which seemed to bring its own bit of saturation (am I dreaming?). See what you think now, Barbara...I was fighting and lying over the hedge to take the shot. Shot 4 Is probably my choice here not least because it could have been taken 100 years ago but for the car. It's all about the people though - the vignette in the bottom corners draws the eye to them and their casual walk and talk in the mist. The stone bottom right hopefully gives depth and accentuates the ancient feel of the shot. Shot 5 is HDR and it tells what the heart felt - dark context but beauty within.
Cheers! I am experimenting and hopefully learning but a way to go!
(Nov 6, 2015, 14:57)EdMak Wrote: Jeff, great series. you are the one to please no one else, and, you were there.
The bottom right corner is distracting, very, to me.
Here is a P/S version, with the corner "Tidied" Ed.
Number 5 is a very pleasing composition and, in my view, restoring a more natural colour balance reveals a wider range of the wonderful colours of an autumn woodland:
Hi Philip Thanks for comment, I can't disagree about the natural colour look. How does one choose which approach to use? I think what I do is to try to find either what the eye saw, as close as possible to reality, or else, what the heart saw, which means a bit more emotion - which can take you to warmer colours or to B and W I suppose. Cheers, Jeff
Thank you, Jeff, for the interesting incite regarding the approach to a photo.
Here is another view for scenes like the one above:- In our photos we should not need to change nature's colours, because what the eye and heart see are inextricably linked.
In practice, I would try to avoid creating a strong colour cast, but I will enhance some colours and mute others, in attempting to achieve an appearance reminiscent of the real scene.
But yet again, a reminder of Ed's maxim - 'To each his own!'
Philip I take my hat off to you as I do to so many of the others on the forum for an obvious understanding of what they are creating - which provides a helpful learning source. To me, the heart is the seat of the emotions and the feelings. While the eye captures a mechanical, physical, rendition of the scene, the heart adds the love, the joy, the grief, the Worcester sauce. But I still prefer your version of the Batsford autumn colours! Cheers, Jeff
