landscape Council Of The Dwarves

This is the remains of an old jetty and the distant lights are from wind

turbines out at sea. The eroded stumps looked much like a business

conference of gnomes or some such thing, hence the title. Your

thoughts and comments are always appreciated. Thank You.

Another example of your wonderful and vivid imagination at work!  Very original, and it takes what is a rather ordinary sky and places the emphasis on the 'dwarves'.  Excellent choice of shutter speed.  Nicely done!  I hope to get back in the swing on PN soon.....I've missed it.   

Really beautiful work with impressive lighting, Alf!

With best regards,

Ruud.

Buen trabajo. Acertados los tonos azules y la composicion. Me gusta. Saludos

Alf,

  Beautiful scene with wonderful colors & lighting.  I love the peacefulness of it.  Thanks for sharing.  Take care, Patsy

And how quietly and surreptitiously they convene.  The clouds streaking across the horizon adds a lot as well.  Larger, the light on the water opens up.

Being a former agency bureaucrat, I like your interpretation -- it reminds me why I retired.  I like the deep blue of the upper sky, but I wonder if the composition would be enhanced if much of that were cropped, say just above the thin cloud in the center (I like the result when I scroll it up to that point on my monitor).

This is so beautifully ominous and sureal. I have been watching an interesting  television series called Ancient Aliens and I get the same sort of sensation in my stomach looking at this as I do watching the program. This look likes strange aliens emerging from the sea. I like the colours, I especially like the gradation from yellow to blue in the sky. This is outstanding, and facinating. Well done.

Great depth and perspective Alf, rich golden sunset tones, and beautiful texture in the sea's surface....

but IMO the strongest point is the serene atmosphere with some kind of mystery.....

Very beautiful shot with fantastic tonality.Well choosen POV to depict your title.Those tiny lights are adding depth to this image.

My best regards.

Kallol

A nice minimalistic landscape. Attractive composition, as well as harmonic balanced color set as prominent blue and contrasting yellow. Shadow f/g elements are also added attractiveness to whole scene. I think a high key b/w version be a nice choice, worth to try! Very well done. Bravo.

Hamid.

The ethereal effect you have is striking.

A title well chosen.

When I moved the frame so that the upper part of the sky was cropped out the effect was even better.  It leaves a very impressive panorama.

Hi Alf, I too love the slightly ethereal mood your photo conveys. Must have something to do with the slow shutter speed too, I bet... (& a clever photographer, of course :-)   Just out of curiosity, did you alter the blue hues at all here, as they too add to the slightly mystical mood, I believe. Altogether it's a lovely scenic photograph.... I tried as well, cropping the sky a bit, and I think it does look very nice that way indeed -- it seems to create a greater distance & depth somehow.... (Also subsequently, I tried cropping an additional bit from the RHS too... Now this would change the symmetrical aspect of the photo quite a bit of course..... but I like it too.... ( & Yes,  I know, Alf, I shouldn't say anything anymore = just me and my cropping again :-)    In any event, and no matter which crop, it's  a photo you can be proud of, Alf.

Looks like your hard work paid off well. This one is my favorite, but they are all wall hangers...The nitty gritties I leave to the experts.

CHRISTAL

Good to hear from you I hope you are keeping well. They do look like dwarves or maybe odd chess pieces about to do battle., yeah your right its my vivid imagination : - ) The tide was quickly receding and I think this was about the last shot I took of the evening. Sincere thanks for your invaluable feedback, I will look forward to seeing you post more work Christal and I think I can safely say PN has missed you too!

Kind Regards

Alf.

RUUD

Many thanks for your interest and positive feedback.

Best Regards

Alf

GALLEGO

Muchas gracias Gallego, yo te aprecio compartir sus pensamientos y comentarios poitivos.

PATSY

Many thanks for your thoughts and positive feedback Patsy, I do agree the scene is peaceful, the sea can be wild at this location, but on this ocassion it was relatively calm.

Best Regards

Alf

SAM

Many thanks for your interest and kind words, simplistic was my aim but I wasn't sure if I'd succeeded with the distant lights being visible.

Best Regards

Alf

JEFF

Now don't start with the big words  Syrup what?   : - ) It does look a whole lot different viewed larger, mostly I think because the image is optimised for the larger version and the little lights on the horizon become more pronounced.  Thank you fopr your imput Jeff , much appreciated.

Best Regards

Alf

STEPHEN

Sounds like theres a story behind the retirement thing Stephen : - )

I tried the suggested crop, and yes I like it too, it does work.  I did crop some of the foreground of the original because it didn't look as symmetrical, but I now wonder if I should have left it and cropped the sky as suggessted. Many Thanks for your invaluable feedback Stephen, much appreciated.

Best Regards

Alf

LINDA

I quite like the "Alien" interpretation, the long exposure often provides the surreal backdrop that you describe. The colours become more enriched and the water becaomes ever more tranquil the longer the exposure, I think this was about 30 seconds if I remember rightly. It's really gratifying to know that this one connects with you. I have a few more shots of the "Iron Man" figures on Crosby Shore, but the colours look so saturated people automatically think they have been manipulated. Sincere thanks for your interest and for sharing your thoughts, much appreciated.

Best Regards

Alf

KARALOS

Thank you so much for your for your thoughtful comments and positive feedback. The eroded jetty does indeed look strange and conveys an air of mystery that can provide food for the imagination.

Best Wishes

Alf

KALLOL

I'm glad you mentioned the tiny lights, they do add an element of depth and mystery. Many thanks for sharing your thoughts and positive feedback.

Best Regards

Alf

HAMID

Sincere thanks for your thoughtful comments and feedback, much appreciated. The suggestion of a high key B & W version is interesting and not something I'd previously considered, yes you are right, it would be well worth a try!

Best Regards

Alf

STEVE

Many thanks for your well considered feedback, very much appreciated. The crop is a valid suggestion and worthy of some experimentation, something to keep me out of mischief on the long winter evenings.

Best Regards

Alf

MARJOLEIN

I quite like that word "ethereal" it sums up the other wordly kind of atmosphere that I wanted to convey. Yes your right is is all down to the shutter speed. Some people think I use a small aperture (F22 in this case) in order to obtain a greater dof, but in reality I use it in order to allow the minimum amount of light over a longer period of time. The saturation may have been tweaked in Lightroom by means of the "Vibrance" control, but nothing other than that . The cropping suggestions are always very welcome too, but as you know, it becomes an exhausting excercise to find the optimum crop, I dare say with more practice the possibilities for variation may become more limited, or perhaps I'm just being optimisitc : - ) Sincere thanks for your thoughtful and very positive feedback, much appreciated.

Best Regards

Alf

EL

You are so modest when you refer to others as "experts" although I don't doubt your sincerity, I really appreciate your "expert" opinion on this, and I'm really pleased you like it. Sincere Thanks!

Best Regards

Alf

Alf...

Here we are again, to crop or not.  I think this image may be more of a sense of choice in artistic feel.  I like your present incarnation, a lot of territory is lost in any other cropping.  I also like the layered cake effect with the blue repeating above.  Just my opinion, others may vary.  Best regards...

-Dave

Alf...  I'm somewhat chagrined that I haven't commented on this one yet since I've looked at it several times.  There have been some excellent reviews and I have nothing technical to add, it's very well done as is.  I like the mystery that exudes from the disappearing objects.  Viewed in the large mode my first impression of the lights in the distance was that of a musical score.  From the other alien comments above, perhaps it's like the music from Close Encounters of the Third Kind... ;-)...  Great shot... Mike 

DAVE

Almost a Shakespearian quotation there Dave : - ) But as you have indicated I think with some images everyone has a preference or personal interpretation. I did crop some foreground from the orginal as it didn't conform to the odd symmetry if that makes any sense. But generally I'm with you, to leave uncropped leaves most options open. Your opinion and feedback is invaluable Dave Thank You!

Best Regards

Alf

MIKE

I'm usually quite conversant with most words but "chagrined" had me flummoxed : - ) The sound of the word conjured up images of being chargrilled with a smile lol

However all is clear now. Sometimes the right words won't come straight away and the summary of your thoughts just won't translate to print. But I do love the "Alien" music score anaolgy.....funny how you never forget those particular 5 notes  from "Close Encounters of The Third Kind" Sincere thanks for your interest and thoughtful feedback.

Cheers Mike

Alf

When viewed larger I can appreciate it more. A fine shot and I love the title.

I am not sure if it was Marriot or Penland that commented in the distant past that a title can often clue you in to what attracted the photographer to the scene. If that is the case, I might have made a 2nd image where the dwarfs occupied a larger percentage of the image but that may have been too typical.

Please don't get me wrong, what you have in the original is a very fine image 'as is'.

Keep up the good work and my favorite thus far in the recent postings is the 'Hay' image.

Hello Alf,

Wonderful shot.  Nice colors excellent dwarves. 

The dynamic which i like is that there are two points of interest. 

The dwarves and the lights at the horizon on the right.  The lights at the horizon are rather faint.  Therefore I wonder if cropping off more of the left and the sky would not result in an even stronger picture.

Well Done,

Ben

TONY

I think it does come alive a bit more in the larger view. I've been uploading images in a larger size just recently and as such they have been optimised for viewing at the larger size, but on reflection I'm not sure if its wise to take this approach. The larger size looks good, but I'm thinking sometimes people might overlook the image because the thumbnail doesn't look quite vibrant enough.  Hmmmm thats one to ponder.

Its strange you mention "what attracts a photographer to a scene" I did in fact take many images on this particular evening, but mostly they were of single lines of posts, this was the only example of the similar sized posts in two rows and this is why I chose this image to post. Some of the other images I think are technically better but something drew me to this composition.

I think its a good and relevant suggestion for the larger proportion of the image to be more dwarve dominated, and as always its good to hear your thoughts, opinions and valuable feedback.

Many Thanks Tony

Alf

BEN

Sincere thanks for your visit and positive feedback, much appreciated.  It wasn't until I processed the image that the lights in the distance become obvious. They do look a bit clearer in the larger view, and I suppose in hindsight I could have made them brighter and more noticeable. I'm no sure about cropping the left, I think it might lose its symmetrical appeal, but I would agree with a crop of the sky.

Cheers Ben!

Alf

Hi Alf,

A great image taken with a great lens by a skilled photographer.

A very nice presentation, too.

Best Regards,  Mike

Many thanks for your thoughts and positive feedback, much appreciated!

Best Regards

Alf

Beautiful tones and composition