A Cool Reception (Click for Larger view)

I have picked 3 Landscape shots at randon and converted then to B

& W . The question is........which one do I submit to a B & W photo

contest....if any? Does any of them strike you as having more impact

or any characteristics that you think might catch the eye of the

judges? Your thoughts and comments are always appreciated

Thank You!

Hi Alf

Each one has its own significant impact. With that I tried to limit my interest just in one I really found difficulty in comparing, at least between this and Stoney Silence. The won this through a coin flipping. But it must be recognized that the depth of field and details are amazing in that too. I hope I can do any one of them.

Hi Alf,

Another very nice aesthetically pleasing image to see.

You are using the Nikkor 28-70 mm across many focal length settings and are remaining with in

its best f-stop range for each setting.

Eventually, you will graduate to an excellent fixed focal length lens that will elevate your work to the next level.

Best Regards my friend, Mike

Alf, Well, this is my favorite  I LOVE IT.  There is a cold mood here that is reinforced by all the elements -- the overcast sky, the snow on the hills tops, the bareness, the weeds growing (almost) adrift in the chilly water but most of all -- the wonderful, wonderful stones -- each alone.  It's cold; it's silvery; its very attractive.

Really beautiful work with very nice lighting, Alf!

Good Morning Alf, I have to agree with Donnas' assessment of this image. The coolness is everywhere. I myself like the strong contrast around the small island in front. Nice and sharp. The clouds rolling in over the mountains are great also. I will check out the other images in this B&W landscape folder. Have a great day.

BR,

Holger

Alf, this is my favorite for the rich light contrast very well managed. There are an incredible number of gray tonalities distributed in the whole dynamic range. Splendid photo for me.

Alf,

  Breathtaking scene with beautiful processing & perfect title.  Take care, Patsy

Wow I'm astounded by the response these three images have attracted!

Thanks to you all!

MUSEEB

It is most gratifying to read that you deliberated over these images and found it so hard to choose one. The strangest thing is, I truly thought that there would be one image that would much stronger than the others, but as things stand each one has recieved almost equal amounts of votes.

Thank you so much for your imput!

Best Regards

Alf

MIKE P

Sincere thanks for your thoughts and attention to the technical side of the images.

I have used the Nikkor 50 mm F/1.4D and F/1.8 G lenses with great success.  But a wide angle fixed focal length lens would be a great aquisition.

All the best my friend!

Alf

DONNA S

I'm so glad you picked up on the "cold" and "isolation" as pects of the stones, how much we can resemble them at times.

There is a story behind this, as there is to most of my images.

I studied the weather forecast for this bleak area of Scotland the previous evening,  "Wind 2 MPH and Sunshine"  I drove 250 miles through the night 344 miles nearly 6 hours.  When I arrived at 2.30 am it was snowing a little bit and the wind was blowing a gale.  I tried to sleep for a couple of hours through the howling wind, and eventually got out of my van at 4.30 am.

The snow stopped and the wind died back to a slight breeze at 4.45 as I walked around this body of water and took this shot.

Later in the day the sun was shining!

After such bleak times, there is inevitably some brightness : - )

Sincere Thanks for your thoughts and most encouraging words.

Alf

RUUD

Many Thanks for your interest and kind words

Regards

Alf

HOLGER

Yes, I do like the frosty grasses on that little island myself, it kind of puts me back there when I took the shot.

Sincere Thanks for your thoughts and posiitive feedback Holger you have a great day too!

Best Regards

Alf

GIUSSEPE

I used the software "Nik Silver efex" to process this, but I did tweak it a bit also in the channels. The early morning light was very favourable, not too much in the way of contrast to contend with.

Sincere Thanks for your interest and thoughtful feedback.

Best Regards

Alf

PATSY

Thank you so much!

 It gets ever more difficult to come up with original titles perhaps even more difficult than getting original photo's : - )

Cheers Patsy!

Alf

Great title, and I would pick this one, while "Counting Crows" has a deep draw as well.   The detailed textures and the full dynamic range of black to white makes this one excellent.

This image was the first of the Trilogy to pop up in my search screen and they say that "first impressions stick"......... so I had a good long look at this one before moving on to the others.

First off, all three are amazing and I would love to have the computer skills to get them side by side on my screen.... a real comparison......... but for me, when all is said and done, I keep going back to the "Counting Crows" image.

It has something that I can't put my finger on, and having made that I choice, I will now have to think of something to say about it (other than "Great Pic").

Mike P's comments are outstanding......... good luck with the competition for which ever one you choose to submit.

Best regards Old Friend

To me all three images are appealing but I too seem to lean more towards Cool Reception. The sharp clear detail of the grasses and the proceeding rocks in the image are like stepping stones too lead the eye through a wonderland of rich tones. Best regards, Bob

Of your three most recent posts I think my pick would be this one though it's a real coin toss to isolate the 'best' one.  I like the sky tones and foreground details here though I admit it seems a bit unbalance to me for some reason.  I'd pick 'Counting Crows' except I don't see any and think you may be held back if you insist on that title. (perhaps I'm a bit thick today & miss something which is obvious to others -  Happens a lot these days) :-)  Except for the sky area (second place to this offering) I really like the 'Stoney Silence', though it too seems to lean to the left a bit. I'm sure that's just an optical illusion caused by the arrangement of the foreground stones.   So there, you are likely no further ahead than before I came to comment.  I flipped a coin, it landed on it's edge, so I guess I'll go with this one.  "Cool Reception" it is then!  Best, LM.

I was very fortunate that this image had a good array of coloured tones that I could use to process the B & W shades.

Sincere thanks for stating your preferences, it is most helpful!

Best Regards

Alf

GRAYHAM

Thank you for taking the time to make a study of all three and for stating the reasoning behind your choices, it is most helpful!

I think the "counting crows" one is perhaps the less traditional type of landscape, it has a haunting kind of look, someone mentioned  "almost high key effect"......I think : - )

Have a good weekend my friend and write soon eh!

Best Regards

Alf

BOB

Thank you so much for taking the time to look and state the reasons for your choice, much appreciated.

The dawn light was fairly even, and of course the good range of muted colours proved to be useful when converting to B & W.

Best Regards

Alf

LEN

Sincere thanks for your thoughts and deliberations, very much appreciated!

Ahh yes "Counting Crows"  just because you can't see any doesn't mean there are none there..........and anyway since when did any of my titles make any sense : - )

Seriously though, the title was buzzing around in my head from when I viewed another shot from the same sequence that did have crows in the far background, no more logic to it than that I'm afraid. But titles are easilly changed, so good point there Len.

"Stony Silence" may look to lean slightly because of the deliberate camera tilt and consequential distortion, but the horizon is straight.

It was probably a double sided coin anyway knowing you Len : - )

Best Regards

Alf

I find this very interesting too.  In my humble opinion not that strong as a "single" photo like the other two, but perfect for an album of b/w photos.  Cheers!

It is amazing when you view a thumbnail, and then click 'larger' and suddenly a whole new image appears!!! I agree with Donna and I think your title is very appropriate. I find it hard to imagine you drove all that way, and not in very good conditions just to get this image!!  But then again, when it is the rugged and beautiful landscapes that call out to you, I can see why you would arise so early and travel so far. Ruggedly beautiful, cold and moody, aloof and yet -  I think it touches a part in most of us. 

Even though  this is for a B&W contest I'll bet that this  one is  also spectacular in color.

Of the three I would go with Counting Crows but all of them are super. I might try cropping the Crows shot  to bring the edge of  the lake to near the lower third of the image similar to Alex' suggestion.  Not so much to comply with some rule but to bring more attention to  the wonderful detail along the edge of the lake.  Guess I should have posted this on that image...

Choice of lenses... give me a break...  this image is as sharp as it needs to be.  Nice work.

Thank you so much!

It is interesting to get an insight of others perspectives, so far there doesn't seem to be an obvious conclusion, but it all helps!

Best Regards

Alf

GAIL

I thought I was being clever beating all the traffic and getting there for dawn. The fact is 6 hours driving, then 8 hours taking photographs and another 7 hours driving back (because the traffic was heavier on the way back) left me totally wrecked, I slept for a whole day afterwards : - )

Was it worth it........yes I got some amazing photo's.  Would I do it again ....... No, I would make sure I booked a hotel, and then come back the next day.

It is wild and rugged and so unspoilt, it can really take your breath away!  I plan to go back in October and this time spend a few days exploring.

Sincere Thanks for your thoughtful feedback Gail, very much appreciated!

Alf

STEVE

The original does have some interesting colour, not vivid but nonetheless attractive. Maybe I'll post one of the shots I took in colour too.

Yes it is an interesting and valid suggestion that Alex has made ref the Counting Crows image, I'm going to experiment a bit with that.

Yeah I think its sharp enough, I didn't add any extra sharpening after the B & W conversion as I think NIk silver efex software does it automatically.

Many Thanks for explaining your choices Steve, it is most helpful!

Best Regards

Alf

Perfect use of B/W in landscape, compliments!

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

Best Regards 

Alf 

BW with so nice tones is for sure my preference,large view makes me feel almost there,excellent details as usual,a big pleasure to delight this landscape.

Thank you so much for your interest and for stating your preference.

It was quite a morning!

Best Regards 

Alf 

Fantastic Landscape , very apt title and yes I would go for this one . Bill

Many Thanks for your thoughts and positive feedback, it was a close call with no real definitive favourite, but in the end I chose "Stoney Silence" 

I'll probably regret it : - ) 

Best Regards 

Alf