Wuthering Heights

Yes I know the titles a bit of a cliche, but looking at the tree, it seemed to

link quite well with the meaning of the old English word "wuthering" (a word

used to characterise an area where the wind blows so strongly it makes a

terrifying roaring sound) It was a bit tricky shooting straight into the light,

but I managed this one with F/8 when the cloud partially diffused some of

the harshest light. Your thoughts and comments are always appreciated!

Thank You

Yes, you have managed the light quite well, as far as I can tell on my small monitor.  But it's the feeling I love about this......this solitary sentinel watching over the plains below.  The tree has real personality, and I love the lone dead limb sticking out to the left.  Fine detail throughout, realistic colors, and overall a lovely image (and no mist!)  :-) 

A really beautiful result, very nicely composed too, Alf!

 

Hi Alf, I really like the light and how you controlled it. The composition is top notch and viewed larger the FG detail is very sharp and the sky finishes your work. Very well done. I agree with your use of f8 not only to control the light but it's a landscape so you want everything in focus, which you have accomplished. Take care my friend.

BR,

Holger

Alf,

Beautiful work and you have composed it perfectly.  Bravo!

Hi Alf

Your techniques with this landscape view reflect awesome reality. Perfect tone mapping, space and light management, as for the details has another story.  

Hi Alf,

Beautiful capture of this beautiful scene - very emotive as well. Merry Christmas!

Hi Alf,

A picturesque scene , yes. For myself, smaller is the better view.

Otherwise , whether you used 14 mm or 24 mm , F/8 certainly caused everything beyond the lower 1/3 of this scene to become compromised from what this lens is capable of yielding.

Perhaps you did focus on the closer subjects and allowed the "soft " DOF to produce this scene . 

As for the lighting, using F/2.8 or F/4 would have reproduced the same levels, as only the exposure would have changed to 1/8000 second or 1/4000 second respectively.

Best Regards my friend, Mike 

Wonderfully composed and captured. Your camera has wonderful dynamic range (I hear) and that probably allowed you to use just one 36mp file. With my D300, I would have used auto-bracket to capture 3 images - just in case I needed them. 

 

Happy Holidays,

Whether the lighting conditions were tricky turns out to be moot, because you mastered them, hands down.  The single area of white light in the sky does nothing but dramatize the lone tree in the frame.  

This tree must be ancient indeed.  Its roots are anchored in stone, and the stone  no doubt has been there for centuries, if not millennia.  This image captures all of its staying power.

My best to you and yours for the best the holiday season has to offer,

michael

Alf - Very eye pleasing landscape with good 3d feeling in it, not to mention the composition and colours, great work. All the best and Happy Holidays! Hannu

Hi Alf,

  Beautiful scene with wonderful composition, colors & details.  Happy Holidays!! Patsy

Your patience wins through again.

A captivating image and the larger view even more so. You have captured strong definition throughout which the sunlight fails to soften.

Congrats my friend.......

 

Hi Alf,

great composition and colour with a real feel of the place.

Perfect and wonderful image!

You are a genius at capturing the essential nature of a landscape. This has the feeling of place that holds ancient secrets. It's rugged and distant and but hardly desolate, rather a land that has its own austere life, far removed from the affairs of men.

Hi Alf-My cup of tea;a rugged low toned landscape overseen by the aged, bent over & apparently dead guardian of his small empire awaiting a blast from his foe,an unforgiving wind who in the end will be the winner.Cripes,have I created a metaphor for life.Your perspective & POV are as usual excellent., really like the deep greens of the grasses & the unobtrusiveness of the rocks & the faint sun adding a nice touch of lightness to the scene Viewing your image translates to me a feeling of quietenes

Very Best Wishes-Ross PS Hope Santa is god to you

Many Thanks for your interest and thoughtful comments! 

 

It can be a desolate place, in fact I spent a whole day up there and didn't see another soul until I got back to the car park. How these tree's survive is a miracle, the wind howls over this remote area and even on a relatively mild day you can feel it! 

Correct No mist! But there was mist forecast it just didn't materialise.  I'm not sure how that tree would have looked in the mist, perhaps it was better without.

Best Wishes 

 

Alf 

 

RUUD 

 

Many Thanks for your interest and kind words! 

 

Best Regards

 

Alf 

 

HOLGER 

 

Many Thanks for your thoughts and positive feedback. I was experimenting as usual with different settings when I took this shot. I also took a few similar shots with F / 5.6 that looked OK, but I preferred the composition of this one.

 

All the best Holger 

 

Alf 

 

BILL 

 

Many Thanks for your thoughts on this one. I had a few shots to choose from but liked this composition the best.

Best Regards 

 

Alf 

 

MUSEEB 

 

Thank you so much for your insightful comments! I do try and reproduce the image as close to what I have viewed in reality as possible, but it's surprising how everything looks and feels different in retrospect. 

Best Regards 

 

Alf 

 

GREG & VERENA

Many Thanks! 

It does kind of conjure up images of the Bronte sisters and that kind of era.

Best Wishes for Christmas & New year 

 

Alf 

 

MIKE P

Thank you, it really is a most picturesque part of the country! 

Yes, I realise that the same amount of light will travel through the aperture albeit at different speeds courtesy of the shutter. 

I did try a couple at F / 5.6 (which is my favoured aperture for this lens) and the amount of light didn't vary much, but simply chose the f/8 version because the composition was marginally better. 

Best Wishes my friend! 

 

Alf 

 

TONY 

Sincere Thanks!

I did auto bracket 3 just in case.  But I always try to avoid HDR or multiple image layers if at all possible, not least because of the file size!  The RAW files are 74 MB  

But I usually find that if I under expose an image in the shadows, to enable normal exposure in the bright area's, I can retrieve the details from shadows really well using Adobe Lightroom 4.4 

 

Best Wishes Tony! 

 

Alf 

 

MICHAEL 

 

Your thoughts fairly well matched my own when I saw the results.  The white area being over exposed,  but also reflecting the brightness of the sun behind the cloud which is just the way it was. 

The tree's gnarled tortured bough must have some stories to tell, of winters harsh an long and summers burning and arid.

Thank you so much for your thoughtful response.

 

Best Wishes to you and your loved ones for Christmas & New Year! 

 

Alf 

 

HANNU 

 

Thank you so much for your thoughts and positive feedback, much appreciated! 

Best Wishes and Happy Holidays to you too! 

 

Alf 

 

PATSY 

 

Thank you for your kind words and unwavering support! 

All the very best to you and yours this Christmas! 

 

Alf 

 

GRAYHAM 

 

The most difficult aspect  was trying to balance the light between bright sky and foreground shadow, so I exposed for the sky and then retrieved the detail from the shadow in Adobe Lightroom 4.4

 

Many Thanks my friend! 

 

Alf 

 

JED 

 

Many Thanks It's very gratifying to know it looks realistic and natural. 

 

Best Regards 

 

Alf 

 

MAURIZIO 

 

Thank you so much! 

 

Best Wishes! 

 

Alf

 

JACK 

 

You have a great perception  and empathy of a land that you have never (as far as I know) ever visited. Which makes it all the more gratifying to read for me, as you gained this insight from my photograph! 

 

Sincere Thanks! 

 

Alf 

 

ROSS 

 

Unbelievable as it may seem, but most of this tree is very much alive.  In the summer most of the branches will have leaves and life continues to flourish, no matter how seemingly unlikely or precarious.  No doubt time and the elements will be the eventual victor and like everything else the tree will reach it's end, and new life will begin! 

Many Thanks Ross ! 

 

Sincere Best Wishes to you and your loved ones for Christmas & New Year! 

 

Alf 

 

Wonderful composition. The sky, rocks and tree reinforce the theme from the title.  I wonder if the green of the grass was a little more muted in either hue of saturation it would further add to the mood ?  The image demonstrates a wonderful sense of place  as so much of your work does.  Have a wonderful Christmas and new year! -congratulations, Phil 

Hi Alf,   Yes, as a former English teacher, this image captures my view of Wuthering Heights wuthering.  Nicely seen and created.  Happy holiday and New Year.  Larry

A high quality picture. The composition is superb!. Sincere congratulations.

Warm regards,

Dimitris.

Wuthering Heights!  This is the landscape pictured in my mind while reading that book as a 14 or 15 year old in high school. (required reading)  Hated the book.  Might have had something to do with our tight a**ed English Literature teacher.  It was presented to me at too early an age.  Saw the movie as an adult & enjoyed it far more.  Love the mood you've captured here.  Is that Heathcliff peaking over the stone fence?  :-)  Merry Christmas!  See you in 2014.  Best, LM.

Wonderful landscape, well done!

I keep coming back to this magical image Alf! I just love the composition and tones. Best regards, Rob

Thank you for your interest and great feedback, much appreciated! 

 

It's a strange thing....but I took 5 - 6 shots albeit slightly differently composed, but within a couple of minutes from first to last, and this one looked more saturated than any of the others to a noticeable degree.  I then de-saturated the image by 9 but increased Vibrance to 3 in Adobe Lightroom.

I can't explain why this shot looked more saturated than the others, the only thing that changed was the light very slightly as the clouds moved. The other shots by comparison looked fairly bland in terms of colour. If anyone has any theories about the different colouration I'd be interested to hear them. 

 

All the very best wishes for 2014! 

 

Alf 

 

LARRY 

 

I can imagine you have told and re-told the story many times in your career!  I loved the scenery that these stories encapsulated, such atmosphere! 

 

Sincere Thanks & Best Wishes for 2014.

 

Alf 

 

DIMITRIS

 

Many Thanks for your visit and generous comments! 

 

Sincere Best Wishes for 2014 

 

Alf 

 

LEN 

 

Heavy reading for a rebellious 14 year old : - ) 

I was very lucky with books and our English Teacher, he was a most talented man. He had the ability to tell stories so well, that even the most disruptive pupil (usually me) was bewitched and enthralled by his narratives. He could bring every character to life an did! So much so that I would take the book home and read three weeks of homework in one night!  Having finished the book so quickly I would ask for another one, and so it continued until I read everything there was to read in the curriculum, and then anything else I could get my hands on! 

It's very gratifying to read you could relate this to the film Len!

 

Sincere Best Wishes for 2014

 

Alf 

 

MICHAEL 

 

Thank You so much! 

 

Best Regards 

 

Alf 

 

ROB

 

Many thank for your visit and most encouraging comments! 

If it made you look more than once, it has to be working : - ) 

 

All The Very Best Wishes for 2014

 

Alf