regis

What a location !!! Simply amazing :)

You were really lucky to get such a beautiful light

Well done !

Regards, Piotr

 

Ben Aan, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, Scotland View

from the top of Ben Aan (455m) You can see Loch Katrine and Ben Venue

(737m) on the left. It's my second attempt to photograph this location

- but let me describe how it was at the first time. Since I've heard

some good things about this spot I decided to visit it by myself.

Weather forecast was highly optimistic - as more than 90% chance of

cloud free sky was forecasted (not that I prefer cloudless skies) -

but it was just the general weather description for that day. My plan

was therefore quite simple - early wake up at 1:30am, set off at 2am,

arrival at the location around 3am and one hour uphill walk through

dark forest with a light torch in my hand. It is a fact that weather

forecasts in this country are nothing but a joke - and that's probably

why Brit's talk so much about it :) And it was probably heavy rain

(raining while I was driving to the location) that made me sure about

the effectiveness of Meteo-Gov institution. Needless to say - early

walk through unknown, dark forest, when all you hear is your breath

and rain drops falling down the trees is nothing but unforgettable

experience. It would have been even more unforgettable if I had met

some wild bear or other forest creature on my way up :D Once I reached

the top and set up my camera all I had to do was to wait.

Unfortunately no amazing sunrise took place. The whole area was

covered with thick clouds. That was the story with my first attempt.

On my second one I decided to capture a sunset scene instead - and had

more luck this time. Hope you'll like it. Please have a look at the

larger version. Your comments/critiques much appreciated. Piotr

Beautiful location and light spectacle.

 

I like your composition too. The only little thing I would try to change is a location of that rock in the foreground. I would personally try to put it in the lower right corner, but that's more to do with my personal taste.

 

When it comes to technical side I'm afraid you've lost a bit of 'natural feel' by using such a strong grad filter. Well - to be honest - if you still had to bracket your shots there was no point of using a grad in the first place. Manual blending or even gentle HDR in a scenes like this can give you much better results than traditional filtering (no side effect first of all).

 

Anyway - good stuff

Greetings from rainy island :)

Piotr

Some magical light at England's deepest and probably most beautiful

lake. Please have a look at a larger version. Your comments/critiques

much appreciated.

Stanage is the largest and most impressive of the gritstone edges.

Situated on the moors north of Hathersage, and visible from miles away

down in the Hope Valley, it stretches for a length of approximately

six kilometres (3.5 miles) from its northern tip at Stanage End to the

southern point near the Cowper Stone. It is a famous location fro

rock- climbing and a popular spot for walkers. Early start (nearly

missed) in search of some unusual light resulted in one of the most

amazing spectacles I have experienced in a really long time. And who

said that British Isles are bleak and boring ? :) Please hava a look

at the larger version. Your comments/critiques much appreciated !

Hi Mark. Thanks for your time and your comment. When it comes to balancing the exposure I must say I often prefer (manual) blending over the use of traditional grads. It all depends on the scene complexity and, what’s more important, lighting conditions. In this case as you can see, scene is quite simple and, to be honest, side effect of using Lee 0.3 hard edge is hardly noticeable - so I decided to go that way. As far as I remember I tilted it slightly to the right and also did some gentle dodging/burning. In more difficult situations I usually use all possible methods that I know about (HDR,DRI etc.). I’m going to post something new quite soon so stay tuned :) Thanks again Mark. Cheers, Piotr.

Hello again after short break. This time it is going to be something

really fresh (taken only couple of days ago). As a form of refreshment

from photographing nearby Peak District I decided to search even

closer and found a very nice spot just literally 5 minutes from where

I live. First time I went there wasn't very successful at all, as the

main problem was cloudless sky and generally too sunny weather :) Yeah

- I know - how can I complain about it when living on a big rainy

island like UK :) Anyway - second try was much better and after a long

day of heavy rainfall I was fortunate enough to capture this scene. I

know that colors are virtually jumping out from the screen, but

honestly it's not a result of playing excessively with saturation

slider but a real nature at its best. Please have a look at the larger

version. Your comments / critiques much appreciated.

Thanks for your comments guys.

 

Didi - what exactly do you mean by "combination of two shots" ?

Hi again Alberto

 

Sorry for that - I must have chosen a wrong file when uploading and didn't check it after wards. "Mea culpa". Your crop is exactly what I had in my mind. I understand your reasons behind leaving the original composition. I simply prefer the square one much more :)

 

Cheers

 

Piotr

Hi Mary

 

Very nice place and some really gorgeous light.

I also like that underwater "world" - really nice.

 

There is however something odd about the sky part.

 

First of all - why are these clouds so blurry when their mirror reflection is almost still ?

Second thing is the brightness level. See, in real - a sky reflecting in the water is always a tad (one f-stop or so) darker. In your case it is completely opposite - and therefore it doesn't look very natural to my eyes.

 

Beside that - nice shot.

 

Cheers

 

Piotr

Nice shot Chuck

Pretty well exposed with some interesting light and clouds within the scene.

Your composition looks quite well balanced, but I would try to crop it a bit more (perhaps into a square cadre - leaving only middle part)

That would imho add more drama into the shot

Just a thought

Cheers

Piotr

Scottish Ayrshire coast is truly an amazing place - full of wonderful

colours & structures when the tide is low. It offers almost endless

possibilities to a photographer and I’m sure everyone can find

something interesting here. Needless to say it’s just an hour drive

from a busy city of Glasgow. Little light visible in the distance is a

light signal of Ailsa Craig Lighthouse. Pyramidal shaped island is a

natural seabird reserve, which is considered to be one of the most

important breeding sites for northern gannets. It is also a haven for

other seabird species, including guillemot and razorbill. Please have

a look at the larger version. Your comments/critiques much appreciated.

Hi Paul

 

Stunning shot.

You're such a lucky man to have easy access to all these amazing places. I really envy you :P

 

Great composition here - everything is pretty well balanced.

Some very nice light (especially that lovely reflection on foreground rock) and good exposure handling within the whole scene.

 

If I were to be really picky I would only suggest to correct some slight CA around the Sun.

 

Beside that - lovely shot

 

Keep 'em coming.

 

Cheers

 

Piotr

Beach at West Kilbride with Isle of Arran visible in the distance. A

place full of amazing structures, shapes and textures - when the tide

is low. View large version please. Your comments/critiques much

appreciated

Great shot David

Like your composition and B/W conversion technique.

Cheers

Piotr

Hi Ian

 

Beautiful place and lovely light within the scene. I would probably try to show a bit more of this gorgeous rocks (and less sky) - but it's probably a matter of individual taste :]

 

Cheers

Piotr

Hi Alberto

 

Very nice scene. Simple, but pretty effective, however it's quite hard to state whether this is winter time or not :)

 

Good overall exposure handling and very pleasant pastel colors.

 

When it comes to your composition I have some doubts about it. Have you considered square cadre (i.e. cropping most of the sky part) ?

 

At the moment the Sun is so dominant that the upper part is somewhat distracting.

 

See the attachment with my suggested crop

 

Cheers

 

Piotr

 

Adam - za ten caly wysilek wejscia tam o poranku :)

Szczerze zazdroszcze takiej zimowej scenerii - ale moze jeszcze sie wybiore

Bajeczne - i to chyba pelna rekompensata za ten poprzedni raz :]

Pozdro

Lochaber, Highlands, Scotland. One of many amazing

places you may come acress driving on remote single track

roads. All coments / critiques welcome.

A recent return to one of my favourite spots. Damn cold

morning with some lovely warm light to accompany the

scene. Comments / critiques welcome and Happy New

Year to all of you :)

Stanage is the largest and most impressive of the gritstone edges.

Situated on the moors north of Hathersage, and visible from miles away

down in the Hope Valley, it stretches for a length of approximately six

kilometres (3.5 miles) from its northern tip at Stanage End to the

southern point near the Cowper Stone. It is a famous location fro rock-

climbing and a popular spot for walkers. Early start (nearly missed) in

search of some unusual light resulted in one of the most amazing

spectacles I have experienced in a really long time. And who said that

British Isles are bleak and boring ? :) Please hava a look at the larger

version. Your comments/critiques much appreciated !

I am still exploring some areas around my new home place in my free

time. On this occasion the weather was a bit more stable and I ended

up in the same location as before (outskirts of Peak District NP). At

some point when I was waiting for the proper Sun position a rock

climber came out of nowhere (he appeared literally few meters behind

that rocks in the foreground). Not sure who was more surprised – me or

him :) Please click on the photo to see it larger. Your

comments/critiques much appreciated.

Thank you very much for your comments. I really appreciate it !

 

Chris - thanks :) Time will tell what this region has to offer. Of course I wouldn't be myself if I hadn't planned some trips here and there in a very near future :) Stay tuned then !

 

John - you can be sure I will do that :) Actually, before my last (and first, too) trip I had a quick look at your gallery and made some notes on few promising locations :) Eventually I didn't have much time - so I ended up in the nearby Peak District. Nevertheless, I am definitely going to visit places you've mentioned (Northumberland in particular) so the idea of meeting up sounds really interesting.

 

Mark - thanks, I'm glad you like it. Will try to shoot something in the next few weeks and need to check on your new shots, too - as last couple of weeks were pretty mad.

 

Cheers

 

Piotr

As some of you may already know - I have recently moved from

Glasgow to South Yorkshire (Sheffield area). It wasn't an easy decision

and I will really miss my beloved Scotland, but sometimes you just have

to move on with certain things.

 

Everything is really new to me, so it will take some time to settle down

here and put two and two together. One thing is certain - it rains here in

a pretty similar fashion as up North :)

 

So far I didn't have a chance for some proper photo shooting. In fact it

was first time last Sunday when I finally decided to go out for a short

roundabout - just to check whether my camera didn't get rusty.

 

I found one spot in the western part of Peak District National Park and

managed to take 2-3 shots, after then a relentless rain forced me to go

back home (what a close resemblance to Scotland !!!).

 

This is the first shot to start my new gallery of England’s Landscapes. I

hope my adventure at this new location will be just as half successful as

the Scottish journey I had taken living in Glasgow for the last 3 years.

 

Greetings,

 

Piotr

Hi Andrew

 

Which B/W conversion have you chosen here ?

Your final result looks a bit flat to my taste :/

 

I would suggest to play a bit with local contrast (i.e darken some shadows and dodge brighten some highlights) for a better final impression.

 

You can also try "gradient map" adjustmen layer in PS. It usually produces some very fine results and gives you absolute control over the whole process.

 

When it comes to your composition I'm just wondering about cropping it to a square format (leaving jus a middle section of it)

 

Did you think about it, too ?

 

Cheers

 

Piotr