weekly rpn's 2015 Project 52 - Week 52 CHRISTMAS Added

[rpn]

Hi Stan - that's super. I love the fact your can see the bokeh through the leaf as it really emphasises how fragile and inconsequential (in terms of structure) the leaf is. Composition is spot on for me, focus is nailed and basically a darned good image!

Thanks Paul for the kind words, comments very much appreciated.

 

[susiejb]

Hi Stan .... What a fabulous shot for Fragile, I love everything about it ...perfect for the theme

 

[rpn]

Thanks Susie for dropping by and taking the time to comments.

 

[rpn]

Can't decide which of the two shots to submit for this week's Scenic theme so I'll put both of them up for fellow TP52'ers to pick and critique. I like both shots but at the same time both also has areas I'm not happy with.


1. Scenic Seascape

Would prefer a higher viewpoint so to prevent the middle rock in the sea and the one to the left from break up the straight lines of the pier and the horizon respectively.






2. Scenic Coastal Castle

Struggle to find a location with a more interesting foreground but I thought the footpath could used as a leading line to the castle and would improve the shot slightly.

 

[Cobra]

I'm not terribly keen on the castle, mainly because of the amount of "free space" to the left.
The fences seem to get in the way, and distract your eye away from the castle, rather
than lead to it, if you see what I mean.

The seascape definitely works for me though especially the low view point,
it kind of emphasises the lighthouse and the reason its there

 

[rpn]

I'm not terribly keen on the castle, mainly because of the amount of "free space" to the left.
The fences seem to get in the way, and distract your eye away from the castle, rather
than lead to it, if you see what I mean.

The seascape definitely works for me though especially the low view point,
it kind of emphasises the lighthouse and the reason its there

Excellent comments there, Chris, and very good point about the fence. I actually got another one of the castle which I'll try to post up later.

Cheers

 

[Allan.H]

Hi, have to agree with the above comments to much of the left foreground takes the eye away from the main focal point which I suppose was the castle
maybe if you had gone further down the path yourself to take the pic

the pic with the lighthouse works well for me, the straight line of the wall and the rocks lead you to the lighthouse

 

[Manc Man]

I do like you Seascape photo.
Nice low PoV, works really well.

coastal path photo found the fence distracted me away from the castle and up to the sky.

 

[Pinkbikerbabe]

Scenic - I am going to agree with @Cobra comments.

 

[Cobra]

Scenic - I am going to agree with @Cobra comments.

I'm getting good at this

 

[ChrisHeathcote]

As above, my favourite is no.1. My issue with no. 2 is that the castle doesn't really add anything and there are too many points of focus. Ie the path leads to the left, the fence to the right and the castle i too small to command the focus.

However on the positive, I love the composition of no. 1 The rocks focus the eye and the break and the sea leads you to the lighthouse :Thumbs:

 

[p3ryg]

I have a feeling this is going to go straight to his head, but, I have to agree with Cobra as well

 

[Cobra]

I have a feeling this is going to go straight to his head, but, I have to agree with Cobra as well

PMSL I'll try not to let it

 

[rpn]

Thank you all for taking the time to stop by and comment, I appreciated it.

So here the other shot I mentioned earlier in post 86. My thinking behind the portrait format for a landscape theme is trying to convey the high cliffs and where the castle is located.

 

[Raptor Mike]

Your second crop of the castle is way better but it's still not as good as you lighthouse, which I think is amazin'

 

[Cobra]

That's definitely an improvement,
no distractions and my eye is led pretty much through the image to the castle.
Though now I would be tempted to lose most of the blue sky, (but certainly leave the clouds)
so the castle end up "higher" and more on a third.

But I'm still going with my first choice though

 

[rpn]

Your second crop of the castle is way better but it's still not as good as you lighthouse, which I think is amazin'

Thanks Mike for the kind words and glad you like the shot.

 

[stephen30]

Hi stan, a great start,i like your compostion,its something a little different,but i will say an excellent effort,it did make me feel a liitle dizzy to start with,good luck with the rest of the project

 

[brownin]

Fragile is excellent, love the bokeh touch and the comp. Colours are rich enough not to look over saturated but also mysterious, scenic definitely the light house for me great lines and detail throughout, really love seascapes so I'm a bit biased, but critically I think cobra has it spot on with the castle PIC. Nice set

 

[rpn]

Hi stan, a great start,i like your compostion,its something a little different,but i will say an excellent effort,it did make me feel a liitle dizzy to start with,good luck with the rest of the project

Hi Stephen and welcome. Thank you for dropping by and commenting on the Patterns shot, much appreciated.

 

[Deleted member 68495]

Lighthouse shot for me for a variety of reasons, all of which are already stated above.

 

[Quicksnapper]

Got to be the lighthouse shot for me too. I see what you mean about the rock, but, let's face it, we don't always have a step ladder to hand when walking along a beach! ... love the foreground detail and the composition generally.

 

[Bruja]

Another vote for @Cobra comments. He'll be unbearable at this rate

Love the low POV but the angle makes the pier look as though it is skewed to the left. But if you corrected that then the horizon isn't straight

 

[d00d]

Two good shots (seascape & castle edit) ... love the pov with lots of FG in both. Seascape gets my vote.

 

[rpn]

Fragile is excellent, love the bokeh touch and the comp. Colours are rich enough not to look over saturated but also mysterious, scenic definitely the light house for me great lines and detail throughout, really love seascapes so I'm a bit biased, but critically I think cobra has it spot on with the castle PIC. Nice set

Thanks Nathan

Lighthouse shot for me for a variety of reasons, all of which are already stated above.

Thanks Martin

Got to be the lighthouse shot for me too. I see what you mean about the rock, but, let's face it, we don't always have a step ladder to hand when walking along a beach! ... love the foreground detail and the composition generally.

Hi Sara, Thanks. It's just a lesson I learned from my previous 52 Project to be more self-critique.

Another vote for @Cobra comments. He'll be unbearable at this rate

Love the low POV but the angle makes the pier look as though it is skewed to the left. But if you corrected that then the horizon isn't straight

Thanks Jill. The horizon was more or less spot on in-camera. There were some barrel distortion due to the WA lens used (Nikon 16-35mm f4) and I tried to correct and straighten both the pier and lighthouse to the best as can.

 

[Barney Strumble]

Hi Stan, Great theme shots from the start,
I think the castle crop works really well, My only concern with the original is the level on the horizon, it seems tilted ever so slightly to the left.
I maybe completely wrong, my eyesight isn't best.
All the Best !! looking forward to viewing the rest of your 52 !!

 

[Phil Bennett]

Seascape for me Stan, nice image.

Phil

 

[Dem55]

Hi Stan, I'm with Cobra as well...he's getting quite a following isn't he. I like the way you've used the cliffs to frame the caste in the third shot, it does give a sense of the height, but yes, I'd crop some of the sky (mind you, I'm not really expert at this )

 

[fadingisight]

Hi Stan, I really like the seascape shot. Was it you I saw on the shoreline yesterday lunchtime? I tried taking a few shots at the same location but from the road, they didn't turn out half a good as yours though!

I like the Dunnotar ones but agree with the comments above. I haven't tried shooting there yet but imagine it might be quite tricky to frame the shot to bring out the best of the location.

 

[rpn]

Hi Stan, Great theme shots from the start,
I think the castle crop works really well, My only concern with the original is the level on the horizon, it seems tilted ever so slightly to the left.
I maybe completely wrong, my eyesight isn't best.
All the Best !! looking forward to viewing the rest of your 52 !!

Thanks Barney, now that you mentioned about the horizon in the 1st shot. You're right it is a bit wonky. That's the one area I haven't checked during pp because I relied on the camera built-in horizon level to be accurate enough. Never put too much trust on electronic device.

Seascape for me Stan, nice image.

Phil

Thanks Phil for commenting and glad you like the shot.

 

[susiejb]

Hi Stan ...definitely the seascape for me ...fabulous composition and POV ....very nice indeed

 

[rpn]

Hi Stan, I'm with Cobra as well...he's getting quite a following isn't he. I like the way you've used the cliffs to frame the caste in the third shot, it does give a sense of the height, but yes, I'd crop some of the sky (mind you, I'm not really expert at this )

Thanks Lorraine.

Hi Stan, I really like the seascape shot. Was it you I saw on the shoreline yesterday lunchtime? I tried taking a few shots at the same location but from the road, they didn't turn out half a good as yours though!

I like the Dunnotar ones but agree with the comments above. I haven't tried shooting there yet but imagine it might be quite tricky to frame the shot to bring out the best of the location.

Thanks Russell. No wasn't me, both shots were taken on Sunday; The South Breakwater in the morning and the Dunnottar Castle in the afternoon.

 

[Barney Strumble]

Thanks Barney, now that you mentioned about the horizon in the 1st shot. You're right it is a bit wonky. That's the one area I haven't checked during pp because I relied on the camera built-in horizon level to be accurate enough. Never put too much trust on electronic device.

I often miss things like that too Stan, I find old Castles the hardest to line up, One wall will usually line up okay, then others look way out, I like Seascape shots best though, and always go by the horizon for level, although I find low clouds can cause level confusion if shooting from an elevated position.
I love your Seascape image btw, the low angle works really well for me.

 

[fadingisight]

It seems that The South Breakwater is a popular location then. I think I will have to return and try and capture some shots from down on the shore at some point.

 

[Delta Skies]

#1 is a definite winner out of these two submissions. The composition with the sea wall on the third is good and I keep finding my eye being drawn along it to the lighthouse thingy (technical term). A minor crit is the need to put the image through the lens correction just to straight up the horizon but it is a wide angle shot and I think the eye sees it as such anyway.

 

[michael23]

Really like the ight house stan , great angle of view. It's my preferred image out of the 3.

 

[rpn]

I often miss things like that too Stan, I find old Castles the hardest to line up, One wall will usually line up okay, then others look way out, I like Seascape shots best though, and always go by the horizon for level, although I find low clouds can cause level confusion if shooting from an elevated position.
I love your Seascape image btw, the low angle works really well for me.

Thanks again Barney for the comments and I appreciated.

It seems that The South Breakwater is a popular location then. I think I will have to return and try and capture some shots from down on the shore at some point.

Hi Russell, that little beach by the south breakwater is a nice quiet area in most mornings for taking photos and also all the way round to Nigg Bay.

 

[rpn]

#1 is a definite winner out of these two submissions. The composition with the sea wall on the third is good and I keep finding my eye being drawn along it to the lighthouse thingy (technical term). A minor crit is the need to put the image through the lens correction just to straight up the horizon but it is a wide angle shot and I think the eye sees it as such anyway.

Thanks Peter and you're spot on with the critique. Although I always checked the Lens Profile Corrections option in ACR as a routine I think in this case it's just not enough for 17mm in FF. Think I need to use the Lens Correction Filter in PS also.

Really like the ight house stan , great angle of view. It's my preferred image out of the 3.

Many thanks Michael for dropping by and taking the time to comment.

 

[NickD]

I like the Christ shot, a nice angle, as if he's looking down at you. The leaf is a bit special, a great take on the theme. The lights viewed through it give it something extra. The lighthouse shot takes the scenic prize for me. I'm a sucker for those wide shots. Nice choice of foreground, and the sky is really nice.

 

[pjm1]

Hi Stan... you have a couple of cracking scenic shots for me here. I'll be honest and say "not quite as they're shot" but they only need a tweak IMO to make them totally stunning.

For me, the favourite is your second image of the castle with the "V" of the valley leading up to it. If you used a longer lens (or cropped) and just had that V and the castle, with a bit of purple sky behind, that'd be a stunner. I'm probably talking about losing a sliver off the left, maybe 1/4 or 1/3 on the right, another 1/3 off the top and maybe 10-15% off the bottom. Quite a serious crop but I think the resultuing image would be stronger.

I also love the lighthouse/rocks setting - your choice and instinct for spots is bang on. The only thing letting this down for me is I'd love to see it at sunrise/sunset (depending on where the sun ends up). The golden glow off the rocks would make this an absolute stunner!