A critique required

[ianpinion]

Originally Posted by chris-p

Jealous now!

A likely story!

[ianpinion]

In light of the previous comments, here are a few more for you comment on

or do you prefer this version?

and how about this image

or this

and finally something completely different

[chris-p]

Hi Ian

With the waterfall I prefer the B&W one. I don't really know why, it's just more striking. I think it might also be because it removes the muddy brown colour from the water and there seems to be more detail in the highlights of the water thats gone over the fall.

I like the windfarm image as well. It's stark and bold and, again, works well in B&W. It's not perfectly balanced (I'd like to see the right hand windmill further over to the right in the frame) but that's a difficult thing to achieve as they are kind of in a fixed position!!

The next shot, of the Fountain Gallery, doesn't really do anything for me. This is a tough one as I don't dislike it (I didn't think "what an awful shot") but I also didn't look at it and go "I like it" or "I like something specific about it". I dont' know if it would help if the building was square on in the frame, or in colour. Or perhaps if it was a bit lighter.
It's hard, my eyes keep getting drawn back to the doors and then they don't go anywhere else. There isn't anything to lead them away.
Sorry... I'm rambling on this now... you've stumped me!

Finally, something completely different is great. I like this shot a lot. You can see that you've put a lot of thought into the exact framing of it by the way the white line in the road meets the exact bottom left corner and the way the road almost leaves the frame on the right before swinging back.
But I think it's the angle of the light (shown by the shadows) that make this scene work. The landscape looks lovely and the sky has enough clouds in to be interesting but with the whole scene being side lit you can see all the texture in all the surfaces.
If you want some criticism on this one, move the camera slightly to the right and keep the edge of the road within the frame (unless you loose the tin shed).

[ianpinion]

Hi Chris,

Thank you for your comments. I prefer the black and white to the colour version of Aysgarth falls too. I felt I should have moved over slightly to my right for the shot of the gallery and it would have worked better, but that meant standing in the middle of a busy road and health and safety said the risk of injury was too great!

The landscape looks lovely and the sky has enough clouds in to be interesting but with the whole scene being side lit you can see all the texture in all the surfaces.
If you want some criticism on this one, move the camera slightly to the right and keep the edge of the road within the frame (unless you loose the tin shed).

I would have done, but there was a van parked on the verge there that rather got in the way. It looked better keeping it out of shot.

[chris-p]

Ah, yeah. I'd have cropped the van out too...

I must admit I figured there had to be something like that because you've been so careful with your framing!