A few bluebell shots

thebigsky

Hi, one of the first trips I made with my first D-SLR last year was to nearby bluebell woods. Not really knowing what I was doing I pretty much made a hash of it.

Anyway, hopefully these are technically better and hopefully this time next year I'll have also improved my composition :wink

This shot was fairly straight PP although I did have to clone someone out that had wandered into shot and I used the lens correction is PS to straighten up the trees.






I softened the images below with a gaussian blur and faded them via soft light, I think it's a subtle but pleasing affect.





Thanks for looking,

Charlie

Marc Muench

Great composition in the third one and the effect looks great at this size

z_28

I love first one !
Line of hidden horizon, vanishing trail, sea of aquamarine ...
Just one small rasp - tree shadow right up front.
Anyway, it's still the best

thebigsky

Marc Muench wrote:

Great composition in the third one and the effect looks great at this size

Thanks Marc, yes the branches and logs almost seem to have been arranged to give balance and strong lines to the composition.

Charlie

thebigsky

z_28 wrote:

I love first one !
Line of hidden horizon, vanishing trail, sea of aquamarine ...
Just one small rasp - tree shadow right up front.
Anyway, it's still the best

Thanks, you spotted that shadow, yes it bothers me too

I must learn to look around the viewfinder with more concentration

Charlie

ShepsMom

Hi there, i love all the images, but, i don't know if it's my monitor, OR they look oversaturated.... Do i need to calibrate?

thebigsky

ShepsMom wrote:

Hi there, i love all the images, but, i don't know if it's my monitor, OR they look oversaturated.... Do i need to calibrate?

I'm not sure Marina, I do like well saturated images so I may have over done it for some tastes, it was an overcast day in the last 3 and this really does bring out the colour of the bluebells well, plus the effect I used on the last two may have boosted the saturation further.

I notice a lot of people post images that I would consider lack contrast and saturation but in a lot of cases it's personal preference.

Charlie

ShepsMom

No problems! I like bold, colorful and well saturated images myself. I just thought it was little bit more then i would've done.

Marc Muench

ShepsMom wrote:

Hi there, i love all the images, but, i don't know if it's my monitor, OR they look oversaturated.... Do i need to calibrate?

Some times you just need to lay off the donuts

Ok Ok, I really don't know if you were eating donuts but it is actually provin that sugar effects your color interpretation. Furthermore, if you have a cup of coffee with that donut you will really see colors BTW, I usually critique contrast more than color on the internet unless something is really way off.

GudniB

Charlie

Like I've said before, I like your saturated images.
They grab the attention.

#3 is unusual and therefore my favourite.

thebigsky

GudniB wrote:

Charlie

Like I've said before, I like your saturated images.
They grab the attention.

#3 is unusual and therefore my favourite.

Thanks GudniB, have you managed to get out and shoot the oilseed yet?

Charlie

Kory Lidstrom

Some nice shots, bigsky. The first one would be the winner for me if it weren't for that shadow in the foreground. Perrhaps if you crop it out and make a pano of the shot?

Also, regarding your saturation technique, I think it works very vell for certain types of shots, like these bluebell shots.

If you haven't heard of it, you may want to research what's called the "Orton Effect". Some people call it the stacking technique. Anyway, it's a technique that saturates, and adds sort of a dreamy-ness to the highlights of photos while leaving the shadows alone. It doesn't work for all shots, but for shots like your bluebell shots, it's fabulous.

As a matter of fact, it's one of my favorite techniques and I use it often -- it's sort of my personal style or trademark. Check out my galleries and I think you'll be able to tell which photos I used this effect on.

Also, if you're familiar with FredMiranda.com, I would highly recommend that you go into the Landscape Photography forum and look for some of ScaryFox's bluebell threads. She lives in England near one of the most impressive Bluebell forests in the world. Just last week, she posted some amazing shots of them. And, guess what technique she used? Yep: the Orton effect. I think it'd be right up your alley.

Well, that's all -- hope I didn't ramble on too long! :giggle

thebigsky

Thanks for the info Nugblazer, I'll look into the effect you've mentioned.

Charlie