The Weekly Landscape Thread

This weekly thread, starting on a Friday, allows us to showcase our Landscape photos and get some feedback.
Opening up discussions, not only on content, style, composition & techniques, but also on the emotion in the image, and of course about the place itself.

It’s easy to participate

Post an image or short essay with a title and description. To make it easier to view in the forum, all comments should include the original title and at least one of the original images as a quote.

Thread Guidelines:

1. This thread is for sharing and developing our Landscape photography skills.
2. Entries can be a single image or a short photo essay (2 to 10 connected images that tell a story).
3. Give your entry a clear title and perhaps also explain why you took it, or the story it tells.
4. Provide constructive feedback on others’ images/essays.
   Try to go beyond simple praise or dismissal and explain why you like it, or what caught your eye.
   ”Likes” are encouraged too.
5. Negative feedback and suggestions are also OK (be polite, honest, and constructive).

Giving feedback is just as important as receiving feedback, both help to improve our artistic and technical skills.

What is a Landscape photo?

This means different things for different people. For me, it includes a wide range of photos taken outside,… from wide sweeping vistas to smaller details found along the route. Seascapes, landscapes, cityscapes, woodland shots, landscapes at night with some stars, and lots more are all OK. They could also include man-made objects and people or animals outside, but they are not usually the main subject. Show us, with your photos, what Landscape photography means to you.

Motivation

I love to go hiking in the natural world and capture photos along the way. It keeps me fit (physically and mentally) and provides some beautiful memories. Processing those images when I return is fun too, it often helps to enhance what I saw.

Downloading and reposting

It’s often challenging to verbalise comments about images. Instead, it’s sometimes easier to “show.” Unless the original poster specifically states otherwise (in each original post), participants are free to download, alter, and repost images in replies to express their analysis and critique. The reposted image may remain permanently or be removed after a short period. Downloaded and altered images shall not be used for any other purposes or uploaded elsewhere.

Enough said,… Go out, enjoy the open air, take some photos. Bring back the memories and post them here in the Weekly Landscape Thread 😊
...looking forward to seeing your images

A quick springtime hike

Finally got the chance to go hiking in Mühlbach again. The snow has gone and the spring has arrived.
Just processed quickly on an iPad

Discovered a new peak in the Hochkönig mountain range ;-)

Inyo National Forest in California, home of the oldest living trees in the world, the bristlecone pines. Many of them are over 4000 years old. I tried for an Ansel Adams "Moonrise" type look on this one because the sky was so darkly blue anyway. Maybe something to do with the 11,000 foot elevation, not sure, but there wasn't a lot of breathing air up there.

Building Storm At Treeline

While exploring Custer State Park, SD. We were up close to tree line on a ridge line as a storm was rapidly forming. Once we noticed it we headed down - after I took some images of course. Within about 10 minutes of this picture - we were pulled up under some trees and quarter sized hail was falling and on the ridge from where we came lightning was dancing.

In Colorado in the winter time at high altitudes the skies can be almost black. The color in the sky comes form shorter wavelength blue light scattering more than longer wavelengths. The primary source of scattering is water molecules, oxygen and nitrogen molecules. At 11,000 feet in the semi-arid Western US, there is not many of either. I like the tonality in this shot. The old wood is especially.

Somehow it reminds me of a studio photo shooting of a model standing, under the spotlight on a stage, displaying some fancy new dress ;-)
... and I haven't even opened the whisky bottle yet :-)
The old dead wood really shines out bright against that sky, B&W was a good choice for this shot especially with the sky coming out so dark. The big bright whispy cloud in the middle is amazing too, really blowing fast across the image and perfectly placed in the shot.
The rest of the landscape acts as a background and sets the scene for those two objects.
I like it!

Once again an interesting story to go with a good photo!
The clouds are bright and cheerful near the horizon, but they're growing fast and getter a lot darker near the top of the image.
The hill side is still in bright sunshine but the shadow is creeping up from the bottom of the image too, squeezng you in.
The line of dark trees stand out well against that sky. and the panorama format makes good use of that line.

Storms can be scary, especially if they are bringing hail stones, experienced that once myself, just last year, after taking a photo that I was really happy with, the conditions changed fast. There was no shelter on the bare mountain, but the hail stones turned out luckily to be only quite small.

Two beaches

Both on the Isle of Skye. Many of the beaches have a mix of sand grains, lighter weight pale shell fragments and dark basalt grains. The winnowing effect of waves and tides makes for fascinating patterns.

The first shot is from Talisker beach on the west coast. Small springs appear at the back of the beach and carry different coloured grains in their flow.

The second one is on the east coast, looking north to Ben Tianavaig. After heavy rain, the water was bubbling up making tiny sand volcanoes 😀

Oh! I need my spring mountain fix 😐 Heather and gentians - beautiful.
The 'new peak' is quite amusing - Obviously a chip off the old block 😁. Did you conquer the summit?

Fabulous shot. The whispy clouds really work with the time-worn tree, giving a really wild and windswept feel. And the light is just wonderful - dark sky and brilliant sidelighting.

Another fabulous B&W mountain shot. Lots of interest across the full width of the pano, but a nice overall transition of light and shade to hold it together. Mountain storms can be sudden and spectacular but dangerous. Looking down on lightning strikes can be scary!
How did you achieve the pano aspect here? Multiple shots stiched or cropped or original format?

This is one of the best leading lines ever, in fact it is a real arrow pointing from the corner straight to the peak!

Those patterns in the sand together with the ripples of the running water are fantastic. Then we have the collection of big stones nicely placed in the middle of the image and a mountainous background receeding far back into the distance. So lots of depth and interest all the way.
After geting shots like these I'd be heading back for a wee dram of the smoky Talisker to celebrate :-)

Once I noticed the brewing storm, I didn't think I had time to set up a tripod and take multiple shots with the care that would be needed. I said "what the heck. The Q2M is 47 MP native B&W so I thought I had the resolution that I might be able to pull it off with one shot. This is a 65x24 aspect ratio crop from that image. I got back in the truck and we headed for lower ground. When the hail started I decided to find at least some shelter to protect the truck and pulled in under a grove of trees. Like all Western summer storms - this one ended about as fast as it started. I know very well about getting caught too high in a mountain storm. Backpacking in the San Juans of Southwest Colorado came down off a pass onto Silver Mesa which is a plateau at 11,000 feet. The pass was 12,500. Before we got down off the mesa, the storm started first with rain and then hail and lightning all around. All we could do was find the largest holders we could find and thank goodness there were some 8 foot and larger boulders and scramble in under to wait it out.