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,

Falésia Açoteias beach

The beach here in the Algarve, Portugal has some interesting cliffs and rock formations.
This shot was taken on a visit in 2023. The rocks are orange and yellow, but just processed today in B&W.

Really nicely seen. The wide angle distortion really sets this image off along with the the vantage point. The people drive home the size and scope of the formation. B&W works well here.

A beautiful vantage point and the framing, too (@ 21mm). Algarve = southern Portugal. Of course, I'd "heard of Algarve" (over the years) but until I looked at the map (just now) I didn't really know "where" in PRT it was located. For this picture, were you on the west coast or the south?

I-90 East Portal Viewpoint - Lake Washington, Bellevue, and the Cascade Range (looking east). 4 frames landscape orientation. Sun through a thin haze, so I was trying or a realistic look in post (rather than over-cooking with too much contrast). Reduced to approx. 60% of original dimensions (MP's) and about 5% of original file size (MB's). Taken earlier this week... on a walk after work... trying to clear my head and take my mind away from all of the troubles. Getting out with the camera... it helped a little bit. Normally, there would be a LOT MORE SNOW on the mountains.

This was taken in the south of Portugal. We were on a 2 week hiking holiday with a small group. The tour guide used to be a clown in a former job, he was a good guide and fun too.

A good pano!
You have that modern city skyline with the high rise buildings in the middle surrounded by forest areas and a mountain backdrop. A very nice mix.
Lots of detail and it's sharp everywhere. Well processed. I think it was good to keep the "realistic look". The blue haze on the mountains is seen by some photographers as something that needs to be "corrected" , but it should be celebrated as you have here; it's natural and gives depth to an image. Painters will deliberately add it in especially for that depth effect :-)

Thanks, the soft rock formations here reminded me of some of the shots you've posted showing the badlands

Winter is over here, but I have some photos I haven't published yet from our 2-month winter, so here is one of them. More like seascape this time...

That's really nice and it makes me think back to the early-1970's when I would visit my grandparents in Trelleborg. I would ride a bike to the harbor and watch (for hours) the ships/ferries heading back-and-forth across the western Baltic to Lubek/Travemunde and Sassnitz (and I still like going to the harbor even today!) -- but that was in the summertime... LOL. :-)

The variety of the Mono Lake/Eastern Sierra area. These images are only about 2 hours and maybe 10-15 miles apart from each other.

Interesting image!
Looks like was snowing as you took this shot, and judging by the almost horizontal snowflake streaks, the wind was blowing a bit too. I like the way the swan seems to be fighting against that wind, and maybe also the big ship, further out, is too ?
The ice make it feel cold; especially when we know that this is a sea that's frozen, even if the Baltic Sea is less salty it still speaks of impressive cold.
Those round icy "blobs" are sort of floating over the sea.

As you said these two images certainly speak about variety.
I like the first best. I love the way a lake can sometimes reflect the lovely autumn colours of a forest, the resulting patterns in the water look quite magical. I'm always looking out for that sort of thing. This is a great example.

As the Overnight Fog Lifts

Early morning is the best time in the Badlands. The animals are out and about. It's not about the color of the light - it's the angle of the light as it draws out the texture of the unique soft clay rock landscape.. Some care is required in where you walk. However, after one learns to "read the clay" and stay away from the tell-tale micro drainage one is normally safe.

Very nice. Colours and reflections contrast nicely with the grey rock. I always feel drawn to what is nowadays called 'intimate' landscapes, so I find myself picking out closer framing even when the big view is stunning. I'm wondering about a squarer crop here, top and bottom running just through the coloured leaves and their reflection.

Impressive shot!
Yes, absolutely, the angle of the light, and where you stand, certainly make a big difference. In this shot the early morning light is clearly coming from low down on the right. The resulting shadows give a good 3D feeling for those rock formations and pick out the texture very nicely.
When photographing a steep mountain, direct-on light from behind would be the worse case; it will light up everything and make the shot look horribly flat. But with the right angles and a steep sloping rockface, even at midday, light coming from above can make good looking shadows and show the structure well

Thanks. The other issue with light at your back is you can often have to deal with your shadow. My preference is if I'm facing 12 o'clock, light coming from 4-5 or
7-8. Clyde Butcher told me one time that he went up through Wawona Tunnel a pull off known as Tunnel View in Yosemite N. P. one time to find it back at sun up. This is the point where Ansel Adams took many of his iconic images of Yosemite including "Clearing Storm Inspiration Point."

It was packed with photographers wanted to get the "golden hour." He remembered talking to Adams about that image and Adams told him that the valley is mostly shadowed until about 9 or 10. Butcher said by the time the light was right in the valley, the golden hour was over and all the other photographers had packed up and gone. Butcher had by then had his tripod sit up in the back of his truck and had the place to himself.

The light can be tricky in mountainous areas. That's why you need to return often chasing the illusive light.

That's amazing. The scale is mystifying. Something akin to a an exquisite diorama coupled with the vast landscape expanse being conveyed.