Pelahatchie Dragon - Bryan inspired me to look for these guys, something I hadn't done in a while. Met a few here a couple of weeks ago. Here's one. It has some flaws but I liked the tiny spider that I didn't see until I got it on the computer screen.
20km is a nice long hike! The area looks good & quite natural from that conveniently placed tower :-)
I guess it is areas like this that the new EU Nature restoration law is trying to protect and recreate.
I quite liked the original from Chris with the reflection giving some context as well, but this cropped and straightend version does concentrate nicely on just the passageway of the repeating columns
I noted that there have been many responses already to posts so I'm trying to look at the OP of each before considering the discussions.
This is another of those shots that could be cropped into several quite different stories. I'm thinking about it as Chris presents it.
There are two components. The tall walkway and figure and the roadway and traffic glimpsed to the left. The tall pillars become a barrier separating them.
The pillars are substantial and metallic. The image suggests that something significant is needed to protect the human. The protection comes with cost. It's an isolating structure as well. It's a grim reality but still, there are toys to distract at the end of the walk.
Social realism.
I noted that there have been many responses already to posts so I'm trying to look at the OP of each before considering the discussions.
Words make a difference. When I looked at the image it didn't interest me as much as most of your other small detail studies. Then I read your notes and looked again. Earth and sky, materials and colour. Some construction detail to take in. Recently I have been cleaning leaves and I got an insight into a simple thing I'd taken for granted- the contouring of gutters.
While I still find most of your other shots more interesting because of unexpected detail, shots like this stimulate awareness and give credit to the everyday.
I like the strip effect created by the fenceline and the upper cloud layer. You have framed the scene with just the right amount of space at the top and bottom strip boundaries. There is enough detail in both in both but they don't distract from the curtain layers of hills. It's an effective frame that does what a frame should do.
You might consider increasing the dynamic range. As you saw it, I'd guess the blacks would have been blacker and the whites, whiter. The sunlit area in the valley is a bit flat. I don't know what PP program you use. I fit was Lightroom, perhaps try nudging up the Texture and Clarity controls a bit to bring out the micro contrast in that area and also to add a little more definition to the ridge tops and rain shower.
I'd be happy to sit, beer in hand taking in that scene.
Thanks Mike,
I will often make changes just like you mentioned if an image looks a bit flat.
I use the ACDSee ultimate PP program which is similar to Lightroom.
In this particular case, for me the image was all about the haze and how it is eats up those layers; and it has already begun the feast on the sunlit area. so I deliberately left it like that.
Not every photo needs more punch. Some photos are fine a bit darker, a bit more gentle, with a softer, lower contrast.
All that is fine since it is your image but that flatness in the sunlit area doesn't come across to me as being caused by the haze. It probably is but it wasn't my first impression when I looked at the image. The "flatness" in the sunlit area detracts from the overall image slightly imo.
The haze is certainly "eating" up the hills in the background and is a feature of the scene.
Interesting landform with those shallow pools like what you see in summer in areas where glaciers once were. They are excellent locations to find interesting reflections because they are naturally still-water and can work like a big mirror. From this angle, the reflection is simply the sky, which is also pleasing enough. The reflections of the trees are interesting, too, because of the angle. In short, the angle makes the photo. I like the triangular composition pointing toward the upper left edge. I'd probably want to fight off the blocked up shadow a bit (it reminds me of an upside down cat silhouette) just because it is an eye magnet that keeps dragging me back.
(I've never been able to resist climbing a firetower, It takes a lot longer now than it once did but what fun!)
I don't think it's too garish, though I might be tempted to constrain the greens a bit since the nearest ones are losing detail. The colors (including the saturated greens and blue/purple tones) are understandable once you told us what you had done. It does look like an old film image. It is more interesting because the focus is on the jumbled twigs rather than the water feature. The smooth but not featureless water is a good choice for such a feature. A larger feature might have wanted a faster shutter to show its power but for this modest waterfall, the milky streams finding their way through the rocks works great.