Hi
I’m fairly new to Landscape photography and this is my very first post, so here goes!
This is an image I took recently on a snowy morning at Llyn Idwal, North Wales. UK
I have processed the image a little to enhance color and tonal balance along with the help of some mild dodge/burning. The vivid light falling on the mountain tops is natural
I don’t normally put images out so I’ve never received any critique on my work before. Guess I’m just trying to gauge where my photography is at right now?
Any thoughts comments (good or bad) would be greatly appreciated
Welcome to NPN John! And what a wonderful first post.
Well, before I say anything, I would say that if this is any indication, you will fit right in and be able to stand right next to any of us here. And kudos for taking the step in putting your work out here. I know for the first time it’s probably a bit nerve racking. But no need to be nervous here. Real quick you’ll feel comfortable and it will be easy for you to make your own comparisons to the diversity and talent of work posted here.
Also, to start this off, I don’t have anything to be critical of, or to suggest for improvement! I think the composition os well balanced and I like the color/tone and your overall processing. Ok, maybe one suggestion. You’ve handled that light falling on the bg mountain. I’m just wondering if you could bring it out even more! But that’s being picky.
I did want to ask about the lines; coming down on the midground slope and on the background (bg) slope. At first I was thinking trail, animal or man, but upon closer look, I believe these are stone walls? Is that what we’re seeing? Adds a neat story-telling element. Given the location, I bet the walls are to fence in sheep maybe? during the grazing months? I could be way off.
Hi John, nice first post and also great to see a different composition of Llyn Idwal. Also nice to see local images (well to me that is).
If I am correct this was taken about 2 weeks ago on a Sunday morning; I recognise the light conditions Oh my word i’m sad lol. I was up on Pentre Helgi Ddu shooting in your direction.
I have to say I quite like the image and the general layout of it. I may consider a 16:9 crop to this though (removing some of the bottom portion of the image below the lake). This will draw the eye more to the main feature of the shot which is the light on the hills. It will also take the top of the lake off the halfway point of the frame. This was the terminal moraine is on the lower left 3rd and the light is on the upper right third (see cropped below)
I think the exposure in the foreground is spot on but i would look at the contrast between the light and shadow that is falling on the flanks of Pen yr Olwen.
Otherwise I think it the image is just fine. I would be interested to see some of your other shots and will be happy to give feedback.
Hey everyone. Thank you for your time getting back to me with your comments and for making me feel so welcome, very much appreciated. I think it’s awesome to receive this kind of feedback, can’t imagine this anywhere else online. I feel I have so much to learn and totally see a long road ahead of me but it’s truly great to hear I’m at least doing some things right at this point of my journey.
The light on the mountains is definitely what caught my attention as I walked up the hillside and turned back to look across the lake (yes, this did indeed occur on Sunday AM, 2 weeks ago ). I have tried processing this image in several different ways to emphasize the contrast between the light falling on the surrounding hillside. However, my attempt to brighten the light further quickly resulted in blown highlights. Also tried darkening the image down whilst keeping the highlights consistent with the original exposure but this seemed to make everything else appear kind of muddy and the colors just ended up overly saturated and too unnatural looking. Unsure how to get around this?
The lower section of the image is what’s been really bugging me. Eugene, I think cropping the image to 16:9 as you suggest is a great shout. I hadn’t even thought of doing that but can see how this makes a big improvement, so thanks for that. I do have one other image of Llyn Idwal taken earlier the same morning but taken from a different spot. I’ll upload this later if you’re interested to see this and could offer some feedback
I have to agree that the community that has been created here is pretty unique. Folk are genuine with their comments and interactions, which is a fresh change from other platforms.
Well the light is amazing! it really suits the shot. I may trying some very slight local adjustments (I assume you are using lightroom here). Maybe use a brush or an inverted radial filter to just tweak the contrast. You just want to emphasise the that light slightly more. Too much and you’ll overcook it. Local adjustments are a really useful thing to get into the habit of using. However it is really nice the way it is and after all what you like is what counts.
Yeah I would be more than happy to check out your other images from round here. Let me know when you upload it.
I normally start by opening my files in Lightroom then go straight into Photoshop to build up the processing from there. May have another play around with some local adjustments though and see how it goes.
BTW The other image I mentioned earlier has now been uploaded, would be great to know your thoughts
Oh my word i’m sad lol. I was up on Pentre Helgi Ddu shooting in your direction.
). I have tried processing this image in several different ways to emphasize the contrast between the light falling on the surrounding hillside. However, my attempt to brighten the light further quickly resulted in blown highlights. Also tried darkening the image down whilst keeping the highlights consistent with the original exposure but this seemed to make everything else appear kind of muddy and the colors just ended up overly saturated and too unnatural looking. Unsure how to get around this?