Posted by David Clapp on November 2, 2007 at 7:48 PM
It never works, ever,I wander forests for days getting wound up. There is little order, just chaos and mess, believe me I am headed back to the coast very shortly for some soul repairing.
Ten Problems with Autumn -
1. The leaves are all high up and out of the shot. OR
2. The leaves are all on the floor by the time you get there.
3. A forest with good colour is full of crap, logs branches leaning trees (god there is nothing compositionally worse than one huge 45deg tree to make me have a compulsive swearing attack!!).
4. Sliding on tree roots onto your arse
5. Tripping over tree roots onto your face
6. Wind during long exposures, (avoid pickled onions, beans etc)
7. Too much sunshine. (see point 9)
8. Not enough light, therefore not enough colour.
9. Dappled light makes highlights totally blown
10. Nikon (just thought I would throw that in)
This shot is in Hexworthy, the entrance to a wonderful private residence. I could tell it was private because it has a big PRIVATE sign that I cloaned out and another in the field. The tree (of course) was leaning, so I digitally straightened it.
I used the Orton effect to give it some dreaminess -
Duplicate layer,
apply Gaussian Blur filter set to radius 15,
set the layer blend to Soft Light, (The saturation will be way through the roof right now but dont worry about it)
levels, drag the mid point arrow to the left to lighten the blurred layer.
Layers, layer mask, reveal.
Now use the brush tool and reveal the soft focus effect.
When you are happy, flatten it and finally Hue/Saturation to calm it all down. The yellows in this shot were way too much so I concentrated on reducing them specifically.
Did I mention I hate Autumn?
EOS 5D, 24-105 f4L f8 for 0.5secs ISO 100
Posted by Andy Astbury on November 2, 2007 at 7:53 PM
RAOTFLMFAO
Especially No.10
Absolutely stonking image - the soft focus makes it perfect - I BLOOMIN' LOVE IT
Posted by Larry Corbett on November 2, 2007 at 8:01 PM
To over come all those "problems" and still come away with a cracking image takes some doing ......
3. A forest with good colour is full of crap, - literally! The leaves hide it just enough for you to stand or kneel in every bit there is around! And it's wet...
Did I mention I hate cleaning c**p off walking boots
Thats the problem with woods, all the trees in the wrong places.
Superb image, I love those granite Dartmoor walls with all the moss growing on them. The autumn colours complete a wonderful scene and the soft focus sends it over the top.
Amazing how quickly the colours turn, drove back through Hexworthy a couple of weeks ago and it didn't look anything like this.
John Lee
Posted by David Clapp on November 2, 2007 at 8:46 PM
Its now or nothing, the whole place is singing with colour John, it would be a really good time to go this weekend before some strong wind / frost ruins it all. Try Spitchwick, Badgers Halt, Holne Bridge, Hisley Bridge (Yarner Wood), Shaugh Prior Woods (although I am unsure about this after today's visit)
Posted by Chris Lloyd on November 3, 2007 at 5:33 AM
Lovely image Dave. That beech avenue at Brdiestowe opposite the pub looks lovely now so that's where I'm headed this morning.
Great stuff.
Chris.
Posted by David Clapp on November 3, 2007 at 6:21 AM
Posted by Tim Munsey on November 3, 2007 at 3:05 PM
Yep, autumn drives me bonkers to! Lovely shot, interesting that Orton effect something to explore.
Cheers
Tim
Posted by Graeme Lee on November 3, 2007 at 6:01 PM
Looks pretty good to me David. I see so many of these types of opportunities but knowing I'm just crap, I tend to ignore them. Now I know just because it looks like it could be a good photo opportunity, the 10 reasons you've named are perhaps why I never come away with anything... oh and the fact I'm crap would be no.11. Processing looks really good at this size. Personally I like it
Posted by Andy Shepherd on November 4, 2007 at 11:31 AM
Oh, come on, Dave! I only have three problems with autumn: It's too short , I'm in shortage of time to be out photographing it, and I have too much other work, so I'm unable to photograph autumn as much as I would like .
And BDW as much as you hate autumn, it looks like you came out with decent looking image after all .
Cheers,
Marko
Posted by Mark Sisson on November 5, 2007 at 5:17 AM
If only every job we hate doing came out looking so good
Lovely stuff David, and always nice to see processing advice shared on here too.
Discussion
13 repliesTen Problems with Autumn -
1. The leaves are all high up and out of the shot. OR
2. The leaves are all on the floor by the time you get there.
3. A forest with good colour is full of crap, logs branches leaning trees (god there is nothing compositionally worse than one huge 45deg tree to make me have a compulsive swearing attack!!).
4. Sliding on tree roots onto your arse
5. Tripping over tree roots onto your face
6. Wind during long exposures, (avoid pickled onions, beans etc)
7. Too much sunshine. (see point 9)
8. Not enough light, therefore not enough colour.
9. Dappled light makes highlights totally blown
10. Nikon (just thought I would throw that in)
This shot is in Hexworthy, the entrance to a wonderful private residence. I could tell it was private because it has a big PRIVATE sign that I cloaned out and another in the field. The tree (of course) was leaning, so I digitally straightened it.
I used the Orton effect to give it some dreaminess -
Duplicate layer,
apply Gaussian Blur filter set to radius 15,
set the layer blend to Soft Light, (The saturation will be way through the roof right now but dont worry about it)
levels, drag the mid point arrow to the left to lighten the blurred layer.
Layers, layer mask, reveal.
Now use the brush tool and reveal the soft focus effect.
When you are happy, flatten it and finally Hue/Saturation to calm it all down. The yellows in this shot were way too much so I concentrated on reducing them specifically.
Did I mention I hate Autumn?
EOS 5D, 24-105 f4L f8 for 0.5secs ISO 100
Especially No.10
Absolutely stonking image - the soft focus makes it perfect - I BLOOMIN' LOVE IT
3. A forest with good colour is full of crap, - literally! The leaves hide it just enough for you to stand or kneel in every bit there is around! And it's wet...
Did I mention I hate cleaning c**p off walking boots
Superb image, I love those granite Dartmoor walls with all the moss growing on them. The autumn colours complete a wonderful scene and the soft focus sends it over the top.
Amazing how quickly the colours turn, drove back through Hexworthy a couple of weeks ago and it didn't look anything like this.
John Lee
Great stuff.
Chris.
Cheers
Tim
Just beautiful
Regards
Andy...
And BDW as much as you hate autumn, it looks like you came out with decent looking image after all
Cheers,
Marko
Lovely stuff David, and always nice to see processing advice shared on here too.
Mark