Exploring New England

[Toddyh]

Spent a few days exploring the New England region of NSW recently. Came back with these.

#1



#2


#3


#4


#5


#6


#7


#8


#9


#10



Appreciate any feedback/criticism.

[loose cannon]

A fine series Todd and I'd be pretty damn happy if they were mine.

A few things catch my eye so consider the following as comments rather than criticism, I can be a real picky picky so and so.

#1. I'm left wanting to see more of the river and less of the car (though a magnificent beast it is!) The Mitsi dominates the frame yet is slightly distorted and I'm wondering if a few steps back and a wider view might have produced a different feel to the image. Also I think this is a perfect scene for a more panoramic view. I scrolled down and chopped a bit off the top and didn't feel the image lost anything important.

A good question to ask yourself when shooting landscapes is "what exactly am I trying to capture here?" You have the car, campsite and the river as items of interest and lots of sky isn't adding anything for me. Just food for thought, I'd still be happy with this as is.

#2. Pick of the bunch for me. Glorious image. Love that long slender branch, beautiful image with excellent composition. Absolute cracker.

#3. Another beauty. Draws me in and makes me wish I was there.

#4. Great image, great compostion and great subject. But the blown whites on the foreground rocks bottom right corner catch my eye. Only way around this is to use a tripod, neutral density filter, shoot two frames with different exposures and then combine in post processing. Phew!

A lot of work and mucking around but it's up to you. Fine as is really.

But be aware that the eye is always drawn to the brightest part of an image so if you don't want to go down the path of more equipment and processing software then careful consideration with regard to composition can be an equally good work around.

I've done a rough and rugged clone jobby on the troublesome corner just to show you what I mean. Hope you don't mind. Notice on the cloned image that your eye is no longer dragged into the corner of the image and instead goes straight to the waterfall, where it belongs. I also darkened the edges ever so slightly to increase focus on the centre of the image.



This is kinda trivial stuff really but worth keeping in mind. Landscape photography is much harder than most people give it credit for, I struggle like crazy with it most of the time. Anyway, like I said earlier it's just food for thought.

A quick tip: Always check the four corners through the viewfinder when composing as there can be some sneaky little problems hiding there.

#6. Too much concrete for me. Maybe a sharp stick and a gentle jab in your partners back to get her closer to the edge...or maybe not!

#7. Love the inclusion of the reedy plant in foreground as it softens the harshness of the steel/rock, Great image and thoughtful composition.

Anyway, I've enjoyed viewing this series Todd, great stuff and keep 'em coming.

[Toddyh]

Thanks for taking the time to comment in such detail Mick. Very much appreciated. Agree with everything you said.
In fact I moved the morning after the first image because I thought more river would be better.




Thanks for the tips about corner too. Will definitely be taking that advice on board.

[loose cannon]

Oh yes! That's an absolute beauty. Changed from 2D to 3D.

[Toddyh]

Thanks Mick.

[HansE]

Looks like you had a wonderful time with the pictures to prove it. Excellent comments Mick.

[Toddyh]

It's a great place to tour around Hans. So many rivers and mountains. Very pretty.

[seaslug]

Love that Grumpy Face Rock!

[Toddyh]

That's old Mystery Face near Torrington, NSW. Roughly 2km hike to get to him.

[Isac]

Fabulous story in images Todd. Vibrant colours and wonderful scenery. Great CC from Mick too. I think this is what he wanted to see in #6

[LJG]

The New England is a great place, we love going down there. A nice series with plenty of variety, I like them, they capture the area nicely.

[Toddyh]

Thanks ISAC. You are the photoshop master.
Thanks Lloyd. It's a fantastic area alright.