A few Welsh Landscapes

[leek]

A collection of landscapes taken over the last week in North Wales...
A varied bunch of images, but I'd love to get some honest critique as I haven't taken a lot of landscape images in the past and I'd like to hone my technique before I leave the Land of my Fathers...
<table width=600><tr>
<td width=60%></td><td width=40%>#1 One of my favourite Welsh Mountains - Tryfan - taken from the Ogwen Valley</td></tr><tr><td width=60%></td><td width=40%>#2 Waterfall near Tryfan</td></tr><tr><td width=60%></td><td width=40%>#3 Lake Ogwen (I sacrificed a pair of new trousers on a barbed wire fence to get this shot - I'm not sure that it was worth it...)</td></tr><tr><td width=60%></td><td width=40%>#4 The Menai Straits at Sunset</td></tr><tr><td width=60%></td><td width=40%>#5 A village scene at Llanfair Talhaiarn</td></tr><tr><td width=60%></td><td width=40%>#6 Sorry - just had to get a shot of some sheep - there are 9 million of the things in Wales...</td></tr><tr><td width=60%></td><td width=40%>#7 Near Llanfair Talhaiarn</td></tr><tr><td width=60%></td><td width=40%>#8 Near Llanfair Talhaiarn</td></tr></table>

[Glen]

John, 1st and 2nd work very well for me with the stream and road leading the eye inwards, the 4th is very appealling also. Very nice collection

[huynhie]

Nice shots John,

out of all of them I would say number one and number three are my favourites. BTW you have covered alot of places over there

[marcotrov]

Beautiful countryside and I can see your desire to get the landscapes right. Well apart form the first one, which i really like John with the exception of a little more road and that red ferrari , they seem to lack 'pop'.

The last 2(a little too warm for me) in particular, whilst compositionally are quite good, seem to be dull and lifeless. I'm not sure if a polariser and grey grad to punch up the colours and add a little moodiness to the grey clouds would help or pick another day, hard when you are passing through, with crisp clean air and set the D70 to colour mode vivid and recheck the WB when you compare the vivid green grass of the sheep shot(and I know it was probably different place and time) to the grass in the last two you can just imagine those shots with that level of rich deep colour.

I think with the last, or any like it for that matter, with multiple leading lines i.e. the hedge and road you either include both or just have one, and I know I'm generalising, but the little bit of road in the far right side keeps hijacking my eyes. I think having a little more of the road to mirror the hedge would have afforded, perhaps, a more powerful guide to the eyes (a sporty red ferrari on the road would be great too ).
hope that is of some help mate.
cheers
marco

[stubbsy]

John

For me #1 is a great shot, but just misses perfection because of the road running down the right edge of the frame. It defintely needs to be included, but I think it would have added more visual interest leading the eye more strongly into the middle of the frame by taking the shot from the other side of the road.

#2 has its impact diminished by the foreground rocks IMHO but a crop can fix that - otherwise a great moody shot.

#3 - This one is excellent. Well worth the sacrifice to the wire gods.

#4 - another superb shot - in this case made more interesting because of the white building buried in the left side of the image. Good use of perspective too.

#5 - foreground is an issue for me again. A really interesting shot, but could have been better with more foreground water and less rocks (maybe stand in the middle of the river )

#6 - The composition and tonings on this work exceptionally well. and the grey clouds add a lovely touch of foreboding

#7 - Hate to comment again on leading lines, but the hedge on the left leads the eye out of the shot, so the image would be stronger without it.

My comments above are me being pretty picky. Overall these are a very good bunch of pics anyone would be pleased with. I look forward to more installments in this series as I've found all the images you've posted so far fascinating and it's been great to be along for the ride while you visit your homeland.

[MCWB]

1 and 3 are wonderful John (the sacrifice to the trouser gods was worth it, 3 is the best of the bunch IMO)! 2 doesn't do much for me in terms of composition. 4 is a bit cliched. Still nice, but not much going on. 5 looks a little dark to me, but nice composition. 6, 7 and 8 don't really do anything for me.

3 is in the 'frame it and sell it' bracket.

[leek]

Thanks for your comments so far... Exactly what I was seeking... Keep them coming guys...

Marcotrov... The last 2 are a little dull, but it was a very dull day... It's just down the road from my parents' house, so I'll try to revisit on a clearer day, but they are few and far between at the moment...

Stubbsy... There was no footpath on the other side of the road, but I know what you mean... I'll try to pay more attention to my foregrounds and leading lines in future...

I'm glad that #3 seems to be popular - it makes the scratches on my nether regions more bearable...

[marcotrov]

I must add that the shots are generally good John and I also am being picky as is Peter.
I like number 3 but for me I would have sacrificed the trousers all the way and moved closer, perhaps, lord forbid , into the water's edge to exclude the grass on the lower left as it doesn't really add to the scene at all IMO. Far better to have those bolders in the water as foreground interest Look forward to more from you John. Happy New Year!
cheers
marco

[Killakoala]

Beautiful images of a beautiful landscape. Wales reminds me of Tasmania. Or is it Tasmania reminds me of Wales. I am envious of the gorgeuos light over there at this time of year. Although some of the pics look a bit dark to me, but that may just be indicative of the light you had too. The nice cool weather would be welcome too.

I'm still enjoying your trip pics. Keep them coming.

[Alex]

Hi John,

Stunning images once again. First 3 are my favourites.

Regards
Alex

[Alpha_7]

Overall a great collection of shots John, but you've asked for honest feedback to here does.

#1 Love the colour and lighting, however as has been stated above, had you taken then 10 metres or so to the right and had the road starting from the bottom right leading the view into the shot it would be far stronger.

#2 I like this shot and disagree with Stubbsy about the rocks, I think you've composed this shot well to have both the creek and the rocks / road to leading into the shot. It does seem a smidgen dark on my LCD and usually its overly bright, but in this case it adds to the atmosphere of te shot

#3 My inital reaction when seeing this shot was, it's dark and unimpressive but once I checked out the larger version this shot proved it's worth in my eyes. Again hate to be repeating what others have said but getting away, round from the foreground grass would of improved this shot...that said it was still worth ripping your pants!

#4 A lovely sunset shot, nice relfections, great colours in the clouds and an interesting landscape to frame it in.

#5 I like this shot, but again I agree with Stubbsy more water and less rocks, infact I did a ad hoc crop using my hand on the LCD and cropping the left to just past the first support /foot of the bridge Improved this shot for me, it also removed the vertical pole far left which also irritated me.

#6 Baaaaa! A nice shot, but frankly I don't think it belongs in these series of shots, and I suspect you don't either that's why you aplogised There's a place for this shot but it isn't along

#7 Love this shot, its well composed with great attention to detail and interest in fore, mid and background. Love the contrast between the green rolling pastures and the grey almost ompressive clouds. A strong shot and very well executed IMHO.

#8 Others commented on leading lines and suggested this shot would be better without the hedge on the left, however I disagree. I think in this case you have a great series of lines - the hedge, the plough lines in the field, the tree line and the ridge line all disappearing behind the tree on tree on the left. This begs the question of the view of what's behind the tree... while some views like to be questions, my guess is others will not find it their cup of tea.

It's been a pleasure viewing all of your shots so far, and I look forward to you next posting John, I hope you found the feedback helpful.

[leek]

Overall a great collection of shots John, but you've asked for honest feedback to here does.

#1 Love the colour and lighting, however as has been stated above, had you taken then 10 metres or so to the right and had the road starting from the bottom right leading the view into the shot it would be far stronger.

#2 I like this shot and disagree with Stubbsy about the rocks, I think you've composed this shot well to have both the creek and the rocks / road to leading into the shot. It does seem a smidgen dark on my LCD and usually its overly bright, but in this case it adds to the atmosphere of te shot

#3 My inital reaction when seeing this shot was, it's dark and unimpressive but once I checked out the larger version this shot proved it's worth in my eyes. Again hate to be repeating what others have said but getting away, round from the foreground grass would of improved this shot...that said it was still worth ripping your pants!

#4 A lovely sunset shot, nice relfections, great colours in the clouds and an interesting landscape to frame it in.

#5 I like this shot, but again I agree with Stubbsy more water and less rocks, infact I did a ad hoc crop using my hand on the LCD and cropping the left to just past the first support /foot of the bridge Improved this shot for me, it also removed the vertical pole far left which also irritated me.

#6 Baaaaa! A nice shot, but frankly I don't think it belongs in these series of shots, and I suspect you don't either that's why you aplogised There's a place for this shot but it isn't along

#7 Love this shot, its well composed with great attention to detail and interest in fore, mid and background. Love the contrast between the green rolling pastures and the grey almost ompressive clouds. A strong shot and very well executed IMHO.

#8 Others commented on leading lines and suggested this shot would be better without the hedge on the left, however I disagree. I think in this case you have a great series of lines - the hedge, the plough lines in the field, the tree line and the ridge line all disappearing behind the tree on tree on the left. This begs the question of the view of what's behind the tree... while some views like to be questions, my guess is others will not find it their cup of tea.

It's been a pleasure viewing all of your shots so far, and I look forward to you next posting John, I hope you found the feedback helpful.

Thanks for taking the trouble Craig... I love #7 as well and am hoping to revisit it in better light (which is promised for the weekend)... #8 is taken from the same spot, so I'll try a few variations of that as well...
Some of the images are dark, but that's very much how the light is here at the moment... The sun doesn't seem to rise any more than 20 degrees off the horizon...
We went out today and drove through some of the most impressive scenery that Wales has to offer, but the weather was so gloomy I didn't take a photo all day I did get some more frost shots in the garden this morning though - I'll post them later...
Let's hope it brightens up in a couple of days...