Bamburgh – The Obverse View

[nickjohnson]

Went out yesterday evening and had a crack at my local castle – from the opposite side to that used in the vast majority of photographs. To start with things where not good. We've had a lot of rainfall in the last few weeks. So humidity is high and the dew point as well – which equals mist and clag at ground level. Sunset was a a giant sodium street light, with an orange tint to everything.
I waited for dusk and almost gave up – I though we where going to go to the blue light period without any afterglow. Fortunately I was rewarded, and I used my soft edge 3 stop GND filter to get these.
Hope you enjoy and C&C please. Thanks for looking.

#1 5D 47mm f11 @1/4sec ISO100



#2



#3 5D 24mm f8 @1sec ISO100



#4



#5 5D 73mm f8 @2sec ISO100



#6 5D 60mm f8 @2.5sec ISO100

[clactonian]

Worth the wait Nick.
Interestingly I have a couple of photographs taken from a very similar spot. Isn't there an old concrete observation post around about that spot?
I know you were waiting for the sunset skies but I think the black and white images have more drama and capture the interesting cloud formation so well.

[nickjohnson]

May 23, 2012 16:48:12 GMT clactonian said:

Worth the wait Nick.
Interestingly I have a couple of photographs taken from a very similar spot. Isn't there an old concrete observation post around about that spot?
I know you were waiting for the sunset skies but I think the black and white images have more drama and capture the interesting cloud formation so well.

Thanks Mike, Your absolutely right about the observation post. It's on the top of the next dune. The roof is now on the floor!

[Leslie]

Very cool! Can't say that I can just go and view castles near by unless I make a dirt castle in my backyard. Great work!

[pjerry]

What a beautiful series Nick, the atmosphere is excellent. The framing is good and the b/w conversion I do like too.
Just one thing, the colours look a bit odd to me. The grass is so blue. Is that the true colour or a result of the filter (although a GND should not do anything with the grass)?

[jeeperman]

Nicely done Nick, I knew you would come up with some good ones after your scouting trip.

[jiro]

Awesome shots, Nick. I really like #4 and #5. The scenery on your side of the pond is just great!

[nickjohnson]

Thanks Leslie, Pierre, Paul, and Jiro - greatly appreciated.
@pierre I can see what you mean about the grass colour, especially in #5. It's not a direct result of the filter. However, it may be the result of my efforts to ETTR and then re-balance the shot. Either that or I just got to keen with the sliders!
Either way I will have another go and post here if it's of interest.

[Stevewebb]

Number 5 is my favourite. Great job Nick.

[chrisc]

Had a go with #5 in three regards: one, toned down the blues. Two, softened the foreground grasses with a very slight guassian blur. Three, gave the grass a 33% Jiro effect, then flattened the whole edit and pasted it over your original at 33%.

(I am still not completely confident with my new monitor and am trying it out on a lot of different images until I know for sure it is completely accurate.)



Nick: Note on your original image there is a small red-orange dot in that litte dip in the grasses right on the left side of the image.

[nickjohnson]

Thanks Steve & Chris.
I've had another go at #5. It's a little different in the crop - and is a completely new pp. I've reduced the contrast in the grass - but kept that area light since I like it that way rather than the darker high contrast look Chris has gone for. I've also taken a lot of blue out in an effort to re-balance the mist.

#5 redone.

[Barry]

I like your edited version of image 5.

[nickjohnson]

Thanks Barry.

[rickwu]

Great shot. and great place

[nickjohnson]

Thank you Rick(?). Sorry if I missed your introduction message. If you've not done one yet maybe now is a good time?