Willy Lott's Cottage

[DaveS]

Willy Lott's Cottage Mill at Flatford Mill in Suffolk, as featured in John Constable's famous  painting 'The Hay Wain

 

Willy Lott was a local farmer and close friend of the Constable Family.

 

Taken at evening time, with the sun quite low, and the camera mounted on a tripod.

 

Canon EOS 7D + Sigma 18-55mm f/2.8 EX.  1/16th at f/11 and ISO100.

 

Dave

 

 

 

 

[bugmeister]

That's a lovely summer evening scene, but for me the upper half is just a little bit washed out although the lower half, in shadow, looks fine.

[DaveS]

I have to agree 'Buggsy', it really needed an ND filter, to pull the sky and the light coloured cottage down a bit.

 

A bit of a 'juggling act', as the water in the foreground was in heavy shade, and as such quite dark.

 

I'll have a 'play' with the image in CS.

 

Dave

[annie]

lovely dave...brings back memories of a very happy day out for me. I took a picture of this scene on my very first trip out with my hs20..i managed to chop the chimney off..lol.

 

it's a truly lovely place is flatford and it's surrounding area, well worth seeing. I have never seen anything like the goings on in the river, cows in the water, dogs in the water, boats and kids in the water all together at the same time, wonderful to see people just enjoying themselves and to hell with health and safety.. and to see people lugging tables and chairs to the river bank to set up where the hell they liked for picnics and bbq's was amazing. I shall have to go and pick over some of my pics now...!

[DaveS]

Glad its a nostalgic scene for you Annie.

 

I've lived in this area for many years, but I never tire of the scenery.  It is a paradise for the landscape photographer.

 

'Buggsy', unfortunately the sky is quite burnt out, and the only real way of bringing it back into balance, is to replace it, but that's cheating.

 

I'll have to get down to the location again (its only a 10 min drive), and redo this scene.

 

Maybe invest in graduated ND filters.

 

Dave

,

[annie]

10 minute drive....i'm suitably jealous!

 

do you have any shots of Dedham it's self, I really fell in love with Dedham..

[bugmeister]

Shame it can't be retrieved, the scene itself is really serene and relaxing.   Good luck with a retake, hope the light cooperates.

[ChrisLumix]

The composition is wonderful, but would you mind me saying it's over-exposed? Just needs a strong touch of the Highlights slider, I think.

[DaveS]

 would you mind me saying it's over-exposed?.

 

Not at all Chris, to me, constructive criticism is just how forums should be.

 

On my astro imaging forum, we actively encourage this, as opposed to the 'mutual back patting' so often seen on forums.

 

It didn't respond very well to the highlight slider, in fact it actually introduced artefacts in the sky, which you should be able to see if you look closely.

 

I think the image is pretty much a 'right off' really.

 

Dave

[ChrisLumix]

Not at all Chris, to me, constructive criticism is just how forums should be.

 

On my astro imaging forum, we actively encourage this, as opposed to the 'mutual back patting' so often seen on forums.

 

It didn't respond very well to the highlight slider, in fact it actually introduced artefacts in the sky, which you should be able to see if you look closely.

 

I think the image is pretty much a 'right off' really.

 

Dave

 

Definitely not a write-off!!

 

I've been a bit cheeky and had a quick play with it - masked off the sky and then applied the Highlights slider:

 

 

The sky still looks slightly wrong, but it's too good a composition to trash. Perhaps you could cheat creatively and merge in a sky from another shot, that's right for the time of day and direction of shot? It would look really good.

 

(In fact, you could even reduce the highlights a little more than I did).

[DaveS]

The rainbow shaped artefacts are still visible in the sky Chris.

 

As the location is only just down the road from me, I just need to make the time to go down there and have another play.

 

Annie, oddly enough I don't have any 'shots' of Dedham, apart from the river 'shot' that I posted a few days ago.

 

Dave

[Korky]

Dave

 

I'm fully with you re the constructive criticism - the 'mutual back patting' as you call it doesn't really do anyone any good.

 

Of course, crit needs to be constructive and intelligent - comments that criticise but don't offer any suggestions as to how the shot might be improved are useless.

 

Glad you mentioned it!

 

Korky

[DaveS]

Absolutely 'Korky', its all part of the on going 'learning process'. The constructive views of others can be a valuable asset to the process, and I always welcome them.

 

Without this, a photography (or astro imaging) forum, becomes 'just another place to post your latest image', in essence another Flickr.

 

I know that some folk are reluctant to offer constructive criticism, for fear of causing offence, and I have seen  people on some astro imaging forums, get very tetchy. Sad really.

 

Comments like "fantastic image", when its anything but, are quite common on some astro imaging forums, and as you say, it has no value at all.

 

We don't subscribe to this culture on my forum, and its good to see that folk here also offer constructive criticism where its valid.

 

I haven't been here long, but already really like company, and the honesty.

 

Great forum!!

 

Dave

[NannyFerret]

I love it! Do they rent it out?

[ChrisLumix]

The rainbow shaped artefacts are still visible in the sky Chris.

 

As the location is only just down the road from me, I just need to make the time to go down there and have another play.

 

Annie, oddly enough I don't have any 'shots' of Dedham, apart from the river 'shot' that I posted a few days ago.

 

Dave

 

That's right - I didn't touch the sky, just masking it out so that reducing highlights in the rest didn't make the sky worse.

 

That's why I suggested that you could 'cheat' by superimposing a sky from a different shot. It would be fairly easy to do - mask out the sky you have, and copy everything else as a separate layer. Add another sky to the mix as a separate layer, and make it the background. Delete the original masked out sky layer and the cottage layer will then sit with a new sky behind it. This new sky layer can then be adjusted so it looks right against the cottage. You could save it with those layers intact, and also save as a jpeg.

[DaveS]

Ok, here's the reprocessed image, complete with a new sky (courtesy of Photoshop), and toned down higlights.

 

Quite a bit of 'artistic licence' applied now, certainly with the regard to the sky, so no longer a "real picture" in the true sense of the word, but good fun anyway.

 

Dave

[ChrisLumix]

Ok, here's the reprocessed image, complete with a new sky (courtesy of Photoshop), and toned down higlights.

 

Quite a bit of 'artistic licence' applied now, certainly with the regard to the sky, so no longer a "real picture" in the true sense of the word, but good fun anyway.

 

Dave

 

What, you mean as in 'the camera never lies'?   

 

I think the picture looks better now, and if no-one saw the original, who'd be any the wiser? It doesn't look processed.

[DaveS]

Thanks Chris.

 

Dave

[FUJI]

That's better, much better.

can't help thinking it would make a good...........Oil Painting?

FUJI

[DaveS]

can't help thinking it would make a good...........Oil Painting?

 

Funny you should say that, as John Constable had the same thought 300 years ago 

 

Dave

[FUJI]

Funny you should say that, as John Constable had the same thought 300 years ago 

 

Dave

That was the intended joke.

FUJI

[DaveS]

That was the intended joke.

FUJI

 

I did 'catch on' Fuji, but thought I'd play along 

 

Dave