Edinburgh

[Martyn]

The kids bought theatre tickets for me and the missus in Edinburgh. So to take full advantage of two days away I did a Google search for the best shots of the city, then tried to recreate them and invent a few of my own. I had clear blue skies, but the sun was very low.

 

 

With the sun over my right shoulder the National Monument was an easy shoot. No idea who the guy with no shirt was!

 

 

Taken from the terrace outside the National Gallery; the Scott Monument, the Balmoral and North Bridge

 

 

The Ross Fountain and the Castle. This was a difficult shot with the sun only just out of the picture. I had my wife stood so she was casting her shadow across the front of my lens to reduce the flare. Not entirely happy with this shot, would love to have gone back at sunset but the Lion King wouldn't wait.

 

 

 

 

[bugmeister]

Three very good shots.

The first one is enhanced by the person giving a sense of scale that would otherwise be unknowable.

The second is full of detail and contrasting elements

and the third is a little surreallistic with the clear fountain and the slightly washy castle in the background.

 

If I had to choose a favourite, it would have to be number 2 because of the size and clarity of the view.

[NannyFerret]

To get views like this and then to round the day off with the LIon King. It must have been a very enjoyable day all round.

[Kobione]

Lovely pictures, Martyn, agree with Bugs - the figure really helps give perspective in the first, great view in the second, especially the elaborate peak against the sky, and lovely detail in the last with the more 'gentle' background.

[annie]

what a very nice man to appear in the first shot, he gives the picture a fantastic sense of perspective. love all three of these pictures martyn..

[Heather]

love one and three for the same reasons that bugs has stated plus no 1 almost seems to leap off the screen at me

 

no 2 although there is lots of detail in it, doesnt do anything for me, i dont know if its the lack of a particular focal point or not but i feel my eye wanders over the picture and off onto something else 

[Martyn]

Thank you all for the comments, I've learnt a lot from them believe it or not. These shots were all taken to try and reproduce what some of the pro photographers have done in the city.

 

When I first saw shot #1 I didn't really like it, too two dimensional for me with no real foreground detail. I suppose if you are a Scot you would just see your National monument and feel proud. Having said that, I did clone out a man having a pee against it. I agree that the shirtless figure adds a sense of scale to it.

 

 

 

 

no 2 although there is lots of detail in it, doesnt do anything for me, i dont know if its the lack of a particular focal point or not but i feel my eye wanders over the picture and off onto something else 

 

I agree Heather, I think if I had moved further to the left to move the three main features closer together and then cropped tighter it would have given a better focal point and a strong diagonal across the frame. The only reason I didn't do that was because of scaffolding and fabrication work for the Christmas market.

 

#3 I'm using this shot as an excuse to go back to Edinburgh some time. I think with the right lighting this could have been a great picture, a lesson in patience and perseverance I think!