• Members 1516 posts
    April 1, 2025, 7:47 p.m.

    I like this one a lot. Interesting way of acheiving a similar effect to some of my efforts with ICM. I'm unclear what you mean about ND filters - they can be used in many different situations, but mainly to lengthen exposure to allow for whatever effect you may be looking for - in my case allowing ICM in relatively bright conditions, in which case every shot is different, and every photographer's interpretation is different too.

  • Members 2812 posts
    April 2, 2025, 3:26 a.m.

    The first two are interesting, but the last one is powerful. It is filled with untold story. Well composed with good balance, contrast and geometry. It is the sort of rare image I would buy to display, but it would also have good potential as a book cover.

  • Members 2812 posts
    April 2, 2025, 3:29 a.m.

    A successful experiment. The second one, with its warm colors and delicate overlay, is really lovely.

  • Members 2812 posts
    April 2, 2025, 3:35 a.m.

    Lovely result. I often aim for this type of look but only very rarely achieve anything close.

  • Members 2812 posts
    April 2, 2025, 3:45 a.m.

    Thank you for these comments, they are exactly what I hope a viewer will see. The dam is my obsession, both for the birds who provide endless entertainment and opportunity, and for the weird geometries of the ugly concrete construction.

  • Members 2646 posts
    April 2, 2025, 8:02 a.m.

    These are spectacular. I can see that many variations might be popular with changes in water depth and lighting.

  • Members 2646 posts
    April 2, 2025, 8:10 a.m.

    I liked these enormously. While I play with ICM, it woudn't have occured to me to combine multiple exposures with ICM. Thanks Woodsider79 for the images and the explanation. It's a technique I want to try. If my results are half as good as these I'll be very happy.

  • Members 2646 posts
    April 2, 2025, 8:24 a.m.

    A suggestion. This is a rich diet of quite different images where you have experimented in different ways. One a week is plenty to keep everyone occupied with feedback.
    1 is my favourite. The wow comes from your very unusual but ultra effective composition. The subjects have a trunk down the left hand edge and then right across the top. I don't recall an image, and I've seen a lot of them, composed like this. Add the bends in the trunks and the horizontal lines of the branches across the top and the blurred grasses. The impression of wind movement is simply fabulous.

  • Members 2646 posts
    April 2, 2025, 8:27 a.m.

    A very neat effect. I can imagine lots of uses for this as long as it is used sparingly.

  • Members 359 posts
    April 2, 2025, 9:10 a.m.

    Missed these two. Second one is working, but not sure about the closer fence, the second fence works in scale but the first seems like a barrier even in the photo.

  • Members 359 posts
    April 2, 2025, 9:58 a.m.

    Know what you mean, but it's kinda one of those "resonant subjects" that's become almost a motif because so many people have tapped into it. Like the "lone tree"... This one's on South Uist, but there are a number of derelicts in the Outer Hebrides that were abandoned mainly because they weren't always nice places to live. Poignant because they often still have some of the personal touches like curtains, stoves, pots and pans decaying which makes them more than just a shell.

    One (idea) a week it shall be...

    The first looks very balanced to me, but I don't think the composition can be explained with lines. The shot was deliberately "anchored" by keeping the tree trunks static and relatively sharp, that was the point of focus. The strength of the wind/movement I've tried to convey with the overarching (and progressive from l - r) curve. Storms tower above us, we hunker down to shelter so the idea that the wind gets stronger as you move up seems to fit. Curves also are good indicators of tension, especially when the ends become detached from the frame which you get a little with some of the branches. I think this also gives you a "scale" against the static trunk, certainly seemed to me when I was editing that the impression of the wind was linked to how far I warped the top of the image. So really the static against the tension. I also think the light and dark balance and make visual sense as light and shadow, and I love the yellow flowers and thistle that are like a progression.

    That's my take.