"Too Many Notes, Mozart"

A Self Critique - "Too Many Pixels, Brian" and musings about HDR.

This week I'm thinking about the  famous complaint of Emperor Joseph II about The Marriage of Figaro - "too many notes, Mozart".

Looking at an image I made last week at one of my favourite locations- the barn on Enfield road, I found myself thinking about the emperor.  What he was saying could easily apply to one of my images this past week - perhaps too many pixels, too overstuffed.

A colourful sunrise, eye-catching colours in the foreground, barns, an interesting composition, lots of mood -I thought this a good effort all round.  Then, the image was not working at all.    It looked underexposed and simply overloaded with colour and overstuffed with too many different "actors" ( I learned this term at the Oshawa Camera club.)  Was each actor in the image competing for attention and just creating a confusion?  There are a lot; rich colours, barns, the tree, the yellow-green vegetation, dark clouds, green field, and that all too broad area of light-brown.  

Simplifying, by taking away the element of colour definitely creates a different dynamic. But has it lost its early morning mood?  Can even the tree be cropped out now as the colourful sky around it is no longer in play?

  No Tree works too:

 But what happened to my "early-morning-mood"?  Better composition, sure, but no glorious colour, and is the subject now just the barn?  Really, the early morning is all about enjoying the light and the colour -why else get up at 5 am!!  Just up the road, behind the barn, I took this one. I like this better:

 As proof, the B&W version,  because there are so few actors and no colour its impact seems very flat:

 Some other examples from the last two weeks:  Seems there are no hard or fast rules here other than the old lesson...for impact keep it simple.

And a re-visit to Oshawa's Second Marsh:

Trying out Nik's infra red filter

HDR Angst

To help reproduce what my "eye saw" many of the images above have had some HDR (High Dynamic Range) and Nik filter post-processing but I hope its not too obvious. However, these below are clearly grungy HDR.   I'm a big fan of what HDR can do but does this type of HDR take us out of the realm of photography and into what I call "illustration art", and if so, does it really matter?  I can't decide which placement of the hut is better - the first or second image? 

Tobacco kiln, Newcastle.

Visually this next image is very appealing ...  Artistically B&W is an abstraction from 'real' experience so why not this?

Sunrise Worship Cult

The Sunrise Worship cult drafted a new member this past couple of weeks, mainly "yours truly." John, Randy, and I met recently at Lake Ontario's shore south at Courtice, (go south from the 401 on Courtice Road)  where there is easy access and some parking.

Sunrise Worship Cult

  Conditions were quite comfortable and the light and cloud put on quite a lovely show.

At first, quite tricky long exposures were required.  I like the softening of the water this creates but at the same its hard to keep distant features in sharp focus because the lens is stopped down considerably giving time for vibration of the lens which adds blur where you don't want it - on the tree for example.  But later, as the light got stronger it was possible to expose for better effect.

And it always pays to turn around from the direction of the sunrise (sunset too) and see the impact the light is having behind you:

Finding a foreground element is often tough on the shoreline, but sometimes they are right in front of you!

Once again,  using some plugins for B&W and sfx adds a little creative fun:

Heading back up Courtice Road,  the light was good  but changing this image to B&W shows the impact of the light better perhaps.

A few days later, and another sunrise, the early light  as expected was just perfect for these derelict tobacco-drying huts north of Bowmanville. 

The Bleary-Eyed Photographer

Don't try this at home - can be dangerous

Unlike some of my photographer-friends I find myself unable to rise before 5 am driving to catch the best light of the day -the dawn. I did, however, manage it this weekend.  At first, the whole enterprise I thought was going to for nought, as I drove bleary- eyed through light rain with heavy cloud cover.  I kept going, as in the distance I saw some hope of light and colour.

Dark clouds were everywhere- only some light on the far horizon.

North of Newcastle, Concession 6

Disappointed I headed for home but in less than 20 minutes there was some wonderful skies starting to appear. If only I had more patience. 

Courtice-Taunton Road- Pringle's Farm

These shots required a Lee graduated ND filter. It was good to have more experience with the Lee's.

Courtice Road - Dawn Fireworks

This past week there was some fun with a '58 Chevy and an old pickup truck.

Or how about B&W?

This is a low-key version with an orton overlay effect . . .

Or even a little "midnight overlay"

Super HDR?

and the old truck - 

OK back to the peaceful, rural landscape in mid-summer Courtice:

On the Bike Again . . .

Out on the bike again in Clarington.  The "big landscape"  is, most pros will say, the toughest image to work at because you need to create depth with a strong foreground "actor" or use light for the same effect.  A little light on the road helped do this here because a strong foreground element is lacking.

Base Line Road West, Courtice

I like this a lot better as the flowers add some interest at the bottom and the eye is led across the scene by light and colour-  too bad it was taken late in the morning -the light is too "hot" - need to come back to this location early morning before the yellow has all gone.

Some drastic cropping can also "save" a big image to create a faux panorama effect: as the eye has to move laterally and the trees on the horizon give a sense distance and depth.

A true panorama ( a series of exposures "stitched" together) is better perhaps, like on this headstone:

Another panoramic-crop-for-effect on a fence -

Looking for patterns and interesting lighting is dangerous when biking on a busy road.

Old CP tracks at Courtice Road.

Solina Road Farm

Trulls Road, Courtice

It has been quite surprising what interesting photo opportunities you can find within a couple of kilometers of your own home.  Freeman Patterson is validated!

Holt Road, Clarington