[Rolf]

Out for a hike... the views are really majestic... not sure if I have caught the moment...

Do any of these work as a landscape image of mountains? I have them in colour but thought the drama was more effective in B&W

Comments very welcome. All taken on Mk l Canon 5D

   
Lens Canon ef 70-200 f2.8L IS Mk ll @ 100mm
F- 8 @ 1/60th
ISO 400
   
Lens- Canon ef 15mm f 2.8 Fish eye
F- 13@ 1/640th
ISO- 400
   
Lens- Canon ef 24-105 f4L IS @ 24mm
F- 9 @ 1/60th
ISO 400
   
Lens Canon ef 70-200 f2.8L IS Mk ll @ 100mm
F- 13 @ 1/800th
ISO 400

Kind regards

Rolf

[EdMak]

Nice pics Rolf. On my monitor, they look a bit hard, (too contrasty). Here is one that looks much better on mine. My thoughts. Cheers. Ed.

[Rolf]

Thanks Ed... appreciate the comment and resend. I have not done post yet - just opened and hit B&W, resized and sent for comment... I do like what you have done though... however, I do I like contrast... I set up my camera to deliver as much contrast as it can... other than my studio camera which is set to much less.... ladies portraits... :-) Pics in the Mountains at this time are very odd... a lot of low cloud and cloud in bands at differing altitudes... overcast as if it's going to snow yet bright sun from the opposite side! I came here first as a military pilot... from 8000ft this land is B&W and stark! Always like to grab shots when I could, but the contrast of light and shadow always confused the EV...

Here are two more...
   
   

I can have a go at the others ... but wait to see if there are others who would like to comment.

Thanks again

Kind regards

Rolf

[Rolf]

The mountain tops are over 6 miles away too... which really doesn't help clarity but the air quality here is good so not to much definition loss... like you would in say London or a big city in China! The scale is also nothing like anything in the UK... nearest would be the Austrian/Italian Alps...

Kind regards

Rolf

[EdMak]

These two are close as I would print in darkroom. Cheers. Ed.

[Rolf]

I miss the smell of ID 11.... :-( Thanks Ed.. appreciate your time to look and comment

Kind regards

Rolf

[EdMak]

A mt. tune up? Ed.

[Rolf]

Hmm detail starting to suffer in the trees m'thinks... always difficult to fiddle with very thin negs!

Kind regards

Rolf

[Rolf]

That Mountain is just over 8500ft... the one in the Vermillion Lake shot is Rundle at very close to 10,000! Our Lynx helo's had a ceiling of 10,400ft so we always went round them!!

Kind regards

Rolf

[EnglishBob]

Spectacular Scenery, great series. Nothing to add!

[Plantsman]

Spectacular Scenery, great series. Nothing to add!

Me also, great scenery. I would like to see a couple in colour though.

[MrB]

Spectacular Scenery, great series. Nothing to add!

Me also, great scenery. I would like to see a couple in colour though.

I agree in part, but I would love to see them all in colour - I think that would help to contrast the different types of scenery and sky, both within and between the different images.

Cheers.
Philip

[Rolf]

Ok... so - colour...
   
   
   
   

There is not a lot of colour in many mountain views in the winter time... it's mostly greys and blacks with either grey skies or intense blue... Odd to photograph... I struggled in Norway with similar colours in the mountains and Fiords... Better colours during summer and further down as more varied vegetation is seen... see what you think... an tips for better composition...?

Kind regards

Rolf

[MrB]

Again, it's a matter of personal preference, but I do think they are better in colour. Where there are evergreen trees, there is plenty of green to bring out of the dark regions, which contrasts well with the bleak coldness of the snow, e.g. -

   

[ The last JPEG from post #13 processed in Adobe Camera Raw in Elements 10. ]

Cheers.
Philip

[Rolf]

Thanks MrB... I see what you mean but... these trees are really a dark olive green.... almost like the drab dark green of military camo... They just aren't bright green. I also know that you prefer lighter images with little shadows...
The shot was taken at 19:20 so light was just not there to highlight the trees or the whole area so much... I know they are dark... The evening was dark and getting towards night time. (I had used +1/3EV in camera to lift the whole a little anyway) and very gloomy... twilight and snow on it's way... perhaps not the best time to have taken the shot but I thought it would work in B&W just because it was taken in not the best light? That all said, thank you for taking the time to let me see your perspective and resend it, very much appreciated.

Kind regards

Rolf

[Rolf]

I found this of the same region - it's a commercial shot from the web... For whatever reason the evergreens at a distance really are not a bright light green... they just don't seem to reflect a lot of green light... I have no details for the shot and it is watermarked. I would guess at late February early March around mid afternoon. (Acknowledge winter-in-the-rockies-laurence-subra-bieusses.jpg (127.19 KB))
   

The second too is from the web... (acknowledging "Bower. The Oregonian Views of the Canadian Rockies"). This is a shot from 90 degrees left of my shot posted before the Vermillion Lake pic that you resent. It is of Banff in the valley with Buffalo Mountain directly behind it and Rundle rising just a little under 10,000ft behind that. Again, no details but looks like march early April and maybe mid morning.

   

I send these for comparison so you may have a better understanding of what this country looks like in winter and it's forests...

Always a pleasure...

Kind regards

Rolf

[EdMak]

Personally still prefer the B & W, age related?

This is another take, the trees at least should be straight. Cheers. Ed.

[Rolf]

I think I agree re the B&W ... we are close in age so that angle may have a bearing... When a scene is so low on colour it lends itself to B&W ... the trees don't grow that straight either LOL! But I get what you are about... come to Calgary... glad to host and come see the mountains...

Kind regards

Rolf

[EnglishBob]

Having now seen both, I'll take the B&W, the color just seems a little "odd".

[snaphappy]

Gorgeous scenery Rolf. I prefer the black & white, as you say they show how stark and cold it is. Also the b & w show more detail in the mountains. Lovely pics and you are very lucky to have such scenery. I do not like photo editing too much, preferring to see the photo "as it really is". Good work.

Regards
Jane

[Rolf]

Having now seen both, I'll take the B&W, the colour just seems a little "odd".

When you get these really blue skies... I'm sure you get them in California too... and winter in the snow covered mountains... everything gets a blue cast... but, when that image gets progressively altered as a low res image odd things start to happen to the pixels happy places...
Even commercial photography of very similar places have the same issues... maybe I better stick to pics of furry things...

Thanks for the time to comment... appreciate it

Kind regards

Rolf

[Rolf]

Gorgeous scenery Rolf. I prefer the black & white, as you say they show how stark and cold it is. Also the b & w show more detail in the mountains. Lovely pics and you are very lucky to have such scenery. I do not like photo editing too much, preferring to see the photo "as it really is". Good work.

Regards
Jane

Hi Jane Thank you for your kind remarks. I am fortunate and really pleased to live here and have the environment around me that there is... but for all it's grandeur I still miss the English and Irish countryside...
I try very hard to get my images without having to apply post production methods... It's what Henri Cartier-Bresson always did and I admired his work for that and try to emulate him in that respect. I do crop if it will work... usually to show a subject better to overcome the fact I don't own an 800 or 1200mm lens! ( I wish!!) I am so with you in seeing things as they were when the shutter released... Many I know here in Calgary, take any old shots and hundreds of them and spend days in front of their computers with one image manipulation software or another sorting out their images... many ending up pleasing them but looking very overdone and unrealistic - well, to me anyway. I also admit to having inadvertently left the WB on tungsten... and out the next day taking the first couple of shots of what turned out to be very blue Deer! So a trip to the PC to change the WB and recover the shots... I just think while you sit and fiddle, the countryside and its wildlife burns ...

Have a great day, thanks for taking time to look and comment

Kind regards

Rolf

[EdMak]

HCB did do post production, he printed it!!
Printing is a skill, as is post Digital production, if nothing else, sharpening it, which HCB could not do, after it was taken! is a necessity to me.

I have about 200 plus, A3 prints, none of which are, as taken. Ed.

[Rolf]

Hi Ed!

Thanks for your comment... I agree that printing is, at least technically, something done after the film was exposed... but I'm talking about the often poor skills displayed by those who use PS,LR etc to try to overcome their shortage of camera skills- over sharpened to try to mask focus issues, and badly fringed... colour saturation beyond reasonable belief without saying it's an image not a photo...fuzzy images because the shooter pushed the limits and got the image ruined with noise and has tried to overcome that with NR as far as the slider will go... Even in my earlier days we did stuff with pointy things, amongst others, on the negs... but not anywhere close to the extent it's done today. I was proud to stand by the photos I took and printed...

I take your last point... but many cameras that are in use today are built to a price... as are their lenses. We both know that you can buy lenses that have better performance than those offered to the consumer market... the cameras that they are attached to have sharpening algorithms but they will be struggling to overcome the inadequacies of low quality glass, shutter lag, shake etc. It's all a question of what an individual is happy with or has to accept as a function of cost constraints. I am very fortunate in that I now, after years of collecting, only have "L" series glass... and the 1 series Canon cameras I have now, have great in camera settings that largely allow me to take pics without much in the way of post enhancement.
I would think if HCB was still alive, he may well still eschew the ability to enhance his photos that belied his skills as a photographer.
All that said, you can have the best camera and glass that this world has to offer... but without the skill to use it, you will always have shots that don't do well... and conversely, I have been blown away by the quality of some work that has been shot on a point and shoot! So, as you rightly say, "to each, his own" and thanks again for your time and comments which I very much appreciate

Kind regards

Rolf