Foggy winter morning

[Cem_Usakligil]

While browsing through my catalogs, I have come across this picture of a foggy winter morning from a couple of years ago. It prints OK (which I have tried) but it does not come across well when viewed on screen. I was wondering whether it works for you or not.

​

Cheers,

 

[fahim mohammed]

Cem, it is foggy, though lacks a bit of contrast( very gentle ) on my screen. It could also be that my specs need cleaning!

Take care.

 

[Michael Fontana]

Cem
I agree with Fahim, and found it a bit between chair and table, and I' d like to see a version with either more white - beeing °lost° in the fog - or then darker.

 

[StuartRae]

Hi Cem,

I like it as it is. Sure, if you do an auto levels in PS it becomes much more defined, but then it loses the essential 'fogginess". I can imagine it as a large print upon which I could gaze and drift off...............
A bit like Dylan's Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands. I have to listen to it with the lights off

Regards,
Stuart

 

[Mike Shimwell]

Cem

I've played with this a little bit and my first thought was to make it very slightly brighter and to add a very little contrast, bu it doesn't work. As Stuart says, you lose the mood of the image. Even without improving the definition the extra brightnes changes things completely and takes away the atmosphere.

I'm interested in what you printed on - I imagine this on some nice matte paper to further enhance the softness of the image?

Mike

 

[Asher Kelman]

While browsing through my catalogs, I have come across this picture of a foggy winter morning from a couple of years ago. It prints OK (which I have tried) but it does not come across well when viewed on screen. I was wondering whether it works for you or not.

​

Cheers,

Important. Will comment later.

Well I'm back. Why do I think this is important. This reminds me of a wonderful picture of folk skating on a frozen river or canal in "The Low Countries" by an up and coming young photographer. In any case, Cem, this is so different from your growing series of photographs of interiors with portals where we think of time past or time to come and choices we have or don't have in our life. Here, like the picture of the happy skaters, we can breathe in the cold air and time can stop for a while as we get refreshed by the value of living right now for this moment. Art must elicit some array of feelings, stir our spirits and move us to create what isn't there, what's between and deeper and beyond what we see. Here, this work achieves that evocative quality and it works as art.

So how can it be improved. Only by printing and reprinting after minor adjustments and viewing the large print in different lighting. It might be that you would be so brave and brazen as to add some color tint to parts of the picture, but any change is dangerous. I'd look for any features which might become more interesting with more emphasis but this is extremely hard to do. I have tried this before on a gentle picture by Dwayne Oakes of Pine Forrest with a deer. I think I succeeded, but did I remove the softness and in fact degrade it? Only the author can say!

Asher

 

[Rachel Foster]

It reminds me of a shot I did some 18 months ago. I've been quite fond of it.

 

[Charles L Webster]

Simply delightful! Elegant, understated, and posing a question... something hidden by the fog.

Thanks

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Cem, it is foggy, though lacks a bit of contrast( very gentle ) on my screen. It could also be that my specs need cleaning.

Cem
I agree with Fahim, and found it a bit between chair and table, and I' d like to see a version with either more white - beeing °lost° in the fog - or then darker.

Hi Fahim, Michael,

Thanks for your comments. I have had similar ideas when I first started to convert the image from raw. Especially, I wanted to increase the exposure and add some kind of definition by using (local) contrast enhancements. But believe me, it all took away from the picture. Especially the fogginess is getting lost if any contrast is added. This is the purest I can get to the feeling I have had when standing there myself, i.e. by adjusting the exposure and wb minimally and adding no contrast or sharpening.

Hi Cem,

I like it as it is. Sure, if you do an auto levels in PS it becomes much more defined, but then it loses the essential 'fogginess". I can imagine it as a large print upon which I could gaze and drift off...............
A bit like Dylan's Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands. I have to listen to it with the lights off

As you can read in my answer above, you've hit the nail on the head Stuart.

Cem

I've played with this a little bit and my first thought was to make it very slightly brighter and to add a very little contrast, bu it doesn't work. As Stuart says, you lose the mood of the image. Even without improving the definition the extra brightnes changes things completely and takes away the atmosphere.

I'm interested in what you printed on - I imagine this on some nice matte paper to further enhance the softness of the image?

Mike

Hi Mike,
Again, you are very right. In order to keep the mood, I could not do any of those things such as contrast. I have printed it on matte indeed, Epson Velvet Fine Art paper with my 3800. It looks very good on paper, almost like watercolor painting.

Cheers,

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

... In any case, Cem, this is so different from your growing series of photographs of interiors with portals where we think of time past or time to come and choices we have or don't have in our life. Here, like the picture of the happy skaters, we can breathe in the cold air and time can stop for a while as we get refreshed by the value of living right now for this moment. Art must elicit some array of feelings, stir our spirits and move us to create what isn't there, what's between and deeper and beyond what we see. Here, this work achieves that evocative quality and it works as art.

Hi Asher,

I have tried to keep the feeling which I have had when standing there in the picture. To make the looker wonder what kind of magical world lies behind those horses, grazing peacefully in the cold morning on frozen grass.

...So how can it be improved. Only by printing and reprinting after minor adjustments and viewing the large print in different lighting. It might be that you would be so brave and brazen as to add some color tint to parts of the picture, but any change is dangerous. I'd look for any features which might become more interesting with more emphasis but this is extremely hard to do. I have tried this before on a gentle picture by Dwayne Oakes of Pine Forrest with a deer. I think I succeeded, but did I remove the softness and in fact degrade it? Only the author can say!

I did not add any color tints or the like. The pp is minimal and consists of: slight rotation for the horizon and crop a bit from the bottom, slight exposure, no contrast or clarity, lighten the exposure on the foreground slightly to prevent it from claiming too much interest. Any other things I have tried took the atmosphere away.

Cheers,

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

It reminds me of a shot I did some 18 months ago. I've been quite fond of it.

Why don't you show us, please?
Cheers,

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Simply delightful! Elegant, understated, and posing a question... something hidden by the fog.

Thanks

Thank you Chas. I was afraid that the web version would not be able to communicate those signals properly but apparently it does to the knowing eyes of all of you.

Cheers,

 

[karlo reyes]

While browsing through my catalogs, I have come across this picture of a foggy winter morning from a couple of years ago. It prints OK (which I have tried) but it does not come across well when viewed on screen. I was wondering whether it works for you or not.

​

Cheers,

Cheers Cem!

When i saw the thread you opened I was excited to see what your work looks like.. However, this image disappointed me in some way. I'm a newbie to landscape photography and pls bare with the comments of my inexperienced eye.

First of all the subject at hand is a bit vague. I dont know what to look at if its the cloudy horizon or tha barren fields.

Composition wise, there's to much dull space on the left specially the 2/3 parts of the image. I would appreciate more of the road on the right but cropping it up to the 3rd pole from the left will not do it.

Human element could have saved this image perhaps a farmer or a cow walking on the road. But in this image not even a visible/clear mangy donkey is present. I know you have other images of this lovely scene and I would surely love to see them.

much respect,
karlo

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Cheers Cem!

When i saw the thread you opened I was excited to see what your work looks like.. However, this image disappointed me in some way. I'm a newbie to landscape photography and pls bare with the comments of my inexperienced eye.

First of all the subject at hand is a bit vague. I dont know what to look at if its the cloudy horizon or tha barren fields.

Composition wise, there's to much dull space on the left specially the 2/3 parts of the image. I would appreciate more of the road on the right but cropping it up to the 3rd pole from the left will not do it.

Human element could have saved this image perhaps a farmer or a cow walking on the road. But in this image not even a visible/clear mangy donkey is present. I know you have other images of this lovely scene and I would surely love to see them.

much respect,
karlo

Hi Karlo,

I appreciate your open and honest opinion about this picture, thank you very much.
The main goal of this picture is to convey the feelings I've had when I was there. These were, among others:
1) Isolation & Emptiness
2) Peace & Tranquility
3) Beauty of nature.
4) The frost and all other elements being in a fragile state only to be disturbed when the sun rises in the sky a bit later. How transient an equilibrium can be.

So the dull space in the picture is about the feeling of isolation and emptiness. The same goes for not adding an human element. This is not a picture which is "made" to be interesting with a lot of contrast and a pop to it. This is about removing all distractions and reproducing the purity of the scene.

Just out of curiosity: you mention adding even a cow or a donkey. Did you not see the two horses in the background then?

Thanks again,

 

[karlo reyes]

Hi Karlo,

1) Isolation & Emptiness
2) Peace & Tranquility
3) Beauty of nature.
4) The frost and all other elements being in a fragile state only to be disturbed when the sun rises in the sky a bit later. How transient an equilibrium can be.

Just out of curiosity: you mention adding even a cow or a donkey. Did you not see the two horses in the background then?

Thanks again,

Hi cem,

Given these feelings you stated it all now made sense. But still, just thinking out loud, even if I feel that way or even in the mood your having there I would try to compose the image properly. I think the idea of Composition still applies to that.

About the horses at the back, i did saw them that's why i defined it as "clear/visible" because to me it looks like something but far from a horse. Again, this image doesn't work for me or maybe I'm just expecting a lot from you since you give excellent discussions and points here in the forum.

much respect,
karlo

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

...Given these feelings you stated it all now made sense. But still, just thinking out loud, even if I feel that way or even in the mood your having there I would try to compose the image properly. I think the idea of Composition still applies to that.

I am sorry to hear that the image does not work for you, but there is nothing I can do about. it. I respectfully disagree with the statement that I haven't composed "properly".

...About the horses at the back, i did saw them that's why i defined it as "clear/visible" because to me it looks like something but far from a horse.

Already in my original post I have mentioned the fact that the image doesn't come across well when viewed on the screen, also due to the size reduction. So you cannot see the horses in much detail, I know that. But they are there and that it all that matters.

.... Again, this image doesn't work for me or maybe I'm just expecting a lot from you since you give excellent discussions and points here in the forum.

Reading your last sentence, I get the impression that you think this is the first picture I ever posted here in OPF. Why else would you comment that "you expect a lot from me since I give excellent C&C here in the forum"? I can assure you that I post a lot of pictures besides giving C&C in OPF.

Cheers,

 

[Rachel Foster]

Why don't you show us, please?
Cheers,

Ok! I've posted them before I think, but there are two I'm fond of. These were taken January, 2008.

 

[karlo reyes]

Ok! I've posted them before I think, but there are two I'm fond of. These were taken January, 2008.

[I like] it Rachel! the long winding road, the hazy end makes me feel lost, empty and cold already!

 

[karlo reyes]

hi cem,

I replied already to your private message. There's so much Light to share and Landscapes to capture. More light to us all!

much respect,
karlo

 

[Rachel Foster]

Thank you, Karlo. I get lucky once in a while.

 

[Asher Kelman]

The delicate imagined scene and the richness of the indefinite!

Cem,

I must admit I keep returning to your picture and finding more.

​

Now I see the horses immediately and it's not me peering into the mist but rather wondering about the world they see. Obviously, the mind does not start from the beginning and also it seems that my brain was continuing to work on the mysteries. How we obsess about edge distortion, vignetting, contrast and resolution! We slave for definition and clarity. Here, such ideas have little meaning. The richness of the indefinite seems eminently more entertaining!!

Asher

 

[karlo reyes]

Cem,

I must admit I keep returning to your picture and finding more.

Now I see the horses immediately and it's not me peering into the mist but rather wondering about the world they see. Obviously, the mind does not start from the beginning and also it seems that my brain was continuing to work on the mysteries. How we obsess about edge distortion, vignetting, contrast and resolution! We slave for definition and clarity. Here, such ideas have little meaning. The richness of the indefinite seems eminently more entertaining!!

I agree to this one! I can learn something from this image. Now, all i need is a scene just like this or atleast something close to this, then I'll Immediately post it here. Would be glad to hear from you guys! Photography, its concept, is really big and its just not enough to have an understanding based on clarity and definition alone. More light to us all!

 

[Cedric MASSOULIER]

Hi,

This picture by Cem is a great picture and i think a big format print should be delightfull to watch. All is white and fog, imagination is the queen.

Cedric.

 

[nicolas claris]

Cem
this picture is so delicate! and -as usual- so precisely framed…

Now you Bxxxxxd! you let us remember that end of fall is arriving and I feel cold too much in advance! ;-)

BTW: what did you exclude? sky or grass? I just wonder what was on the full frame (not asking for you to post it though, unless you whish so