Mike I love the pictures. What's that lens? Is it the Voigtlander Cosina again?What's the adapter you are using and where did it come from?
How are you processing the images to B&W, they seem dark but, really, it's likely good blacks rather than bad exposure, but I'm not sure.
What's the name of the plant in the first image? When using the lens wide open like that, one is usually choosing one part of the field. Here, the platform of the complex flower formation is merely imaged from the side. Also we do not see the whole stem of the plant, which from this perspective we might expect. This is perhaps a pity since it's likely more interesting. Also the rest of the picture, both foreground and b.g. is hardly defined.
Still this picture is captivating. Is there a reason for the particular composition. It can have a meaning but we'd need a title or some reference to a controlling idea. Probably it is what it is and there is no other meaning intended.
The second image shows how well the lens draws the tonalities one needs in the sign. The result is impressive. The two pictures, side by side might make people stop and discuss meaning if they were in an expensive gallery. Was it your intention to have these two images considered together each with a lone asymmetrical object in focus?
The last two pictures show an excellent spread of shading except that it appears to me that the lower blacks are limited. I do like the bridge but would love to see it with more foreground showing more of what leads up to the bridge. Also I 'd like to have something in the lower right anchoring the picture and a reference point for what is revealed beyond it.
Altogether, a wonderful sharing of your walk and you lens.
Asher
Hi Asher,
Now I've settled with a glass of beer
the lens is the (Cosina) Zeiss Distagon 2/35 ZF (i.e. Nikon mount) to give it it's rather bulky full name and I'm using an adaptor off ebay. I've also got a Roxsen adaptor that works similarly well. I love the way it draws and its amazing flare resistance, plus the smoothness of the focus transitions. The only thing that I find awkward is focusing it on the 5D, although the focus confirm chip seems to work fairly well. It's not helped because I also tend to use it between f2 and f4 most of the time, so there's not really much room for error.
These images were all processed just in Lighroom (a bit more needed before I print them) and converted to B&W using the grayscale function, but then adjusting the tonality with the HSL (luminance) sliders for each shade. I also adjusted black point and used a bit of curves adjustment to give the images some weight. Thy aren't under exposed but I have pulled down some of the tonality on purpose - but may need to alter that a bit before printing.
(Just as an aside, I've been doing most of my recent printing on Ilford Gold Fibre Silk and find it holds a much better tonal range in the shadows than previous papers, and particularly compared to matte papers).
The plant in the first picture is called Cow Parsley and is apparently both edible and, unfortunately, can be confused with another plant - Hemlock Waterdropwart - which is deadly poisonous. It's prolific in every area of England I've visited. The composition is what it is - though I read a comment in 'The Genius...' last night about images having/achieveing different meanings from any intended by the artist. The lower part of the stem was partially obscured by grasses and I was quite taken by the oof structure of other plants behind. In the second the sign fomed an anchor and some detail for the compostion which let me defocus the path into the distance. After reading your comment I put them up side by side in LR and found that they do indeed make an interesting pair.
I think that you're right about the bridge, and will have another go. When I get chance I'll post it back here to compare to the original compostion.
Thanks for your comments - I do value them. I've also added a couple more from this morning. One is another B&W which I like, but am less sure of the assymmetric composition and the others are a bit of fun in colour.
Mike
