Alex walking the West Highland Way (image heavy)

Alex_B · Mar 7, 2007

Well, I just went through some 10 y/o images I took when walking the West Highland Way in Scotland.

They are of fairly mixed quality.

[EDIT]: here is a map for those interested:

1: day 1, Balmaha, Loch Lomond

2: day 3, Loch Lomond

3: day 3, The path

4: day 3, Some wild goat

5: day 3, Loch Lomond

6: day 3, The path and a fallen tree

7: day 3, Island I Vow, Loch Lomond

8: day 3,

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to be continued here : http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=74387

Antarctican · Mar 7, 2007

More more more!!!

Now if looking at these doesn't make one want to go to Scotland, nothing will. What spectacular scenery. And what lovely compositions. I like how you included some of the local wildlife as well.

lostprophet · Mar 7, 2007

me like me like me like
but #7 wins it for me

Tangerini · Mar 7, 2007

Yes please continue! These are very nice! Perhaps this could be another hike for us during our tour of Scotland?

Alex_B · Mar 7, 2007

Tangerini said:
Yes please continue! These are very nice! Perhaps this could be another hike for us during our tour of Scotland?

it is actually the same hike

...

Tangerini · Mar 7, 2007

:shock: Starting at Fort William!? ...um... just how long is this "hike?" :lol:

EBphotography · Mar 7, 2007

Awesome! That looks like such a fun walk! 6 and 7 stand out to me!

Alex_B · Mar 7, 2007

Antarctican said:
More more more!!!

Don't worry .. more to come in the next days

oldnavy170 · Mar 7, 2007

I love #2 and #7.

Alex_B · Mar 8, 2007

OK, Alex, I have to tell you the truth about those images: Most of them show something nice (subject), but technically and composition-wise they are rather poor:

1: Here you totally lost the shadows. That hill on the right is just too heavy and fives this image some annoying imbalance. The composition is really nothing special.

2: Nice composition, howeever, maybe cropped a bit too tight. Again, you totally lost the shadows on the right side of the image, yielding some boring almost black areas. As in 1 this wrecks the balance.

3: Rather saturated colours, but nothing special. This image might reflect that walking was not always easy though.

4: The most important part, the head of the goat has no detail! Also its pose is rather boring and the crop is simply boring, as if you did not know, how to frame the scene.

5: This is actually one of the nicer ones. The composition is rather classical, not exciting, but it appears to work. Just why did you not use a polariser?

6: You have some problem with dynamical range here, but not so bad that it would spoil the image totally. Composition is rather conventional and it is comparable with 3 in some respects.

7: This certainly was a magivc moment ... but why did you not spend more effort to capture it? Composition is OK, but the trees on the right are cut a bit abruptly. You lost some of the highlights in the sky which appear rather blown out.

8: Cute subject, captured in the right moment. But lighting is far from ideal here.

Well, lad, as it appears there is a lot of room to improve and there are some really stupid compositional flaws in these images. Technically some are really poor and you should just know better how to read a light meter. Don't be so lazy when it comes to filters, the could have saved some of these.

LaFoto · Mar 8, 2007

How many Alexes are talking in this thread :shock: ???????????
I mean, we have Chiller and his six other Chillers here (at times) ... and now there's Alex critisising Alex's photos? I mean: the same Alex critisising the self-same Alex`s photos? This is becoming too much :shock: ...

But I agree with Alex-the-critic that most of them (all of them?) show something nice, so they are all pleasing to the eye.
And I agree with Alex-the-critic that some are beyond the dynamical range the camera was able to capture (or Alex-the-photog allowed it to capture?).

And I begin to understant that Alex-the-photog is wishing to be confronted with someone who speaks like Alex-the-critic more often?

Well, don't post photos of a "dream place" for many on here then, for we will all just look at the subject and like those. Photos with an awww-factor like your Photo 7 will easily surpass any lighting problems which - so I wonder - could only have been overcome by setting up big artificial lights, and would you have wanted to also carry THOSE on your back along THAT path???

By the way, the lover-of-green inside me cannot help but really like your Photos 3 and 5 (and 6). Those about which Alex-the-critic say they have "rather saturated colours" and might somehow serve as documentation on what the path was like. Well they have some wonderfully saturated spring greens, so ? I can't help it... They entrance me. Mostly so because in 5, for example, some of the green leaves are backlit. :lovey:

"[filters] could have saved some of these" makes it sound like they are all lost and for the bin ... and I don't think they are!

Alex_B · Mar 8, 2007

Tangerini said:
:shock: Starting at Fort William!? ...um... just how long is this "hike?"

No, no, starting in Glasgow, or better Milngavie (pronounced "Millguy"), a small village/town north of Glasscow, then the path runs along Loch Lomond, then proceeds to Rannoch Moor which it crosses, then GlenCoe and via the Devil's Staircase and some high lying valleys it reaches Glen Nevis ... and finishes in Ft William.

That makes this hike about 100+ miles or 160-ish kilometers. It takes about 5-8 days depending on how fit you are and how much you want to enjoy the scenery. If you get stuck at Rob Roy's bar on the Loch Lomond shore, or at the Climbers Bar at Kingshouse Inn on Rannoch Moor, then it might take weeks or months

On most stretches it is a fairly easy and civilised walk, very popular among Brits. Just the Loch Lomond part is rough in some parts, and can be extremely difficult in a harsh winter when you actually might need an ice axe for some short but difficult passages.

Alex_B · Mar 8, 2007

LaFoto said:
This is becoming too much :shock: ...

Umph, what do you mean with "one Alex is enough" ?? Can you elaborate on this ?

And I begin to understand that Alex-the-photog is wishing to be confronted with someone who speaks like Alex-the-critic more often?

Well, I was just so unhappy with some of these when I revisited them, that I started wondering why no one was beating me up for posting them. I even wasn't sure if I should post them as they are not Alex-quality

So, I just spoke out what maybe many thought secretly

LaFoto · Mar 8, 2007

Alex_B said:
Umph, what do you mean with "one Alex is enough" ?? Can you elaborate on this ?

Umph ... erm ... :scratch: ... no... can't...

We have so many, anyway, both male and female, so actually it does not matter too much if one and the same appears twice :greenpbl: