Scottish Castle

[birdbonkers84]

This is Dunnottar Castle in my home town in the north east of Soctland. As you can imagine this ruin is photographed to death. This is my take on the isolated ruin.

 

[BrentC]

I had a gf from Aberdeen a long time ago. Visited Donnottar castle a couple times. Wish I was into photography back then. I love castles. Need to get back to Europe sometime soon.

 

[WesternGuy]

Nice castle, but what do I say - you have the horizon right in the middle and the main castle right in the middle of the picture. Not usually where you want them placed - rule of thirds and all that, but it is your image. How much of what I am looking at is "the castle"?

The image looks a little flat. I would have cropped it a bit closer on the left and tried to bring out more detail in the sky and maybe a bit more contrast and an increase in saturation to bring out the greens.

WesternGuy

 

[BrentC]

Agree with WesternGuy. Just a newbie myself so not sure if my advise would be correct. If I remember correctly, going back 18 years, the castle sits on it own outcrop of rock surrounded by the sea on three sides. I would have taken a shot from either the left or right side cliffs showing the whole rock with the castle on top surrounded by the sea. The neatest thing about that castle is how its situated. From your shot, and someone not familiar with that castle, would have no idea.

 

[birdbonkers84]

Agree with WesternGuy. Just a newbie myself so not sure if my advise would be correct. If I remember correctly, going back 18 years, the castle sits on it own outcrop of rock surrounded by the sea on three sides. I would have taken a shot from either the left or right side cliffs showing the whole rock with the castle on top surrounded by the sea. The neatest thing about that castle is how its situated. From your shot, and someone not familiar with that castle, would have no idea.

Any advice is always welcome I'm actually from Stonehaven, been living here since I was 5, this was my first run out with my new camera back in September using just the guide mode. I was just snapping everything. This is actually taken from the little bridge that crosses the waterfall area. I actually preferred seeing the castle from this view.

 

[BrentC]

I visited Stonehaven. Nice little town. I walked from Stonehaven to Dunnottar, thought it was closer than it was. Quite the trek and mostly uphill if I remember.

 

[birdbonkers84]

Nice castle, but what do I say - you have the horizon right in the middle and the main castle right in the middle of the picture. Not usually where you want them placed - rule of thirds and all that, but it is your image. How much of what I am looking at is "the castle"?

The image looks a little flat. I would have cropped it a bit closer on the left and tried to bring out more detail in the sky and maybe a bit more contrast and an increase in saturation to bring out the greens.

WesternGuy

Thanks for your comments, this was taken 4 months ago and I guess looking back at it now it is a little flat/wash out. I unfortunately didn't shoot this in RAW so didn't have as much control over the image as I would of liked. I know the rule of 3rds, but I wanted it in the middle to achieve a sense of isolation (well that was my rational thinking behind it anyway). I tried cropping the left side, but it didn't work for me. With regards to the castle, this for me was the most interesting part, there is more behind it, but it is mainly small house buildings. I used a black to white gradient layer over the image so the bottom was darker to give a sense of depth (the dark below kind of thing). I'm chuckling to myself now because I don't know what I was really trying to do. Maybe I'll go back to the original and have another look at it or go back and shoot another shot with the tripod this time.

 

[birdbonkers84]

I visited Stonehaven. Nice little town. I walked from Stonehaven to Dunnottar, thought it was closer than it was. Quite the trek and mostly uphill if I remember.

Yeah I regularly run up it for fitness training for rugby and doing 10ks. It's deceivingly steep!! The walk along the cliff face is nice aswell.

 

[weepete]

There's a few issues with this shot. Mainly your shutter speed was too slow so it's blurred. Grey skies do not make good shots either, so get back there when there is some interesting clouds. The foreground blacks are too dark so the shadows are clipped. Since you are on the east coast and that part of our country is reasonably flat, sunset would be the time to shoot this IMO, could be some nice golden light there illuminating the castle when it's face lit with the golden setting sun. There is also a path there that could be used as a meandering leading line into the image which would draw the viewrs eye in to the shot.

Dunotter Castle is a fantastic subject with some excellent surroundings, all you need to do is get there at a time where there is interest in the sky, use a tripod and work a bit on vomposition and framing and you'll have an excellent shot.

 

[WesternGuy]

Nice castle, but what do I say - you have the horizon right in the middle and the main castle right in the middle of the picture. Not usually where you want them placed - rule of thirds and all that, but it is your image. How much of what I am looking at is "the castle"?

The image looks a little flat. I would have cropped it a bit closer on the left and tried to bring out more detail in the sky and maybe a bit more contrast and an increase in saturation to bring out the greens.

WesternGuy

Thanks for your comments, this was taken 4 months ago and I guess looking back at it now it is a little flat/wash out. I unfortunately didn't shoot this in RAW so didn't have as much control over the image as I would of liked. I know the rule of 3rds, but I wanted it in the middle to achieve a sense of isolation (well that was my rational thinking behind it anyway). I tried cropping the left side, but it didn't work for me. With regards to the castle, this for me was the most interesting part, there is more behind it, but it is mainly small house buildings. I used a black to white gradient layer over the image so the bottom was darker to give a sense of depth (the dark below kind of thing). I'm chuckling to myself now because I don't know what I was really trying to do. Maybe I'll go back to the original and have another look at it or go back and shoot another shot with the tripod this time.

No problem. I understand that we all do things for reasons that, at the time, seem quite rational. I went and looked it up on the web and it looks like it must have been a rather formidable structure with somewhat "interesting" access. It also looks like getting a good image might present a wee bit of a challenge, it being out there on that peninsular bit of rock.

WesternGuy

 

[4073709 2]

I unfortunately didn't shoot this in RAW so didn't have as much control over the image as I would of liked.

I see this a lot on the forum where people think that a JPG cannot be manipulated. I never shoot RAW and I am quite happy with what I produce.

2 versions of the pic:
Wee hit of HDR and upped the greens a smudge.

Upped contrast for BW.

 

[birdbonkers84]

For anyone that is interested, this is the original image I shot, when I first got my camera. It's taken from the little bridge. I was using the guide mode feature and it was hand held. What you see in the OP is me playing around with it in photoshop.

 

[birdbonkers84]

There's a few issues with this shot. Mainly your shutter speed was too slow so it's blurred. Grey skies do not make good shots either, so get back there when there is some interesting clouds. The foreground blacks are too dark so the shadows are clipped. Since you are on the east coast and that part of our country is reasonably flat, sunset would be the time to shoot this IMO, could be some nice golden light there illuminating the castle when it's face lit with the golden setting sun. There is also a path there that could be used as a meandering leading line into the image which would draw the viewrs eye in to the shot.

Dunotter Castle is a fantastic subject with some excellent surroundings, all you need to do is get there at a time where there is interest in the sky, use a tripod and work a bit on vomposition and framing and you'll have an excellent shot.

Thanks for your comments, I've now got myself a tripod along with some good filters so next time the weather is good I'll have a walk back up! For the foreground black I had intentionally made it darker by applying a black and white linear grandient in photoshop. I was trying to create an isolated feel for the image, but I guess it didn't work lol.