A Picture paints a thousand words - restart

oxocube1

twonks wrote:

For me one of the best things in mountain biking is being away from the hussle, with no distractions and no noise.

Even in Leicester it is possible. 8)

Where in Leicester is this?

twonks

oxocube1 wrote:

Where in Leicester is this?

It's off Leicester Lane looking over Whitwick way.
My local riding is mostly around Cademan, Grace Dieu woods and is surprisingly good fun

oxocube1

twonks wrote:

oxocube1 wrote:

Where in Leicester is this?

It's off Leicester Lane looking over Whitwick way.
My local riding is mostly around Cademan, Grace Dieu woods and is surprisingly good fun

Ah cool. I'm based in south Leicester so my local riding is on Croft Hill, but I recently went to Bardon Hill up your way near Coalville and it's actually good fun. It's the highest hill in Leicestershire and there are a few good runs down from the top that do get fairly technical!

Here's a pic from the top of one of the sides:

twonks

Without turning it into a Coalville appreciation thread, I live just below Bardon hill so know it well. You need to check out the woods I mentioned next time your over here though 8)

/endofhijack

Polf

Just found this thread. These pictures are special to me as it was my first time up Snowdon. My mate had been several times before and commented on how, the weather had never been clear and their were no views to see. It could not have been a clearer day and we were up at the summit on our own, bar one crazy guy who had ran up, at exactly the right time to enjoy the views. The second picture appears to have been posed and it wasn't. I was pointing back towards Llanberis when my mate took the shot and it came out all silhouetteeeee(not a word, I know). And it looks like I'm shooting smoke out of my finger. A very special day for me and can't wait to do it again.

The Northern Monkey

One from the weekend...

Kowalski675

The Northern Monkey wrote:

One from the weekend...

Nice composition there - rule of thirds, diagonals, lead in lines - takes the eye through the image and tells a story.

Love the sillhouette pic in th epost above too - just the right balance of shadow and detail. Crop out the guy on the right and have a quick tweak of contrast and saturation and it would be even nicer.

Kowalski675

Quick phone snap from my last ride (where's that lovely sunshine gone to in the last week? )

Polf

Love the sillhouette pic in th epost above too - just the right balance of shadow and detail. Crop out the guy on the right and have a quick tweak of contrast and saturation and it would be even nicer.
User avatar
Kowalski675

Posts: 1888
Joined: Sun Apr 28, 2013 5:28 pm
Location: West Yorkshire



Cheers. It was just an accidental photo taken with a point and shoot. There was no intention of getting the right balance etc and I have no knowledge on how to take and develop a good photo. I think that's why the picture is special to me as I only own cr&p ones. Have cropped out the bike on the right if that's what you were referring to.

Kowalski675

Polf wrote:

Cheers. It was just an accidental photo taken with a point and shoot. There was no intention of getting the right balance etc and I have no knowledge on how to take and develop a good photo. I think that's why the picture is special to me as I only own cr&p ones.

Happy accident then - you own a good picture now.

Have cropped out the bike on the right if that's what you were referring to.

That's exactly what I meant. See how much better it makes the image? In the original version the eye's drawn to the guy on the right, and it's distracting (good rule of thumb is to always check the edges of your viewfinder before pressing the shutter button, but with digital imaging cropping and cloning makes it less crucial). In your cropped version there's no distraction - bam, your eyes are drawn straight to the focal point, no messing. It's a much stronger composition, and it's a really atmospheric image, that makes you want to go out and ride. Good job, even if it was a happy accident (you've managed to keep just the right amount of shadow detail, which shows just how good matrix metering systems on modern cameras are). If I was going to be fussy then I'd twaek the contrast and saturation a bit (not too much, you don't want it looking artificial), and probably clone out the camelback bite valve. That's not criticism though - you could happily hang that on your wall as it is, and I think the squarer crop looks really good too (don't be afraid to play with non standard crops - you don't have to stick to the default 3:2 ratio, and an unconventional crop can sometimes really improve an image).

mike hunts alpine

End of an afternoon ride in wetheral woods in Carlisle. Crosby castle and waterfall back at the start of the trail.

amoyfaye

Looks Great