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Above the Vale
Above the Vale
riot


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: From Above V (Standard Editing)
Camera: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Lens: Tokina AF 70-210mm f/4-5.6 for Nikon
Location: Vale of Llangollen, Wales
Date: Oct 18, 2016
Aperture: f/4.0 & f/4.5
ISO: 100 & 250
Shutter: 1/100 & 1/160
Galleries: Landscape, Rural
Date Uploaded: Oct 18, 2016

 Shot in the Vale of Llangollen from the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. Most people seem to be too busy photographing it to try photographing from it.

This is a sort of focus stacking shot; I was shooting with this old Tokina in order to challenge myself with a piece of glass I don't normally use; it speaks an older protocol to the new Canon bodies, so while the AF works fine, the aperture can't be stopped down below wide open. This poses an interesting challenge, as this shot would really have benefitted from being shot at a much smaller aperture.

Instead, by zooming the lens in to 120mm, I was able to decrease the effective aperture to f/4.5 for the central portion of the frame, which increases overall sharpness noticeably with this lens; so the central portion of this image is at a smaller aperture than the remainder of it, providing a sort of blur vignette effect. Not sure how that'll go down with the voters, as it looks much more fake than it is.

Moreover, I expect it may get some flak for the bridge not seeming straight - although in fact the verticals are perfectly vertical, the perspective does perhaps give it a slightly uncomfortable slanting feel.

Editing: two-shot focus stack, cloning out a rock in the river and a few distracting corners of a house peeking through the foliage, curves, dodging and burning, resize, sharpen.

Statistics
Place: 41 out of 51
Avg (all users): 5.1111
Avg (commenters): 7.0000
Avg (participants): 5.0345
Avg (non-participants): 5.1765
Views since voting: 587
Views during voting: 102
Votes: 63
Comments: 2
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
Sony Alpha a1 II
Sony FE 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G OSS
 11/07/2016 07:02:10 AM
Hello from the critique club

An interesting image that meets the challenge fully

An interesting write-up of the difficulties posed using the lens that you were, a sensible and effective way round the problem. I don’t see the perceived slant on the bridge as a problem at all it is perfectly reasonable to expect to see such a result in real life. If you can get back there to repeat the shot I suspect this will be looking glorious now with more of its autumnal colours add to the golden glow of that lovely bridge. A lot of your images, this included, bring back fond memories from my canal boating days, thanks Eugene.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
Canon EOS-7D
Canon EF 50mm f1.2 L
 11/04/2016 02:57:25 PM
lovely and detailed
  Photographer found comment helpful.
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