# Tarbet Ness Sunrise and Nacreous Clouds



## B2ONGO (May 5, 2011)

I had some free time Sunday morning (a rarity these days) so decided to get up early and make the 45min drive to Tarbet Ness for Sunrise.

It was raining hard and I almost decided to go back to bed but decided to horse on anyway and hope for the best.

Thats what I love about sunrise photography - its dark when you leave and you never know what your gonna get when you arrive.

Anyway, sunrise was pretty uneventful apart from these wierd looking clouds which are apparently Nacreous Clouds. It was too dark to get a decent shot with them in but still pretty impressive sight.


Rainbow clouds by Michael~Ashley, on Flickr

Took this one of the lighthouse at sunrise...


Sunrise - Tarbat Ness Lighthouse by Michael~Ashley, on Flickr

Then this one half hour or so later from the other side...


Tarbat Ness Lighthouse by Michael~Ashley, on Flickr

Two different approaches really. The first i've spent some time processing whilst the other is pretty much from the camera (except for a few tweaks to contrast and saturation in RAW).

The borders i cant decide on. I've used them for a while and gotten kind of used to them but a lot of folk have told me they distract from the image. What do you think?


----------



## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

The chosen bordering on #2 (same as your Whole-in-one) makes it feel like it's blocking more of the view.
It really does act like a barrier that you'd want to remove or push forward so that it's out of sight.
The one used in #1 is subtle, but practically blends in with the photo at the bottom. I'd have thought it needed a greater differentiator to show where the frame started, and the image stopped.
As it is, I'm losing 100-150 pixels off the bottom that my eye suggests is not part of the picture, but the frame.


----------



## MonkeyP (Jul 7, 2012)

the border in the first one needs a sharper edge to it. because of the larger bottom border i feel as if there is meant to be text there like you get on those inspirational photos.

on the second one i actually like the borders as it make the actual photo look more panoramic. also the black help with the contrast in my opinion.

try putting an equal size border around the picture.

with picture up in galleries there is a normally border/backing (normally in black white or cream) which helps highlight the colours and contrast in the picture.

i love the pictures and the second one is my favourite. is u still have them in psd format play around with the border on one picture and compare them side by side,


----------



## EddieB (May 13, 2006)

Some nice shots there - on the border issue - I've junked using borders as I find on 90% of photos it feels like it's constraining the image a bit like what PJS says.

For me when shooting in RAW you have to do a bit of editing to it to try and get the image to pop a bit, i find RAWs a bit "flat" and "soft" if that's the right wording... however when I edit I wont spend much more than 5 mins to 10 mins tweaking things in Lightroom. 

Do like the 1st of the lighthouse shots though - some cracking colours going on!


----------



## B2ONGO (May 5, 2011)

Cheers guys. 

I don't know what it is about the borders, I think as MonkeyP noted it's the contrast against the white screen. If I'm ever printing I ditch the borders first. 

On the PP - I quite like to have a play around. For me its half the fun. I like to get back after being out, stick on some tunes, maybe have a beer and see what I can come up with. I am conscious of the fact I sometimes over do it though and thats something I'm going to concentrate on. A while back someone revived an old thread of mine (the first i posted in here I think) and the photos were all straight from the camera -made me realize how much "tinkering" I do now lol. 

I've learnt loads in the past year and its great to get some feedback from the guys on here.


----------



## Brazo (Oct 27, 2005)

An image must live or die on its own merit. A strong black border enhances even an average photo.

#2 isn't average! What shutter speed did you use to capture the birds?


----------



## B2ONGO (May 5, 2011)

Nr 2 is three shots blended using gradient tools.

The main shot is exposed for the sky then I blended in another two for the rocks and birds.

I've been trying out this technique - http://www.hougaardmalan.com/blog/june-image-kiss-of-light/

As noted above, Nr 1 has had very little PP at all, just wanted to get some feedback on the contrasting styles and level of PP.


----------



## MonkeyP (Jul 7, 2012)

every nice blend. seamless!

Eddie as u said RAW files are slightly duller but they have all the information in them u just have to tweak them to bring it out. also the best thing about them is that you cant overwrite them and also the picture quality never deteriorates so you can edit it over and over again!

this has made me want to get my photoshop sorted on my new comp as havn't really been doing anything with all the pics i have!


----------



## B2ONGO (May 5, 2011)

PJS said:


> The chosen bordering on #2 (same as your Whole-in-one) makes it feel like it's blocking more of the view.
> It really does act like a barrier that you'd want to remove or push forward so that it's out of sight.
> The one used in #1 is subtle, but practically blends in with the photo at the bottom. I'd have thought it needed a greater differentiator to show where the frame started, and the image stopped.
> As it is, I'm losing 100-150 pixels off the bottom that my eye suggests is not part of the picture, but the frame.


Cheers - is this you over on TP btw?

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=452316


----------



## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

That it would.


----------



## Brazo (Oct 27, 2005)

Thanks B2ongo, a very good blend too!

Actually thats one of my fave shots of yours, would look great printed!


----------



## B2ONGO (May 5, 2011)

PJS said:


> That it would.


Cool - I'll keep an eye out for you


----------

