Brian Swinyard, PPSA
January 2025 - Ty Glas
About the Image(s)
Out on a walk in Wales, I stood at the gate of this property and was drawn to the composition of the scene; the left-to-right lines leading to the cottages and buildings in the distance. The original image was taken on a Canon EOS 40D that I had converted to infra-red. Subsequently in Photoshop, I did some channel swapping with the blue/red channels, brushed in the grasses to create foreground interest, added the sycamore leaves in the top left quadrant and the starburst candles in the top right quadrant.
5 comments posted
Hi Brian,
I did visit Wales back in the late 80's. Beautiful country. They made it clear that they did not like the English, but Americans were OK. Interesting to hear the Welsh language spoken and written.
A bit different subject from your abstracts. I can comment on these! For me the blue sky draws my eye over the end of the road. This might be stronger as a vertical by cropping off the left side of the image. If you can add a person, car, buggy or animal at the end of the road it would give it more interest.
The grass is in the middle of the road which is a bit funny and it creates a barrier for the viewer. It creates an emotional distance with the farm. Perhaps remove the grass in front of the road and leave them on the sides?
I like your infra-red treatment. Nicely done.
Posted: 01/08/2025 22:34:11
I did visit Wales back in the late 80's. Beautiful country. They made it clear that they did not like the English, but Americans were OK. Interesting to hear the Welsh language spoken and written.
A bit different subject from your abstracts. I can comment on these! For me the blue sky draws my eye over the end of the road. This might be stronger as a vertical by cropping off the left side of the image. If you can add a person, car, buggy or animal at the end of the road it would give it more interest.
The grass is in the middle of the road which is a bit funny and it creates a barrier for the viewer. It creates an emotional distance with the farm. Perhaps remove the grass in front of the road and leave them on the sides?
I like your infra-red treatment. Nicely done.
Posted: 01/08/2025 22:34:11
Tom, Many thanks for your kind words and suggestions which are much appreciated. As a matter of interest, I was born in England, grew up in Scotland and am quarter Welsh. I am full of admiration for anyone who is proud of their Nationality and is not afraid to show it, particularly demonstrated when the English take on the Welsh, Scots and Irish at Rugby Union. It is interesting how we all have slightly different perspectives when viewing images; eg I saw the brown door and/or the seed feeder as creating the focal interest at the end of the lane whereas you wanted to see a person/car/buggy/animal fulfill that function. I take your point about the grass in the middle of the road and I don't quite know what possessed me to place it there. Posted: 01/11/2025 10:55:57
Brian - this is Christmas card perfect - the whimsey of the maple leaves on left and starbursts in the tree is magic. All it needs is a small pine on the left lawn with colored twinkle lights - card ready!!! Truly, this is a good treatment of the light here, which could not have been easy because of the stripe of light in the foreground, and in front of the stone building on the left. You got it all into a nice level of detail and shadow showing all the details. Makes me want to visit there. Posted: 01/12/2025 16:52:01
Melissa, Thank you for your kind words and suggestions which are much appreciated. It seemed an appropriate treatment to use given the Festive time of year. I like your idea of adding a splash of colour as a foil against the infrared monochrome. Posted: 01/17/2025 13:05:12
Brian, I find this a pleasing image which works nicely as a holiday care. Happy New Year to you too. Posted: 01/17/2025 23:42:26