Carol Watson, QPSA
March 2025 - Snow and Sunshine in Iceland
Original
About the Image(s)
This image was taken on my current holiday in Iceland. The weather here changes constantly and can provide some wonderful lighting, as in this shot when the sun was shining but it was also snowing.
The image was taken with my Olympus OM-1 with a 12-40mm lens at 40mm. The camera was hand held, and the settings were manual focus, f6.3, ISO 400, and the image was auto-bracketed.
I combined the bracketed images in Camera Raw and did some basic adjustments. Then in Photoshop I cropped the image, added a cooling filter and some additional falling snow.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
10 comments posted
Kia ora Carol. This is a beautiful image, and both your composition and colour toning really elevate it. I can't suggest any improvements! Posted: 03/11/2025 15:09:46
Thanks Mary. Posted: 03/23/2025 10:15:21
The lighting is indeed very pretty in this shot Carol. To my eye, there are a few especially lovely elements, like the dark out-building, the wispy grass popping out through the snow, and the nice shadows in the road. But the smaller elements like the radio(?) tower and farm machines seem to reduce the impact of the scene. Just to try a bit different take on the image, I cropped the right side and cloned out the tower. Once I did that, the white house just blended into the background, so I deleted it also. I guess my propensity toward minimalism drove this edit. Not better, just different. I envy you traveling in Iceland; enjoy! Posted: 03/12/2025 15:41:42
Thanks for your suggestion Jan, Since I came home I have tried a different edit, removing the white building, mast and adjacent machine, just to tidy up the horizon so that there are only trees. Posted: 03/23/2025 10:20:28
How wonderful that you got to travel to Iceland. This scene is lovely with beautiful lighting. Your edits to the overall color temperature makes it even more tranquil to my eyes.
I also feel a tighter crop from the right would better take your eye down the path and towards the house. Plus removing the white house and pole would enhance the feeling of isolation, which I find appealing although I'm not sure that aligns with your vision. So like Jan, just a bit of a different interpretation. I used the AI remove tool in Lightroom to take out the house, but it added in some trees, LOL. I left them there. Also, I went into the transform section of Lightroom and changed the aspect ratio to narrow the image a little VS cropping it to a more narrow view. That elongated the path somewhat and narrowed the width of the house a bit, but I was curious to see the outcome. And I cooled the temperature down just a bit more.
Nicely seen and captured! Posted: 03/13/2025 13:41:24
I also feel a tighter crop from the right would better take your eye down the path and towards the house. Plus removing the white house and pole would enhance the feeling of isolation, which I find appealing although I'm not sure that aligns with your vision. So like Jan, just a bit of a different interpretation. I used the AI remove tool in Lightroom to take out the house, but it added in some trees, LOL. I left them there. Also, I went into the transform section of Lightroom and changed the aspect ratio to narrow the image a little VS cropping it to a more narrow view. That elongated the path somewhat and narrowed the width of the house a bit, but I was curious to see the outcome. And I cooled the temperature down just a bit more.
Nicely seen and captured! Posted: 03/13/2025 13:41:24
Thanks Denise, I like your edit. I agree that removing some elements on the horizon improves the image. Posted: 03/23/2025 10:24:19
I love your image. It captures farm life during the winter with beautiful authenticy. I really appreciate your inclusion of the falling snow. It truly adds to the scene.
There are a few things that I would change. First, the wide path at the bottom of the image carries too much weight for my tastes. While the path is critical to the story, it outweighs the buildings that define the image.
Secondly, I find the placement of the barn in the center of the image to be distracting. I want to see more of the field and the sky. The field has some interesting features.
As an example, I cropped to the left and down and used a crop extension at the top, with Content Aware Fill, to add sky and move the buildings down a bit in the image and place the barn at the upper left power point. Finally, again in PS, I used an Edit > Sky Replacement and put the resultant lay8er at 35% opacity and Blending Mode to Lighten. That added a bit more interest to the extended sky while it perserved the snow fall. Posted: 03/13/2025 15:05:28
There are a few things that I would change. First, the wide path at the bottom of the image carries too much weight for my tastes. While the path is critical to the story, it outweighs the buildings that define the image.
Secondly, I find the placement of the barn in the center of the image to be distracting. I want to see more of the field and the sky. The field has some interesting features.
As an example, I cropped to the left and down and used a crop extension at the top, with Content Aware Fill, to add sky and move the buildings down a bit in the image and place the barn at the upper left power point. Finally, again in PS, I used an Edit > Sky Replacement and put the resultant lay8er at 35% opacity and Blending Mode to Lighten. That added a bit more interest to the extended sky while it perserved the snow fall. Posted: 03/13/2025 15:05:28
Thanks for your comments Georgianne. I will have a play with different crops and positions of the barn. Posted: 03/23/2025 10:28:57
Carol, it is a beautiful image and not like any I have seen from Iceland before. The lines are wonderful and inviting. Lucky you getting to go! Posted: 03/19/2025 18:58:10
Thanks Rita Posted: 03/23/2025 10:31:17