I tried the de-saturated approach on a few of the Red Cuillin shots and a sunset shot across Broadford Bay. I was sceptical about the de-saturated approach on my set of summer images from the Road to Elgol. The reason for my concern was that summer is not the time when nature’s colours are muted whereas I could fully see how this might work with autumnal and winter shots and light (as I have previously shown on my blog). To me this approach seemed inauthentic.
These are the images I processed together with the feedback received:
Cascade over the Cuillin (1) – outstanding
Cascade over the Cuillin (2) – outstanding – desaturated works very well. Cracking detail and you are forced to look and work out the treatment – prefer it to monochrome
Sunset over Broadford – outstanding – love the soft colour palette applied here and the symmetry of sky and loch reflections. Lovely shot.
Temporary Camp under the Cuillin (1)
Temporary Camp under the Cuillin (2) – the colour version works better for me, but I would turn the blue tent in the landscape to grey
Red Cuillin – I find the front rock a bit dominant and rather than lead me into the scene, it keeps me anchored on the foreground
Where Black Cuillin meets Red – I think this image will have greater impact and narrative if the Red Cuillin was reproduced with desaturated red and the Black Cuillin a dramatic high contrast, luminous black and white
Cruising into Elgol – doesn’t work for me – needs different viewing angle and/or viewing height
Car park full! – doesn’t work for me – needs different viewing angle and/or viewing height. I know it’s Elgol but it could be anywhere. If there’s a view with sea, hills and or harbour that makes it distinctive, then I think it would be preferable.
Down to the Beach – Perfection!
My tutor felt that the colour addition into the monochrome images looked somewhat over processed and was taking away from the strength of the work, in that one focusses on the technique rather than the context. She asked me to produce the original colour versions of a few images below:
I had a webinar with my tutor and she suggested I continue to experiment with my images next week. That I should try to reduce the intensity of the colour across the whole palette. She encouraged me to play around and try things out. She felt I needed to try to capture the strengths of my iconic image The Little House in the Cuillin:
I will give it a try . . .
