A Landmark Landscape Moment

Hi All,

This is my first proper 'Photo Sharing' post, my apologies for the pretty corny title, but it does have some significance. Unfortunately not because the images are the ones I'll retire-on, but because they're captured at a landmark moment in my life in Photography - and I had thoroughly good fun capturing

A long time ago I decided I was to upgrade my camera (a 350D with kit, Sigma 70-300 and a nifty-fifty), I'd decided on a 40D (mainly based on playing with a couple I'd borrowed briefly); anyway, the 50D came along and that changed my plans - not automatically to that being the camera I'd buy, but because its arrival prompted me to do a lot more research, and plan very carefully. Then I arrived here, and it immediately got a whole lot worse - thankfully, that was all just the shock from the starting pistol, and since then the POTN community has been an invaluable resource with plenty of people keenly helping me out.

So, I reached a lot of decisions, and (of course) updated my schedule of saving! I've kept myself calm (not trying out lenses as they arrived - holding off for all the pieces of the puzzle), and I've not spilled the beans on what I decided following my 7D vs 5D2 dilema thread.

Everything came together recently, and while I'd fired-off some test snaps around the house, I hadn't looked at them on the PC because again, I wanted to minimise the chance of me letting the kit down, and therefore (hopefully!) maximise the potential for a smile.

On Sunday afternoon I took it all out for a spin - The photo (and subsequent PP versions) are by no means world-beaters (C&C welcome of course - I posted the PP's because while they're pretty 'artificial' I still kinda like them), but like I say - it was thoroughly enjoyable to capture, and the kit most certainly impressed me.

Sorry for the waffle, but this is my little testament to what's been a pretty big deal for me - one of those 'end of one chapter, beginning of the next' type moments - and POTN has played a massive part in it - thanks to you all!

All the best,

Rob.

#1 More or less as it came from the camera (vignette correction (filter holder was set-up for longer focal lengths) and a little dodge & burn etc.)

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And here's a set-up pic (taken on a camera-phone - apologies!) for anyone who may wish to play 'guess what he ended up with'

Regards,

Rob.

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All 3 are amazing pictures, but my votes goes for #3.

Very nice, great balance in the shape of the clouds and the rocks ... no's 1 and 3

Beautiful shot indeed. Toss up between photo-versions #2 & #3.

Many thanks to all for the great feedback I'm particularly pleased that folks like the PP versions - I couldn't make my mind up about them.

I've just noticed that the .psd file with the original image and a few layers for the PP versions is 300MB. I think I'll be spending some time clearing-out some disk now!

Thanks again,

Rob.

Nice shots, I actually perfer #1, it has a more natural look to it. It does look like the grad line is visible in the shot, might could have moved the filter up just a bit. I'm also wondering what the sky was looking like before the sun came up, a lot of times that's when most the color happens.