Aotearoa #2

[stubbsy]

A few more images from my recent sojourn on the South Island of our near neighbour. I'd be VERY interested in your comments as to why you do or don't like a particular image and I have a thick skin so fire away - after all this is a critiques area

[Bluebell]

These are all spectacular images; they make me want to pack my bags and go see for myself.
On my monitor they all seem a tiny bit dark.
Also the channel markers (or whatever they are) detract from the unspoiled natural look of the first image.

[Killakoala]

Seems to me that no matter where you point your camera, there is a spectacular image to be shot.

Peter, I do feel that you could do with a bit more contrast in your images to get some of that haze darker.

An example of what i mean is in the first image, the really high mountain is very slightly obscured by haze. If you adjust your contrast, it will look clearer. it will greatly enhance the image.

[moz]

Overall i like them, you've shot the cliche subjects without it seeming too tired (admittedly I grew up with Craig Potton calendars and the like). The colours do look good.

It looks as though some of the shots were time constrained - the cloud on the Fox, your shooting location for Mitre Peak. The Akaroa shot looks as though there's a lot more foreground contrast than background, and that looks a bit odd to me.

[colin_12]

Hey Peter,
The only one that looks out of place to me is #1.
It looks a little over saturated and more blue than normal for you. JMHO.
The others seem great as always.
Regards Colin

[Handlebars]

#2 is beautiful, the odd bit of orange in the fields and background really work with the green and blue sky.

#1 and #4 look as if you have cut the backgrounds from another photo and slotted them in.

[marcotrov]

Lovely series peter. #2 and #4 are spectacular. Love the vibrant colours and leading lines in the compositions that contain the eyes within the scene.
I may be wrong but I but i detect a slight colour(cyan?) cast in #1 which is also the least dynamic image for me of the set.
cheers
marco

[matt-chops]

Each of those images are stunning. Nicely captured. If I had to pick a winner of the bunch though, it would be #4. Well done.

[ozimax]

IQ-wise, I like #4 then #2. #2 is classicly NZ green, very similar to the Tarakani region in colour. #1 seems a tad hazy, at least on my monitor. It's a bit hard to critique this image as it has been captured so often by so many photographers.

I like #4 because it's just that bit different, and tack sharp.

Nice set, as always.

[PiroStitch]

Love the first one though it does seem a bit blue as if the WB was off.

[Ant]

#1 is pretty much the classic shot for Milford, it has been shot 1000 times and I still love it.
#3 I would like to see a little more in the foreground of the glacier...

Ant.

[blacknstormy]

Hey Peter...
I'm not really qualified to comment, but to me these don't grab me as much as your shots usually do The first seems way too blue, the second I'm guessing was a hdr??? - close, but the colour seem a little 'off' ... and the 4th .....
was the jetty really there ????? Almost seems as though it was pasted from another shot ????? Or am I going completely crazy ?????
Sorry
Rel

[stubbsy]

Thank you all for the great feedback.

#1 is a turkey - I can't believe I got the colours so wrong. Taking on board your comments I have a new version below that I'm happy with (including no more channel markers).

The first 3 images were buggers to process since all had quite strong haze and no amount of playing around was able to fix it to my satisfaction. In large part that's why I posted these here. These images are ones I am NOT (yet) proud of and I was looking for feedback on what others thought.

#2 - this is not an HDR (sorry Rel) - it's just my PP I guess - I added a grad ND to try and cut some of the haze at the top and may have over done it

#3 - As Moz observed time was the issue for this one. The weather was crap the 2 days we were around the glaciers. This shot was taken inside about a 15 minute window with blues sky and relatively little mist. I have more from here to process yet, but the mist (and haze) was very challenging

#4 - I see a few of you feel the jetty is superimposed. It's not - that's the image after PP but I agree it looks fake somehow. IT may just be too strong a contrast between jetty and lake. I've reworked this one too and it's alos shown below.

And a final comment - while I'm as weak as the next man and make the occasional "vanity" post - the real benefit of this area to me is that it's somewhere I can post my almost right shots to get help on making them perfect. So to those who feel reluctant to say what is wrong (or right) with an image I say - do it - every little bit of feedback is useful.