Fall colors/autumn colours in Britain

Glistening in perfect symmetry these breathtaking pictures may look
digitally enhanced but they are in fact autumnal Britain in its
natural glory:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2056637/g-dfg-dfgdf-g.html

 

: Glistening in perfect symmetry these breathtaking pictures may look
: digitally enhanced but they are in fact autumnal Britain in its
: natural glory:
:
: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2056637/g-dfg-dfgdf-g.html

I'm glad *somebody* has scenic foliage. It has been a depressingly drab fall
in Massachusetts.

Bob

 

That must be depressing in so many ways, as I expect a lot of tourism
income is dependent on it.

It has been an unusually good autumn (fall) here. Most years, the
leaves are blown off the trees long before they look at their best.
But this year, the weather has been calmer than usual.

Some years ago I moved to a scenically beautiful area of Yorkshire.
Within a couple of miles of where I lived was a valley that formed
part of a private estate. It had been carefully planted with multiple
varieties of trees to give a beautiful palette of colours in autumn.

The first time I saw the valley I was captivated. But I was ill and
unable to muster the energy to photograph it. I thought I would wait
until the following year and hope that my health had improved in the
meantime.

My health did improve, but the valley was a disappointment that year
as high winds blew away the leaves. The following year was the same,
and the year after that. I lived there for five years, and the valley
was never nearly as beautiful in autumn as it was that first year.

It's too far to visit from where I live now. An opportunity lost, but
this year I have managed to exploit many opportunities nearer to where
I live. Hopefully, I should have enough autumn shots for about the
next five years' calendars. ;-)

 

Are you alleging that those shots are untouched by any form of post processing?

The claim is made in the article to suggest that those were not
digitally enhanced in anyway, and the photographer used long exposure
techniques, but I don't believe that tells the whole story. Color me
skeptical.

I know that autumn colors can be spectacular in the UK, as they are in
many parts of Europe and North America, but I strongly doubt that any
but the final shot in the series are not be digitally post processed or
enhanced in someway.

I suspect minimally a curves adjustment, but more likely some
tone-mapping, or even HDR.
....but as shot, I don't think so. The photographer, Roger Merrifield
has not told the Daily Mail everything.

 

Me too, minimal enhancement maybe.
I'm also amazed he always puts the lake edge smack in the centre of the
frame. While it's quite OK sometimes, it certainly doesn't work for every
one of those shots IMO.

Trevor.

 

They might have been taken with a colour saturation enhancing didymium
filter but they are not natural UK autumn colours. At least not where I
live and I do have moors, bracken and mixed woodland close to hand!

Usually in the UK wind and rain knocks the leaves off trees too quickly
before really good autumnal colours are achieved. This year autumn has
been unusually mild so it is a little different.

Continental climates tend to have drier autumn weather and the leaves
develop stronger colours and stay on the trees for longer. I have seen
US fall and Japanese autumn colours and the UK is never as good as
either. Partly because we don't have enough of the right sorts of trees.

I suspect colour saturation has been enhanced somewhat on all of them.

Colour me very sceptical that they are unadjusted images.

 

I'm not alleging or claiming anything. These are not my images, so
take up any concerns you have with those who are responsible, not me.

Don't shoot the messenger.

 

The closest we came this year was Kent, CT.
While the falls were as nice as ever, the foliage was mediocre, at best.

 

Same in Toronto. Leaves seemed to go from green to yellowbrown to
dead, No vivid reds this year.

 

That hurricane didn't help.

 

: On 11/2/2011 8:33 PM, Robert Coe wrote:
: > : Glistening in perfect symmetry these breathtaking pictures may look
: > : digitally enhanced but they are in fact autumnal Britain in its
: > : natural glory:
: > :
: > : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2056637/g-dfg-dfgdf-g.html
: >
: > I'm glad *somebody* has scenic foliage. It has been a depressingly drab
: > fall in Massachusetts.
: >
:
: The closest we came this year was Kent, CT.
: While the falls were as nice as ever, the foliage was mediocre, at best.

Is Bull's Bridge still maintained and usable? Once long ago it was on my well
travelled route between Hartford and Poughkeepsie.

Bob

 

: On Thu, 03 Nov 2011 09:02:19 -0400, PeterN <>
: wrote:
: : On 11/2/2011 8:33 PM, Robert Coe wrote:
: : > : Glistening in perfect symmetry these breathtaking pictures may look
: : > : digitally enhanced but they are in fact autumnal Britain in its
: : > : natural glory:
: : > :
: : > : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2056637/g-dfg-dfgdf-g.html
: : >
: : > I'm glad *somebody* has scenic foliage. It has been a depressingly drab
: : > fall in Massachusetts.
: : >
: :
: : The closest we came this year was Kent, CT.
: : While the falls were as nice as ever, the foliage was mediocre, at best.
:
: Is Bull's Bridge still maintained and usable? Once long ago it was on my
: well travelled route between Hartford and Poughkeepsie.

Or was that the route between Hartford and Kingston? I think maybe it was
Cornwall Bridge that we crossed on the way to Poughkeepsie. Memory grows dim,
and I'm obviously too lazy to get out a map.

Bob

 

I suppose it's possible that some cameras can be set to bump saturation
a bunch and to increase sharpening quite a bit.

But not make the mirror image we see allegedly at Glencoe. Take a look
at the tree trunks on the right. Something doesn't quite 'scan'
correctly in how far- or not- the reflection of the trunks come down to
the water.

I call "Way fake", at least on that one.

 

About thirty years ago I saw the sun setting behind a particular
mountain on the horizon on the summer solstice. A dramatic and
unforgettable image. But I didn't have a camera with me.

Nearly every year since I've been going up a hill every likely looking
day around the summer solstice with a camera to try to photograph
it. And the sun has always set into a bank of clouds above the western
horizon. For three decades.

Until last year When luckily I had recently acquired the longest
lens I've ever had -- 500mm on an APS-C sensor (equiv to 750mm on a
35mm film camera).

 

No. The thing you think looks odd is lilypads or pondweed breaking up
the surface of the water and reflecting incident light in a coherent way
and so putting a gap in his mirror effect time exposure.

Same happens near the reed beds on left but again the reeds stick out
higher and are correctly longer in there reflections in proportion to
background trees.

I think it is a genuine long exposure taken from very close to water
level and using time exposure to get a mirror effect (or on an
incredibly still day early morning from the light). You can check the
mirror perspective using the branches of the big trees on the right
which correctly swap over in the reflection.

What is wrong is the intense saturated colours of the larch. They are
never that bright a yellow even in the most favourable lighting
conditions, and on a bad day they can look rather lacklustre at this
time of year. The colour saturation has been boosted either by filters,
in camera or post processing or most likely a combination of all three

 

Yes it is. The rock falls behind it are not all that photogenic. there
is a really nice old barn behind the Fife & Drum.

When we go to Tanglewood e prefer Rt 7. Although that was adds a lot of
time to the trip, it is a beautiful trip.

 

You are right on both counts. Cornwall Bridge is a few mile north of
Kent. There as a lot of construction going on there, so we didn't even stop.

 

:
: : > On 2011-11-02 13:38:28 -0700, Bruce <> said:
: >
: >> Glistening in perfect symmetry these breathtaking pictures may look
: >> digitally enhanced but they are in fact autumnal Britain in its
: >> natural glory:
: >>
: >> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2056637/g-dfg-dfgdf-g.html
: >
: > Are you alleging that those shots are untouched by any form of post
: > processing?
: >
: > The claim is made in the article to suggest that those were not digitally
: > enhanced in anyway, and the photographer used long exposure techniques,
: > but I don't believe that tells the whole story. Color me skeptical.
:
: Me too, minimal enhancement maybe.
: I'm also amazed he always puts the lake edge smack in the centre of the
: frame. While it's quite OK sometimes, it certainly doesn't work for every
: one of those shots IMO.

Well, when you're that dependent on the reflection, I think it usually works
best to put the shore line in the middle. But in that type of picture you do
have to be very careful to get your horizontals and verticals lined up
correctly. The Bolton Abbey picture looks way off to me. I'd say it needs at
least a full degree, maybe two, of clockwise rotation.

Bob

 

Sometimes a shoreline is not a horizon when given the particular POV
from the camera position. The Bolton Abbey picture does not have a
shoreline which can be defined as a horizon and I cannot fault the
image on that point. Stand on an opposite shore of an inlet, and take a
shot towards the mouth of that inlet. The shoreline in the viewfinder
is not a horizon, it is a sightline leading elsewhere. Straightening
that particular shoreline might lead to a different distortion of
reality.
The questionable issues for these images are the saturation levels and
the sharpness of the structures, particularly in the reflections.

It seems Roger Merrifield is using a technique which yields startling
images. However representing them as having been created without
digital post processing, and as a record of the actuality of the
captured scene is a little misleading.

 

Perhaps Roger Merrifield produced images that were manipulated by
picture desk staff at the newspaper? It wouldn't be the first time.