Fountains Abbey North Yorkshire UK

I'm just about getting to grips with the camera so took it out for a walk at Fountains Abbey (well I went for a walk with the family and the camera came with us!).

This has to be one of the most photographed places i know, and i tried hard to avoid taking the 'cliche' shots that everyone else does!

A lot of the shots were rushed due to the walking and having to keep up with the family, but i was interested to hear what people thought on here. All the pics are Jpegs straight out of the camera; apart from the occasional crop i've done nothing to them. Anyway I only have the software that came with the camera and haven't bothered to figure it out properly so i'm limited to what i can do.

Any thoughts on what i could do to the pics with the software would be appreciated though.

One question i do have is how do you make more of the sky in this situation? It was overcast and the light was fairly flat, any tips?

Thanks for looking!









































I've only posted a few but there are more in the gallery here:

Hi mate, not bad, grey skies are the bane of any photographer, unless you live in OZ ... you can keep the Ashes we will keep the blue skies

If you have no editing program the Nex is well equipped to help you out. Have a play with the HDR or the DRO settings to bring back the sky.

These two I had a quick play in Photoshop Elements with the Highlight/Shadow tool. Most edit programs should have it. And with my Nex photos its all I use.









Grey sky/Clouds can be great for photos if there is contrast, as in the first one.

If not it would be a good day to shoot details.

Hope that helps.

Regards.

Stephen.

especially the gardens.

Grey skies give you even light. They are like a huge soft box. So actually grey skies are ideal for seeing your subject clearly.
Bright light gives harsh shadows, so it's best to avoid it.

The ideal would be clear skies until 10, then cloudy until 4 in the afternoon, then clearing up again.
--
John Dunn
Portraits: http://www.fototime.com/users/[email protected]/Portraits

There are some nice shots there.

I went to Fountains Abbey as well last week and got quite a few shots with my NEX and 18-200.

I think you have exposed well for the skies.

Some underexposure is present beneath the skies, though. I'm not sure about your software, but it should not be hard to isolate and raise the exposure of those areas by a stop.

Pleasing compositions, too.

I'd be curious to see what shots you took. It must be one of the most photographed places in North Yorkshire. I tried to avoid the most obvious photos, but the cloisters were impossible not to have a go out, especially as there weren't many people around when i went.

Hi,

Thanks for posting. That makes a massive difference. I'll have to have a play about with the software i've got to see if i can match what you've done.

cloisters (1) is excellent, great shot!