[Ribby]

Our latest walk with (the now famous) Barney took us to Forge Valley in North Yorkshire. It was very dark but it allowed me to use a longer shutter speed to get that "ND filter" look (but without a filter). Please give me your thoughts (whether you like them or not)

[SammyC]

There's a couple of nice shots there. The second one is really nice but I wonder why you have such a non-standard crop?

Both would benefit from a slight sharpen though.

[Steve]

I think that although you are “seeing” pictures you were relying a little to much on the motion blur of the water to carry these shots.

Both shots look like they have been taken from the path when composition wise there seems to be other available focal points that you could have used better. The first has a bridge in the background which could have offered you a good focal point and several different ways of taking a more interesting shot, the way it has been shot here it is virtually covered and blocked by the trees and small bit of land sticking out into the river.

The second has nice lead in lines with the river but the banks are a bit cluttered and lacking in detail, there is nothing much you could do about that but looking in the river there are some rocks, perhaps a better shot would have been a closer framing on a scene with the focus being on the rocks in the foreground and the river leading off into the background as it goes going further out of focus. That way you could have still used the motion blur of the river while offering us some foreground interest and a way to lead the viewer’s eyes through the shot.

[Ribby]

The intention with the first shot was to lead your eye from the bottom-right up towards the top-left. The bridge is supposed to be around the third but I take your point about the trees in the way. I tried to take a shot from the path on the other side of the stream too but it just didn't seem to work.

I see what you're saying about the rocks in the second picture too, and I think that may well have made a better picture. Next time I'll take some wellies!

Thanks for your help guys.

[Steve]

Wellies or preferably good walking boots are a must in this game

I look forward to seeing your re-shoots