A few days in the Cotswolds, England UK

[itsnotmeyouknow]

My wife and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary last week and we spent a few days in the very pretty little village of Painswick.  It is a very quiet place indeed - it felt like a Sunday on both Thursday and Friday!

This is Painswick's pretty church - quite contrasty so decided to convert to black and white in Silver efex pro 2

Canon 5D mk III EF 16 - 35mm L II at f/16 and 16mm 1/30 ISO 200


Painswick-church-and-its-yew-Trees by singingsnapper, on Flickr

Another one late that evening - I remarked to my wife after we had eaten our main course (we were sat down outside for dinner) that the way the sun was hitting the church was beautiful - at this point she sighed and said :"Go on then, get your camera - but don't be long" I asked her if she was sure, and then grabbed my camera from our room and then quickly took a few shots.  I hsten to add that this wasn't on our anniversary night - even I wouldn't have dared even raise the subject on the anniversary dinner - even though there was a perfect crescent of the moon right by the steeple of the church as we walked around the church the previous evening after our anniversary dinner.

Canon 5D mk III EF 16 - 35L II at f/13 and 20mm 1/25 ISO 400


Painswick-church-at-sunset by singingsnapper, on Flickr

Earlier in the day we had walked around the slightly underwhelming Rococo Gardens which while not cheap to enter (£7.15 each) weren't very dramatic.  We just used the time to chill on the grass in and out of the shade. 

This is looking down the avenues of food gardens towards a sculpture wall

Canon 5D mk III EF 24 - 70L @ f/16 and 24mm 1/100 ISO 160


rococo-garden by singingsnapper, on Flickr

And a shot of the sculpture at the end

Canon 5D mk III EF 24 - 70L at f/16 and 24mm 1/125 ISO 160


rococo-2 by singingsnapper, on Flickr

[smithy]

I hope you both had a great anniversary.   

Despite the fact that I lived in Oxford for more than three years, I'm ashamed to say that I never spent any time in the Cotswolds...

Do you mind if I critique your photos?

The first one is the best IMHO.  I like the wide angle view - and the church isn't distorted which is a bonus.   There's a strange dark circle to the left of the church steeple that looks like sensor dust, but is not apparent in your other shots - my eye is drawn strongly to it.  There's also some haloing around the dark features, such as the bush on the right hand side.

The second image of the church is a bit more of a snapshot.  I'm not really a fan of the distortion of the building here, but that's just my personal taste.  The sunset colour on the church contrasting against the late afternoon sky is alway a nice thing to look at.

The garden image has nice symmetry, although it's obviously tilting down to the right - easy to fix in post processing.  The colours have a good level of saturation.

The sculpture image doesn't really draw my interest as a photograph, although I'm sure it serves its purpose as a reminder of your trip.  The whites are slightly blown out.  To make the photo more intriguing or exciting, a different angle could be used, perhaps a close-up of some of its detail.  A different time of day (early morning or evening) would help with contrast and colour too.

[itsnotmeyouknow]

In the third shot the land slopes right to left and perhaps because of how this messes with the perception of the shot, perhaps makes it not the best subject.  I liked how the the three paths start/end at this point, but you're right the appearance of a slant can be distracting.  I take on board the comment re the big spot on the ground as its around the third and so I should have cloned that out.

The first shot is my favourite in any case. It was most likely my circular polariser that was first at fault then my fault for not checking it was free of dust, and then not picking it out at PP stage.  Have dealt with it now though:


B+W-painswick-church-amd-yew-trees by singingsnapper, on Flickr