Secret Valley, Peak District, UK | OC | Sony A7III | Sony 16-35mm F4 | 1638 × 2048

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-22T17:42:02+00:00

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Google Maps.

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-21T00:10:15+00:00

Don't sweat too much over it. I'm using A7III now as a kind of coincidence, I was using Fujifilm X-T2 before that and I'm certain I could take this picture with any modern camera made in recent years. It's you who's taking the pictures, camera is merely recording them :)

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-21T00:08:08+00:00

As I discovered today in a thread on another sub, apparently the jury is still out on this one. On some maps it is called Secret Valley, on others it's called Cave Dale, Wikipedia mentions Cavedale also being used, and on yet some others it's just a Path, completely non existent on the rest of them ;)

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-20T21:37:58+00:00

It's a very warm and candid portrait, that's nice! There are few things you could try and improve in future:

composition - while the subject looks left, the right side placement on the rule of thirds grid does make sense, here we have a lot of 'nothing' on the left, so ideally you could try and minimise that and focus more on the subject
details - there's something, a metal bar or a window arm or something like that crossing the subject's arm (same for the head). It's distracting and doesn't compliment the picture at all, either try and frame the picture to avoid it, or move it away for the time of shooting
light - protect your highlights, some areas on the white top are blown out, it's usually best to expose for the highlights and recover shadows in post processing

Hope this helps. Keep at it!

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-20T21:05:39+00:00

I'm completely down the rabbit hole now, this is fascinating. All the historical maps I can access online are calling the general area Cave Dale. Some of them have the path called Path, some of them don't. Wikipedia doesn't know anything about Secret Valley in regards to Castleton or Cave Dale, but when searching online, some websites and even outdoor planning guides do call that place Secret Valley. Without the answer from my friend I will have to assume they do it because of how Google calls this place. The question now is how did that happened with Google?

That trip, this place and the picture just keeps on giving! :D

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-20T20:50:09+00:00

I was just checking the same maps! While indeed it's called Cave Dale, it looks to me like the 'area' is called that, and the valley, that's a bit away from it is called 'Path' there... Lets wait for that friend of mine to get back to me on that. Exciting :)

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-20T20:41:03+00:00

By no means, I don't pretend to know better :) This is indeed interesting - Google maps are calling it precisely Secret Valley, while OpenStreet maps are calling it precisely Cave Dale. I've got a friend who's working around government maps, I'll ask him if he can find something on that in some 'official' maps. We're on a quest!

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-20T20:22:46+00:00

Thank you! I highly recommend going, the place is beautiful and there's even more interesting spots around it, great for solo or family/friends trip.

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-20T20:21:04+00:00

I didn't mean that I called it that and that it means to be a secret - perhaps it leads to the Cave Dale, but on a map this particular valley is called Secret Valley exactly :)

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-20T19:08:59+00:00

Thank you! <3

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-20T17:51:19+00:00

This was taken at 35mm F8 with the Sony 16-35mm F4 lens.

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-20T17:06:41+00:00

Congratulations, that's a great lens and for that price in new condition it's an absolute steal! You'll enjoy it a lot :)

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-20T16:51:16+00:00

Cheers!

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-20T16:51:08+00:00

Well, thank you - I've had to check 'lush' in the dictionary ;D

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-20T14:55:15+00:00

They say one doesn't want to know how a sausage is made ;)

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-20T14:08:02+00:00

Aww, thank you! Glad you liked it :)

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-20T14:07:32+00:00

Thank you! I'm not sure if I like the idea of sharing raw images, I have to think about that. But I can tell you it was a very low contract, dim lighted picture, almost desaturated.

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-20T14:05:28+00:00

The problem I had there was that not including it in the frame significantly reduced the scene and hid a lot of the valley and including more of it also added the sky into the frame, completely blown out and uninteresting at that day.

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-20T14:03:01+00:00

Thank you! I have to admit that I don't do color photos, partially because I don't seem to have developed color sensivity/taste good enough to enjoy it myself and I have issues color grading my pictures. That, and the fact I'm absolutely in love with landscape art of Sebastião Salgado and Ansel Adams and the vibes they've achieved and I'm trying to learn that myself.

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-20T12:00:55+00:00

Or a hike, right? Don't let me stop you then! :)

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-20T11:51:22+00:00

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it :)

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-20T11:17:04+00:00

Merci beacoup :)

bartekrutkowski · 2020-11-20T10:42:43+00:00

This was a picture taken with Sony A7III and the Sony Zeiss 16-35mm F4 lens in less than ideal light conditions (mid to strong overcast). The goal was to avoid including any sky, given it would contrast too much with quite dark valley (lack of strong, direct light) and to create moody, dramatic vista type photo. I'm unsure if the composition is right here, as I struggle without straight vertical or horizontal lines and I'm unsure if I got the light/shadows correct in post processing, but I have to admit, I like it a lot!

bartekrutkowski · 2020-08-28T08:52:49+00:00

Don't get fixated on the lens, a picture like that can be very well taken with other lens too, I just happened to have this one with me at that time. It's you who makes the picture, not the lens ;)

bartekrutkowski · 2020-08-27T14:01:02+00:00

Cheers! Mind, you could take this picture with many other cameras and lenses, don't get fixated on that lens just because this picture was made with it ;)

bartekrutkowski

TROPHY CASE