Wollaton Hall seen through the trees  by phil_howcroft

Wollaton Hall seen through the trees

I've gone all black and white landscape this weekend.

We went to Wollaton Park this afternoon. There was an RSPCA sponsored dog walk so we decided to see how Ruby would react to a park full of hundreds of dogs ! (and there were hundreds of dogs too). Surprisingly she was really well behaved. When we go on our local walks she's not very good when she sees or hears other dogs, but in Wollaton Park she must have thought it was not worth getting excited about with so many shapes and sizes all around her.

Wollaton Park has an old hall inside the park and this is the hall shot on a long lens with a lake in the foreground and some mature trees in the middle of the frame.

A gentle B/W conversion making the most of some rather bland skies and lighting.
Looks like an impressive building - I like how you've got the trees in the foreground, with the building rising out of them :o)
May 22nd, 2011  
magnificent scene, just beautiful and great that the walk went well!
May 22nd, 2011  
The B & W is great - not bland at all. Bit of aversion therapy for Ruby then - glad she was OK!! Whippets are quite fragile-looking - I can imagine they don't like being jumped on. Monty is very used to alsorts of dogs but there are some he doesn't like at all - mostly big bumptious puppy types!
May 22nd, 2011  
Phil.. a little cc? - I would have cropped out the lake - in B&W it looks like a flat field with some rubbish in. I might even have cropped right in on just the hall framed by trees.
May 22nd, 2011  
This is spectacular composition, the hall cushioned by the trees like that! Ruby was probably overawed by all those dogs & better stay by dad!!
May 22nd, 2011  
Looks like it's hovering over the trees. Impressive composition!
May 22nd, 2011  
Nice to see the Hall in all its splendor!
May 22nd, 2011  
wow this is beautiful phil!
May 22nd, 2011  
great shot - what a cool location. Glad to hear Ruby was comfortable with all those dogs around her! This shot works well in B&W
May 22nd, 2011  
B&W can make a big difference on the bland days. Well done.
May 22nd, 2011  
Love that shot.
May 23rd, 2011  
Gorgeous black and white
May 23rd, 2011  
It is quite majestic in B&W. I expect to see a party of knights riding through the trees on a quest of some sort.
May 23rd, 2011  
Beautiful shot. Have you considered doing this in hdr? It looks great as is but I wonder how it would look processed that way. Glad Ruby had a good time and behaved :-)
May 23rd, 2011  
@sarahhorsfall cheers sarah it is a nice location
May 23rd, 2011  
@sueb Thanks Sue, good idea, but I don't have any HDR software , I would like to experiment with HDR, but don't have the tools do do so !
May 23rd, 2011  
@allie912 Allison, I think they have done 'jousting tournaments' in the gardens....good idea, you can obviously spot the potential :)
May 23rd, 2011  
@kerristephens cheers KErri :)
May 23rd, 2011  
@elizabeth Elizabeth , thanks for you kind support
May 23rd, 2011  
@wac thanks Wendy :)
May 23rd, 2011  
@sparkle thanks Juliette, it was quite hard to take because I was on a very long zoom
May 23rd, 2011  
@jupton8 thank you very much julie
May 23rd, 2011  
@anron thanks Anita, I will look out for the hall in your 365 :)
May 23rd, 2011  
@shadowdancer thank you very much indeed shadow
May 23rd, 2011  
@happypat thanks Pat, it is a beautiful location for an Sunday stroll
May 23rd, 2011  
@judithg thank you Judith, we've been unable to identify what types of dog winds her up yet...seems no real pattern, sheep dogs seem to send her a bit loopy :)
May 23rd, 2011  
@jenrobcarr thank you Jennifer :)
May 23rd, 2011  
THAT'S A NICE PLACE AND PHOTO
May 23rd, 2011  
..oh those bland skies.. its been tough (last week) with total bright-out or just dull flat overcast-ness..
Nice shot of impressive building.
May 23rd, 2011  
Great b&w I have been there once I think. Is there a real stuffed giraffe inside?
Pearl hates most flat faced type dogs, ie boxers, staffies, mastiffs, sharpays. She is not keen on anything big and is highly suspicious of anything with shaggy fur. Her pedigree reads like incest that the kennel club should outlaw she is just two dogs multiplied as many times as possible they appear in all 4 lines. I think this has a lot to do with these dog phobias, being attacked by 2 staffies when they were on leads has not helped.
May 24th, 2011  
@phil_howcroft can you do HDR on gimp it is free ware and supposed to be able to closely emulate photoshop. I have tried it but was not keen. Could you get PS Elements - it is supposed to be as good as PS in many ways.
May 24th, 2011  
there are some freebies mentioned here that might be worth checking out http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-high-dynamic-range-hdr-software.htm
May 24th, 2011  
Love this shot. A fav
May 24th, 2011  
Thats an impressive looking building. The black and white makes it look all old fashioned too. Good choice.
May 24th, 2011  
@whippeteer Frances I had Gimp on my old laptop, it was pretty good but the interface was quite hard to get your head around at the time. I might give it a try again. thanks for the other url link too ...interesting reading :)
May 25th, 2011  
@seattle awww thanks for the fave Constance
May 25th, 2011  
@tashy thanks Tashy , maybe I should have gone sepia
May 25th, 2011  
This is a great b & w Phil..love the way it is atop the trees!
May 26th, 2011  
Wollaton looks amazing, Phil!
May 28th, 2011  
@whippeteer Frances I forgot to say, yes you are right about the Giraffe :)...it's not the best museum in the world , but it's free and part of the cities heritage to the people :)
May 30th, 2011  
@russianblue thanks Kass
May 30th, 2011  
@patsyjphillips Patsy, it is a beautiful building :) thanks :)
May 30th, 2011  
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