This still work in progress really and I am umming and arring about the clouds; do they work as stark white of do you think they would look better with some more tonal detail (which is on the neg and would just take some burning in to ease it out).
They are a bit too contrasty for me. As the image stands now, the clouds also take up a great deal of the frame, making them rather overpowering. I'd like to see it again if you decide to burn in more detail - or even crop out along the top, if the sheep are your intended subject. They're awfully tiny here under that enormous sky.
Rhys.There may not be enough sheep in the foreground but there isn't much you can do about that now.
The clouds on my screen have a little tonal detail and I like them as they are, as well as the background hills. For balance, I'd go for a slightly darker foreground.
Apart from maybe more and bigger sheep this does it for me.
Print quality aside this is a good composition. The repetitive triangular forms are very compelling, as well as the balance created between the high lights and shadows.
When it comes to printing I feel their are no magic bullets or formulas that will create a great print every time. Printing is merely another step in the compositional process. Whether you decide to include or exclude detail hinges entirely upon the composition. Sometimes printing the highlight or shadow detail detracts from the overall composition or creates an overly busy photograph. Hot whites are ok, inky blacks are ok, complementing the composition is the number 1 priority in printing.
Thanks for the comments, the sheep weren't really the subject but I couldn't think of a good name for this one.
I'm thinking that taking a little off the top might help stop the clouds from being too overpowering and I definitely think that they need a bit more tonal detail just for the same reason.
I also just tried to sepia tone one of the prints and it seemed to enhance the clouds but didn't really work in the foreground.
For the time being I'm going to leave the print tacked up in my office to try and develop some ideas of the way I want to go with this one.