Harvest Moon

[mjs1973]

Does this work? Is it too hard to tell that it's a combine picking corn? Is the moon too much?

[gahspidy]

Mike, the moon looks great, sharp and good exposure. Maybe a bit close to the edges of the frame , though. It is hard to see what is going on in the bottom area of the image, but I'm thinking that reducing the highlights and upping the detail in the shadows (shadow/highlight tool) would help with the corn picking combine.

[Mr Yuck]

Great shot, if the resolution is high enough, it would be perfect as a larger image, maybe poster sized. I'd like to see a larger version, maybe 1280 wide. Hard telling at this size.

Forum/web size just doesnt cut it though.

[mjs1973]

Mike, the moon looks great, sharp and good exposure. Maybe a bit close to the edges of the frame , though. It is hard to see what is going on in the bottom area of the image, but I'm thinking that reducing the highlights and upping the detail in the shadows (shadow/highlight tool) would help with the corn picking combine.

Thanks for the advice Gary! I was hoping you would comment since you have created some great images with this technique, I really value your opinion. I do have a couple other exposures of this image, that make the combine a little easier ot see, but the sky is much lighter and bluer. I think they might work better, but I wasn't able to get the moon to look natural in the image. I will have to spend some more time masking off the moon, and working it into the other images.

I will play around with your suggestions and repost the image this weekend.

Thanks again Gary.

[mjs1973]

Great shot, if the resolution is high enough, it would be perfect as a larger image, maybe poster sized. I'd like to see a larger version, maybe 1280 wide. Hard telling at this size.

Forum/web size just doesnt cut it though.

Thanks for taking the time to look and comment. The resolution is high enough, and I will post a larger version when I make some changes to the image.

[Chunk]

Nice effect Mike. I agree with Gary about the moon's position being too close to the corner. I also think it's bigger than it needs to be compared to the combine.

A little surreal feeling with the full moon above a dying sunset.

Now I'll be having "Shine on Harvest Moon" running through my head all day.

[mjs1973]

Nice effect Mike. I agree with Gary about the moon's position being too close to the corner. I also think it's bigger than it needs to be compared to the combine.

A little surreal feeling with the full moon above a dying sunset.

Now I'll be having "Shine on Harvest Moon" running through my head all day.

Thanks much for your input Chunk! The size of the moon is something I wasn't sure of, and I will take that into consideration when I re-edit this image.

[Loupey]

Cool effect. The size ratio of the moon-to-combine seems awkward to me. I would have liked to see the ratio flipped - a slightly larger combine, a slightly smaller moon.

[mjs1973]

Cool effect. The size ratio of the moon-to-combine seems awkward to me. I would have liked to see the ratio flipped - a slightly larger combine, a slightly smaller moon.

Thanks for your input Loupey. I wish I had a closer image of the combine too, but this is all I have to work with right now. I'll keep my eyes open for more late evening feild work.

[mjs1973]

Here is a rework following some of the advice you have given me. I also cropped a little off the bottom. What do you think of this version?

[drg]

Yes, I like this size much better! The small light above the combine appears to be a building?
Keep it. It adds an inviting quality to rural evening warmth. This is certainly a scale (as in size) driven image. It works better and better depending upon the viewers relation to the image in terms of distance and the size of what the print I hope you will make.

Some noise or color artifacting in the sky and the colors might use a slight increase in saturation for much larger so to remove any 'muddy' quality.

Good job and I am glad to see this, it gives me some ideas for next harvest season.

[Overbeyond]

Its a lovely shot anyway but I agree with Loupey and feel the moon could be reduced in size somewhat thus improving the overall picture balance.
Tom

[Chunk]

Now I can here that auger working to unload the combine into that wagon and smell the dusty sweet smell on the quite night air. Is this a bean field?

Drg is right about the light in the house. It's the promise of a meal kept warm, a hot shower to get the dust off, and a comfortable couch.

[gahspidy]

It's better now that we can see what is going on down there. The size of the moon makes it look a bit like a scene cut from a science fiction movie. I think if there was any possiblity of bringing out any detail in the dark areas , it would help further. The moon that size would illuminate much of the ground. Great improvement on the crop and moving the moon further from the edges.

[Loupey]

I like this version. At this size, I can see the cool effect those lights on the combine cast onto the field.

However, I can now see that the image has quite a bit of a clock-wise tilt. And that gray ghosting where the black meets sky is a little distracting. What caused that?

Hope to not sound so picky - just can see it better now.

Still a cool image :thumbsup:

[mjs1973]

Thanks again everyone for looking and commenting. Yes, there is a considerable amount of noise in this image. It was a 1 second shot at ISO 400. Not a good combo with the DRebel. I haven't tried to remove the noise on this image yet.

The gray ghosting you are seeing is a result of the way I blended 2 layers together. I tried to lighten the area where the sky meets the ground to give a little definition between the two, and so you can see the silhouette of the house against the horizon. I'll keep working on this image with all of your suggetions in mind.

I did manage to get some more photos yesterday, or a combine picking corn. They were much closer so the combine will me much more prominent in the image if I try to do something like this with those. The only problem with those images is that they were shot at mid day... I underexposed them to make them look like they were shot as dusk, but they are no headlights to illuminate the ground.

[mjs1973]

Is this a bean field?

I'm almost positive that this was a corn field.