Mid Day Hayfield

[Greg McCary]

Other than not being the golden hour, What do you think? Mostly I want to know about what you think of the color processing?
Greg

[fx101]

I like the overall feel of the colours...; however, at the front bottom (left of the closest roll) the grass is anti-freeze green . Might want to lower the saturation selectively in that area (do a general selection by drawing around it and then select the green colour range), from here play around with the colour sliders and lower the saturation to make it more shadowlike and less "glowy". The trees are perfect. They evoke a "fantasy" like feel with their slightly unreal hue (that's a good thing ). I would darken the sky a little bit to bring out cloud detail (not nescessary but would enhance it). Other than that great shot and great composition.

[Greg McCary]

I see what you mean. I toned it down some and replaced it. Is it better?
Greg

[SmartWombat]

Mostly I want to know about what you think of the color processing?
I toned it down some and replaced it. Is it better?

Well it's less of a poke in the eye, but I can't say I like it.
My initial comment on the first image (I wish you hadn't replaced it so it was there for comparison) was one word - "weird".

The green in the shadow still looks totally unnatural, and the blue sky looks subtly wrong.
I can't put my finger on it, but the sky just doesn't seem the right colour.
It looks a sort of murky, dark blue, at odds with the sunlight.

Maybe masking and local colour adjustments will help, instead of global colour changes.
I'm just learning about that by trial and error, and more error.

[Greg McCary]

Thanks Paul. I will work on it some more.....

[gahspidy]

Greg, i like your composition here alot. the dof is perfect, i feel as well as the placement of the front hayroll. I definetely agree that the color in the shadow of the hayroll looks totally . . . .unnatural. I remember you mentioning a technique you came across for bringing out grass and by eliminating the blues and increasing greens and yellows and i think you might have done that here to an extent and it came back with unwanted side effects in the shadowed areas. i like the colors of everything else here as it looks a bit fantasy-like. all that is needed is for that shadow to be deeper with much less color and detail. . . .a more natural looking effect.
Great stuff, Greg

[jkriminger]

I think you need to layer around the shadow area for your first landscape section of adjustment..maybe even the whole hay roll. The first pic overall had a nice effect except for the shadow grass.

[Greg McCary]

Thanks Rod, Gary. Yes I am working with a new book. Also Lightroom too. I will play around with it some more.
Greg

[fx101]

I see what you mean. I toned it down some and replaced it. Is it better?
Greg

It is a little better, but not perfect still. The neon green grass is still there. Do you mind if I edit it and circle the areas?

Edit: The new version of the colour is great now. Definitely fixed. The B&W is definitely nice, but the colour is splendid.

[Greg McCary]

Go ahead. Here's a couple more. What do you think of these two? Does the B&W work at all?

[Xia_Ke]

Very nice composition Greg The b&w is the money shoot for me. Very nicely done. Good job on fixing the green in the edit of the color version as well.

Aaron

[jkriminger]

Greg, I think you hit the color version this time. Looks very nice. sky is better defined too.

[freygr]

Personally I like the B&W version.

PS is it your hay? If so please beam me 50 tons;-)

[gahspidy]

your final color version looks very good. I think the b&w looks ok, but I definetely prefer the color.
Good work

[GB1]

Hmm. Good composition. The amount of rolls in the background there makes it seem like there's hundreds back there in and out of the frame (they actually seem like cows. Perhaps if a cow was there next to the front row... that would be nice).

I think it works, but can't figure out the sky -- seems to slightly take over the shot because of those clouds. I like the B&W too. I think I'd crop out that area below the front hay roll, somehow it seems better w/o it. That's just a nitpick, of course, meaning there's not much to complain about. Good shot

GB

[Didache]

Those aren't hay bales - they are giant rabbit droppings. And there's a 100 foot bunny RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!

Cheers
Mike

[Greg McCary]

Those aren't hay bales - they are giant rabbit droppings. And there's a 100 foot bunny RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!

Cheers
Mike

This guy is the only farmer in the town with a bumper crop year with hay. We are in the middle of a drought. He soaks his field twice a year with chicken manure. So I think it's more like a 100ft. Chicken.LOL.......At least that's what his neighbour told me. I shot form his driveway.