Bunkhouse in Wheat Field

[awkwards]

I went on a mini-photo expedition around Forest Grove, Oregon, USA, about 15 mintues from where I live in Portland.

I'm just learning the ropes with my D70, and I'm kicking myself on these because I didn't realize until I came home that I'd had the camera set for ISO 800. Very noisy, but not so noticeable for Web display.

I'd appreciate any comments. Thanks for looking!

[schrackman]

I love the first one!! The second one I don't like the position of the house (only nitpick). Great shots. Hope you're enjoying that D70!

Ray

[mikehulsebus]

I, on the other hand, like the composition on the second one better. Its very "bam. bam. bam." if that makes any sense (which i'm guessing it doesn't). By that I mean that each space of the photo has its own thing going on--bunkhouse in the upper left, sky in the upper right, wheat in the foreground. The first one either has too much sky or two little sky in my opinion. Your first one is also rather desaturated. The attached image has undergone a contrast adjustment in PSP followed my a saturation enhancement. Mess around with em yourself in your image editing program and see whatcha like.

[Elysian]

Nice shots, I prefer #1. I don't like the horizon splitting the shot in half though, tends to make the image less dynamic.

I don't think both images need more saturation, but a level correction in an image editor would be wise to bring down the white point to the area marked with the arrow (histogram of first shot).

Well done and thanks for sharing.

[awkwards]

Great feedback, guys, thanks! Here's another shot I had on the "roll." I pulled back a bit wider to understate the barn a little.

I found the comment about the hozing cutting the photo in half especially interesting because that is something I've struggled with. I have this strange tendency to cut the image exactly in half. On this one I was consciously forcing myself to bring more wheat into the foreground so that the horizon wouldn't perfectly bisect the frame.

I also applied the levels adjustment and notched up the saturation a litte (I think I might have overdone it there). It's odd, but when I saved the first two shots as JPGs, just doing this seemed to make the colors come out flatter. I wonder if this is a color profile issue? This one I converted to sRGB IEC61966 2.1. This time it came out way saturated. I dunno.

I certainly am enjoying this D70! That REAL SLR feel makes all the difference in the world.

Thanks again!

[Elysian]

Originally Posted by awkwards

It's odd, but when I saved the first two shots as JPGs, just doing this seemed to make the colors come out flatter.

Could be two reasons for that; JPEG compression rate or wrong use of color profile.

In case of the compression rate... I experienced that with some art I made in Photoshop. It has to do with Jpeg, the compression factor and the amount of small details in the image. Save the image with 100% quality and you'll notice that the colors aren't that flat anymore, but then you'll have another problem; image too big to post on the board.

Btw, I prefer your last shot over the first ones, because it expresses more how big some of those wheat fields are.

[mtbbrian]

The last one is the better one for sure.
The placement of the horizon gives a good constrast between the sky and the wheat.
I think the placement of the bunkhouse is better here too.
Brian

[Elysian]

Congratulations James with your shot being featured and I think you deserve it 100% ;)

[villenadecorte]

I like the last (and featured!! way to go) one best of all. I agree with the others on the desaturation issue. It looked as if it were lacking a little punch I love the concept of the shot, and I love how you've got subtle elements in each phase of the pic- the up close wheat, but not over bearing, the farm house and ofcourse the sky.
Awesome!


-VillenaDeCorte

[mjm]

Yes, great shots indeed. Cheers.

[Elysian]

Just want to throw in my 2 cents.
A few people have mentioned that the image needs saturation. Don't forget that an image looks desaturated when it's not bright enough. The histogram shows us that the image is lacking this brightness. There there too many grays in it and these same grays make the image loook desaturated.

I added an example; I only did a levels correction and notice how the colors look more saturated. That's the only thing I did with the bottom image; a levels correction.

It's important to know that the lack of brightness was the major problem in this image.
Correct it and you'll get the stauration back.
After the levels correction you can still increase the saturation, but why?
I think that in a scene like this, which hasn't any real problems (reflections, color casts, bright highlights, etc), that his professional Nikon D70 can come up with quite accurate colors.

[awkwards]

Thank you very much for your kind words and input regarding my photos. The last thing I expected was to log in today and see my little photo featured!

You folks really know how to make an amateur feel good about his pictures while helping with technique and workflow at the same time. Fun, fun!!

Best regards,

James

[gahspidy]

James, well done. Great photo. Good to see it featured.
JoeD good points with your levels adjustment example. I too usually do levels check and adjust with my images and always brings life to it. Colors and all. I never saturate , not that i can remember anyway, maybe some selective saturation with a brush if I am going for a certain effect. But levels is the first thing I check when starting to work on an image.

[havi]

I think the composition is great! Love the colors!

[tsam]

decent photo, great for a calendar, im glad you didnt split the horizon (rule of thirds), you should go back on another day, maybe a sunny day to increase shadow and contrast, that is, it would sharpen the wheat and brighten up the building (it seems a little muddy). also try different times, like in the evening, light temp. goes down (5400k to about 3500k) warming up the whole image, especially the wheat....man it would look so golden. if you do alot of landscapes, you should own a polarizing filtre, used correctly, your skys will be more dramatic and many other advantages dealing with reflecting...you'll see.

other than that, great composition, weight ( the slight slope to the right balances the building with more blue on the right side and also emphasises the movement of the wheat blowing in the wind). the message im getting .. solitude, lonliness, distance, certain dreams are too far to reach, or it's just a simple test that conveys personal viewer experiences.

after going to school for 8 years studing and producing fine arts, at a strictly fine art/conceptual school, i sometimes tend to over analyze and forget that sometimes "art for art's sake" is simple enough.