Summer I

The roadside poppies are particularly good this year. Here are some

I saw at a crossroads not far from where I live. All comments

welcome!

The poppies in the field and the sky would have done a nice (though classical) picture by themselves, but i think the roadsigns ready add a "plus" to the composition. Very nice idea.

This is a wonderful shot! It's not the typical poppies shot ... the sky is gorgeous, the colors are also wonderful ... but the angle is what's unique. I love that you got down low to get this one ... and the sign really makes it charming. I love it!

Jay - thanks. I seem to be drawn to signposts somehow.

 

Lou Ann, thanks, I'm glad you apreciate the effort of grovelling on the ground to get this shot....:-)

Hi Colin, I like the inclusion of the signage as well. I think it adds another element to the image. Beautiful colours too by the way.

School is over!

 

ND filters don't cause darkening of the blue sky?! I never used one.

 

Beautiful is the motive, first of all, and the picture comes to the second place. Why so small? RAW?

 

Cheers! 6/6 it is!

The lines formed by the tall grass point me to the (road?) sign, the I go down to the interesting red colors clumped together in the corner, on I move to the right to check the sharp field in the midground. And vow my roaming in the picture is closed in a circle, ready to follow it once more to find out more... I like it a lot... (I might have preffered a polarizer used instead of the ND, to not darken the clouds, have a bit more contrast there. It would be a different image then, for sure... :-)

 

Jiri

ColinI like the closeness of the poppies and the grass,but brings you far out on feelings.The signs show, you can go further,what we can see at the horizon. and of coarse, the clouds are lovely.

Amar, thanks, I took some without the signost but the white colour seemed to add something.

 

Pierre, thanks, the ND grad darkems the sky and clouds but does not impose a colour such as with grey or brown grad filters. I tend to use them with a very wide angle lens instead of a polariser as with a polariser the darkening depends on the angle to the sun.

 

Jiri, thanks, another reason to use my ND grad rather than a polariser is that I could not find my 77mm polariser that day!

 

Alix, thanks, I was trying to get the angle right to include the sign, the flowers, the sky and also (as you saw) the distant view to the fields.

 

Colin, it looks like a layer composition, the red poppirs are a strong attaching point, than the sign looks like another " flower"and an unusal form in that place, and than the eye is traveling to the blue cloudy sky. Lovely image.

Hay Colin, I did see you passed by, nice to see you.

 

Beatifull crossroads, with a lot of tempting nature. Something to make you happy. Cheers old friend;~)))

 

I am of for four weeks Tuscany, jyippy!!!

Colin your camera already has the dreaded dust spots on the sensor. The 5D is notorious for this problem. Fortunately there are good solutions. As to your image, most enjoyable. The sign seems more for travelers on foot rather than by cars. That adds a comfortable and intimate feeling to this...

Pnina, thanks. It is a bit of a postcard shot but I liked it anyway.

 

mike, thanks for stopping by. Enjoy Tuscany!

 

David, thank you. The 5D sensor seems to be particularly prone to getting spots on it, I have a couple of small dust spots which I will attempt to blow away in the approved manner. Have you encountered similar problems? think in this case the out of focus spots on this frame are from the ND grad which had become marked while I was using it.

Hello Colin, I had wondered if you would replace your 10-22 with the 16-35 or 17-40.

 

I've seen some very good shots with the 17-40 on the 5D and this is one of them. The colours and level of detail are exquisite. It's difficult to tell from this shot, having used the ND filter, but do you see much vignetting?

 

Best wishes. Pete

Hi Peter, There is a fair amount of vignetting on the 5D with the 17-40 but so there also was on the 300D with the 10-22. It was noticeable in my recent blizzard shots and needed some post processing to remove it. Here are two shots showing the vignetting - first is an unmanipulated frame to show how the effect appears normally and the second is manipulated to emphasise it.

...this one is with levels adjusted to emphasise the vignetting with the 5D and 17-40. I have heard a bit of net talk about it but it seems no worse to me than other camera + wide angle combinations.

 

I would have liked a 16-35 but had to draw the line somewhere :-)

I'm not that enthralled with the 17-40, I might trade up yet, I want to do a hands on test first though. For the FOV at 17mm you can't really complain at the price though, good mf primes cost more. Out of interest Col, what aperture was this shot at?

nice vibrant colours and comp. Shame for the spots on the blue sky. The 5 d seems to collect a lot of dust: I have the same problem with it.

This is High Summer, fresh and crisp palette. You can smell it. Well done Colin.

Ben, the poppy shot was 1/60, at f22, iso 200, focal length 17mm, the blizzard shots were 1/400, at f4, iso 100, focal length 30mm.

 

I find the 17-40 much the same as the 10-22 with the exception that flare resistance is not as good.

 

Hi Cristina, yes, the 5D seems to get dust on the sensor very easily. I have not tried blowing the dust spots away as descibed in the manual but will have to try when I am feeling brave.

 

Jan Olof, thanks, I would have liked more clouds in the shot but the snshine was very nice!

The Poppies are welcoming the summer cheerily. I like it too.

Clever choice of camera point and perspective. We have some nice poppies along the streets, too, and I racked my brain how to stage them. Your concept is quite original and it works, connecting the cornstalks and poppies with the sign post, with converging lines towards the UL.

As commented above, light and colors shout "high summer"...

The roadsigns add to the composition, Colin, and the cornstalks are curving toward them.

Good perspective, Colin. Great color and lighting. I like it!

Thanks Cherlyn, Carsten, Paula and Kim. Carsten, the poppies have done well this year - lots of them about along the edges of fields and roads. I took quite a number of not terribly interesting shots at other locations before finding this spot.