Harvest Storm

TONY

Many Thanks for your perceptive response, much appreciated.  You describe it very much as I saw it too.  I tried pretty much every angle to compose the shot and the "down the middle" approach seemed to be the most satisfactory.

Best Regards

Alf

MICHEL

Sincere Thanks for your interest and invaluable feedback, much appreciated. I was very surprised myself to find the bales of hay lined up in this manner. I have never seen them in this position before, they are usually dotted about the fields in cpmarative isolation. I spoke briefly with the farmer firstly asking permission to walk around the field taking photographs, to which he responded with a positive "no problem" and secondly asked him why the bales were grouped as they were, he then told me he had just collected them together ready to be loaded onto trailers, in fact he started loading them while I was there. Of course seeing them in this situation I took full advantage and when I realised the extent of the cloud definition, this seemed the obvious choice of perspective. I did try several others but none seemed quite as effective.

Best Regards

Alf

TONY H

Many thanks for your interest and invaluable feedback, much appreciated! I was in two minds about the lightening the tree line as you described, but was also aware that I had darkened the image significantly and didn't want to produce something too surreal.

I have to say I do not regret buying the D700, it's a brilliant camera, but I have come to the conclusion that the lens is more important. The three lenses I have purchased in the last 12 months I believe have made a significant difference to my image quality. My advice......if you want one and can afford one, go get it, don't wait, the D800 could be years away, life is short.........just enjoy.

Cheers Tony!

Alf

KEITH

Many thanks for your interest and kind words, much appreciated. Yeah I see what you mean, that "avenue" does channel the focus of attention.

Cheers Keith!

Alf

RUUD

Sincere thanks for your kind words and interest, much appreciated!

Best Regards

Alf

GRAYHAM

Many thanks for your informative feedback and interest, much appreciated. I'm really pleased you like it, I wasn't sure that I might lose its natural appeal through the darkening process, its very gratifying to learn it hasn't.

Best Regards

Alf

ZSOLT

Many thanks for your interest and encouraging feedback, very much appreciated.

Kind Regards

Alf

RASHED

Sincere thanks for your visit and positive feedback. People do seem to connect with this, who knows why...maybe its a seasonal thing, but in any case its very gratifying to know they do.

All the very best to you too my friend!

Alf

DAVE

I am truly flattered by your words of encouragement, and pleased that you think its not over darkened. I was hoping that might be the general consensus of opinion and it seems like it is. I don't know about the firm hand though, without a tripod I'd be struggling : - )

Sincere Thanks Dave!

Alf

DEANNA

Many thanks for that great big positive "YES" and your own very encouraging feedback, very much appreciated.

Kind Regards

Alf

PATSY

Many Thanks for looking in and adding your encouraging comments, much appreciated. The sky is "powerful" looking, I sometimes wish for better weather, but I don't think it would have quite the same effect with a plain blue sky.

Cheers Patsy!

Alf

WILLIAM

You are most kind, thank you sincerely for your interest and positive feedback. I'm pleased your perception is one of a "balanced" shot, it was difficult to approach the subject with a clear idea of what would look balanced, I tried several compositions before coming up with this one.

Best Regards

Alf

SAM

Wow! what can I say.......you are very generous. Thank You!

Best Regards

Alf

LESTER

Sincere thanks for your interest and valuable appraisal, very much appreciated. I was very fortunate to encounter the hay rolls arranged in this was, they are usually dotted around the fields, but the farmer explained he had been gathering them together ready for loading onto to transport, and I just happened along at the right time. Fortunately the clouds began to thicken almost simultaneously.

Cheers Lester!

Alf

DOUG

"BAILED" ....Now I wish I'd thought of that as a title........or even maybe "ALF BAILED"     : -)   

 I'm really pleased you like it Doug, sincere thanks for your interest and positive feedback.

Best Regards

Alf

STEPHEN

Sincere thanks for your informative and helpful feedback. I didn't touch the saturation in this instance, so the colours are natural, but they did seem to intensify as I darkened the image. I have never encountered the bales of hay lined up like this previously either, but the farmer explained that he had gathered them together in readiness for loading onto trailers. I just took advantage of the situation, but I'll be honest at first I struggled to get a composition I liked, the wide angle (14mm) down the middle provided the solution.

Best Regards

Alf

GAIL

I think your editing knowledge far surpasses mine, so I'll take that as a great compliment : - ) It was a warm humid day despite that cloud, and although the storm appears imminent, it wasn't untill 2 hours later that it finally rained, slowly at first, then bucket loads!  I'm really pleased you liked this one Gail. Thank you so much!

Best Regards

Alf

GRANT

Cheers my friend! I'm really pleased that it appears balanced, I was a bit hesitant in posting the shot thinking I had maybe overdone it by darkening it. Sincere Thanks!

Best Regards

Alf

JOHN

Well you know what farmers are like, if he thought he'd done me a favour there would have been a charge for it : -)  He was a nice guy actually and let me walk around his fields snapping away. I was hoping to find some with equal amounts of rolls on each side, but now you mention it, I suppose it has its strengths in not being too symmetrical. Sincere Thanks for your interest and helpful comments, I shall look forward to you posting more of your work soon?

Best Regards

Alf

BEN

Many thanks for your visit and positive feeback, much appreciated! The lines of the stalks are one of the things that compelled me to take that shot too.

Cheers Ben

Alf

DROR

Always good to hear from you, and always good to get an alternative view and suggestions. I quite like the crop, but I would take it a step further and crop some sky too in order to get it back to the "Landscape" orientation. I hear what your saying about the foreground, but we will have to agree to disagree on that one, I like it as it is. In the orginal file you can see the individual seeds on the floor, and I think if it was printed large, it would look interesting.

As for brooding sky's above the "Emirates" ....yes dark days indeed, but theres always another sunrise.

Keep your chin up mate!

Best Regards

Alf

STEVE

Many Thanks for for your vote of confidence, much appreciated!

Best Wishes

Alf

GALLEGO

Sincere thanks for your thoughtful feedback and encouraging words, much appreciated.

Best Regards

Alf

EUGENE

Many Thanks for your visit and kind word, much appreciated!

Best Wishes

Alf

Hi Alf,

Besides all the comments and suggestions, I simply like the fact that you have made excellent use of the outstanding Nikkor lens that would be the dream of many viewers to own. You know that I know about Nikkors.

Well done !

Best Regards,  Mike

I haven't read every response above so please forgive if my comment is a duplication of one.  While the darkness of the foreground is believable the sky does have a 'manufactured' look to it.  Kind of like the overdone 'tobacco' filter many used in recent years to give colour to a bland and too bright sky area.  I could be mistaken as oncoming storm clouds do take on weird colours at times.  I remember a dark green sky just before the tornado hit my home town of Barrie, Ont.  in 1985.  Not a deal breaker though as it tends to match your intended artistic twist to this one. Unlike the cliche shots of bales piled randomly in fields I like the precision of the rows of these  bales which is in keeping with your theme in your previous post of the row of piles receding into the sea.  Best, LM.

The sharpness of the hay almost hurts my eyes.  (The physicality of it, not the digital sharpness).  I like how the bales stand a bit at attention.

Definitely a winning combination! Light color texture, composition absolutely fantastic. Changing anything would be a crime.

The lighting is almost surreal and getting a decent subject when this happens is very fortunate.  Nice work.

Hey Alf, the color of the wheat  reminds me of a lovely harvest poem making the connection to fresh-baked bread.  Like Jeff comment, it does feel prickly.  The heavy sky seems oppressive on this joyous harvest

MIKE

Many thanks for your interest and posiitve feedback. It was certainly my dream to own one of these lenses for quite a while, and its now something I wouldn't be without despite a few drawbacks with regards to the use of filters. But I find that swapping between this and the 24 - 70mm f2.8 covers most of my requirements.

Cheers Mike!

Alf

LEN

Always good to hear from you and get your views, many thanks!  And no you have not duplicated anyone elses comments. I think "Manufactured" might be a bit strong terminology but "Surreal" or "Manipulated" I'd go along with. I arrived at the colour by changing the white balance, with an intention of enriching the warm colour of the hay bales, whilst this seems to have worked on the hay, on reflection it may have been prudent to erase some of the effect from the sky, but I'm not sure the contrast of the fomerly steel grey sky and warm looking hay bales would be a credible combination either. Funny you should mention a natural green sky, I think I did "manufacture" a green sky once, but I put that down to a combination off inexperience of using the colour slider and an uncalibrated monitor at the time. : - ) The bales of hay lined up in this fashion is something I'd never seen before, but the farmer explained he had just gathered them together in readiness for loading onto transport, it was too good an opportunity to miss.

Thanks again Len

Alf

JEFF

I wouldn't want to take a stroll across the field in bare feet : - )  I quite liked the fact that these bales were quite scruffy in appearance, not the very neat tightly bound usual suspects, these seemed to be falling apart at one end, almost in a rebellious fashion. Sincere thanks for your visit and encouraging comments Jeff.

Best Regards

Alf

ANDREW

Many Thanks for your interest and kind comments. I don't think theres anything I'd want to change either up to now, but I do like to get other opinions, as very often I can glean a bit more information, or find something I've missed and get some excellent suggestions

Cheers Andrew!

Alf

STEVE

You are so right, finding the combination of suitable subject matter and good lighting can be quite frustrating. On this particular day I drove around Shropshire for over three hours, through mostly farmland before I come across this field. Many Thanks for your positive feedback Steve.

Best Regards

Alf

DONNA

I quite like the sound of that "A Harvest Poem" Maybe I'll conjure up a rhyme to go with the image. The Hay stubble was prickly I was glad I took the usual precaution of wearing walking boots when I take my camera out. There was an imminent threat of a storm which brought about an urgency to get the harvest collected and loaded, but I have taken a bit of artistic licence and dramatised the scene a bit more by darkening it. Sincere Thanks Donna.

Best Regards

Alf

 

 

 

GREAT!!! Warm regards, Ilkka

Stunning colours and light for this wonderful view. Lovely composed and presented. I quite like Dror´s suggestion for cropping. I also can imagine to devide the image for two separate images - left and right sides, plus cropping a bit from the bottom. However, the composition of original image is very good too.

Wonderful light and perspective!. I love that warm light and dramatic sky. Best regards, Linh Dinh

Work worth its all appreciation above, no doubt.

Great!!!

Ajayan

Excellent work,impressive mood created here,compliments.

RC

wonderful work , amazing light and colors , nice composition  .................. Best regards.

ILKKA

Many Thanks

Kind Rgards

Alf

GUNNAR

Yeah I do like Drors crop too but I'm not too sure about the square shape it presents. It did give me an idea though, and that is to split the image into three, then place it in a frame with soem space between the seperated images. I have no idea if it will work, but it might be worth a bit of experimentation.

Sincere thanks for your interest and kind words.

Best Regards

Alf

LINH

Many thanks for your thoughts and positive feedback. much appreciated!

Best Regards

Alf

AJAYAN

Sincere thanks for your visit and vote of confidence!

Best Wishes

Alf

RADU

Thank you so much! I wanted to create a dark threatening sky, but fear I may have overdone it a little.

Best Regards

Alf

FALAK

Many thanks for your positive feedback, much appreciated.

Best Wishes

Alf

 

 

 

 

Unbelievably beautiful and perfect! I liked dark mood and light set here. I think against rules a 50/50 division of ground and sky might be a good try, as the sky plays a dramatic rule here, just although a humble suggestion. Its a definite 7/7 for me, and one of your finest.

My warmest regards,

Hamid.

thank you for your picture! I learned a lot just reading the comments. We just cannot help it, because the picture is so beautiful and so strong that we want to be a part of your success :). I used to be a country girl and these scenes are dear to my heart. The name of the picture claims that it's harvest, that's why I think it sould stay the way it is. But you can crop and have a different one - you will own two great pictures :). My warmest regards, Alf. Tamara

HAMID

Sincere Thanks for your interest, very encouraging feedback and excellent suggestions, I think the 50/50 idea would work in this case, as the image can afford to lose some foreground. I wasn't sure about the sky, but I think on balance most people approve of it. I'm really pleased you liked this one.

Warm  Regards

Alf

TAMARA

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and providing me with some great feedback. I'm very gratified that you have connected with this image. I was born and raised in the big city but my heart has always been in the countryside and thats where I feel at home and at one with the world. I was thinking about the cop suggestions, and wondered how the image would look in two halfs, but framed together with a gap in the middle?Thanks for your suggestions Tamara, much appreciated!

Warm Regards

Alf

 

 

Simply wonderful.Very well composed with well choosen POV,great DOF & the light effect with the overall tonality is simply outstanding. Thanks for sharing it.

My best regards.

Kallol

This is a stunning image Alf! I love your processing and the resulting brooding skies; the contrast of the gold against the grey. I know fashion has nothing to do with this pic, but one of my favorite things to wear is my charcoal grey pencil skirt and a camel cashmere sweater...there is just something about those two colors together that is both sophisticated and comfy. I feel the same looking at this image; the contrast makes it exciting and dramatic and the colors make it enviting. I feel drawn right into the scene. Beautiful work! Thank you for sharing. :)

WOW!!  Very beautiful!!

I love the overall picture.

The bold center composition works very well. I like the unbalanced number of hay rolls on either side. It makes it more interesting.

The clouds are beautiful.

The lighting is awesome and the overall texture and details are great.

Cheers

Arnav

Superb work Alf! Love the symmetry in this shot, the leading lines, heaps of textures, and the warm lighting.

All the best,
Neil

My sincerest congratulations on this image being selected by the editors for the harvest Time. Well deserved! All the best,

is in the skies and the contrast of color/saturation is ... well, dramatic.

Nice work, Tibi