Three Wind Turbines at Sunset

I messed up on the shutter speed, but this had the most intense color in

an evening of shooting. Two hours in a cold wind and then rapidly

changing conditions can slow thought processes, especially if they are

slow to begin with. Shot at 800 ISO, should have been 100. Couldn't find

an adapter for a 0.9 ND filter. Excuses. 1/20th or so shutter speed might

have been beneficial. Cropped to fill the sky with turbines. Your

comments and suggestions are always appreciated. Thanks.

I can't for the life of me figure out why you're making excuses for this.  What don't you like about it?  Were you wanting a sense of motion?  That would have been nice, but it also would have been a different shot.  This is pretty spectacular in my book.  Because of the bold colors of the sky, I like the silhouetted and sharp turbines.  And the sloping ground adds another degree of interest.  I really like this.  My gosh, what did you do.....camp out there waiting for the sun to set?  :-)  You're more patient than I am, so that's probably why you get so many great shots.

Lovely image Stephen really like the the lovley golden light, well done.

Rich.

I wish I was making excuses for a photo with as lovely colors as this photo. This is a nice image. We are always harder on ourselves and see fault where others see quality. This must have been a beauty to behold. Very nice image Stephen.

Christal, Richard, and Joseph, thanks for the comments.  I have to admit that I sat down at the computer with the intention of deleting this photo, but Christal had already made a comment.  I guess I was disappointed that I didn't capture what I had set out to capture due to an unfamiliar scene, rapidly fading light, a new camera, and using two cameras at once.  I like the exposure, the colors, and the cropped composition.  It's just that I had something different in mind and couldn't take this one for what it is.  Christal, you're right; they are (or would be) two entirely different photographs.  This evening of photography turned out to be a good learning experience for me.  My favorite photo from the entire evening has not received a comment, and I can conclude that it is not well received.  I still like it very much, and I'm puzzled by its reception.  I learn from critical comments (as Christal provided on a different photo -- very much appreciated); maybe my favorite is o.k. but just not the cup of tea for other viewers.

Hi Stephen, I don't think that the other one is not as good. With the number of photos that are posted for critique on any given day it is very very easy to miss a photo, even a good photo.

Last week I put up two photos for critique. I waited 15 minutes and then went to the landscape critique forum to see if they were posted. I had to refresh the page 6 times and still only found only one of the two.

Sometimes I wish that photo.net limited the number of critique requests to 4 per week instead of 4 per day to keep the number of critique requests down and an ability to see work that people really want critique rather then the deluge of photos that we current see.

Stephen,

One benefit to posting images on PN is that we are not always the best judge of our own work, I generally post two images at a time and am occasionally surprised by which image receives the most comments.  I often see a spectacular sunset but without foreground interest there is little point in making one more 'ubiquitous sunset image'.  This image works because of the silhouetted turbines, what they are makes little difference to the image, they simply become interesting shapes against a beautiful backdrop of colour.

Jim

I agree there are too many photos posted for critique and not enough people who visit the critique forums. Most people do not want to comment on a photo unless they feel a bit comfortable with the photographer so that their comments are not taken the wrong way. Some of my photos got almost twenty ratings and no comment. I rely on the most simple number - number of clicks. How many people actually opened the thumbnail (since they can see the photo from thumbnail itself). Some of my photos got over 100 clicks in half an hour of posting, others can't reach 50 clicks even after 4 days. It is easiest way to judge if viewers find photo 'interesting' or not.

This is nice colorful photo. Best wishes Stephen... Sandeep

Stephen,

It's good that you posted this quickly, for you and Christa (sorry if I have her name wrong) saved the image.  The sky could easily be taken for a sunrise - that "red sky in morning sailors take warning" look.  I also like the bold color and the slanted line of the land against the sky.  For ISO 800 you have virtually no noise - did you use noise reduction software on this?  One possible suggestion might be to get the line between the land and sky a bit sharper, mane with selective edge sharpening.   Excellent image.  Best to you for the holidays.  Larry

Jim, Sandeep, and Larry, thanks for the additional comments.  I agree that we have too many photos in the landscape section to view.  On occasion I've done six, seven, or eight cycles through the list from top to bottom, and I'm still turning up new photographs. I think that simply means some photos aren't ever getting seen by some viewers.

One problem with "number of clicks" that I've found is that really bright or bold thumbnails will often get many clicks, while those that are relatively subtle (but no less worthy) will often get fewer clicks.  I don't know if that reflects the differences in visibility of the thumbnail or something more substantial like viewer preferences.

Larry, this was the first time I used a new 1D4, and they have a reputation for being able to shoot well at high ISO.  I didn't use any noise reductions software (in fact, it didn't even occur to me; I should examine it at a much larger size).  It might be hard to get a sharp horizon because I'm looking through tall grass into the bright sky.  It's something I'll keep in mind when photographing other wind turbines.  I just came back from another evening up there, and it didn't go well -- I couldn't find the right focal length to use in a timely manner, I missed the best of the moonrise, and I had only one battery for two cameras.  I'll try to do better next time.