Before the clouds opened up..

[Rebekah5280]

I took my niece out to the wheat fields this evening with her stand up bass. We only got to shoot for 10 minutes before the sky opened up and started pelting us with giant angry raindrops. Here is a shot that I got. I'm used to shooting in the day time and so I had to do some backwards thinking with my lighting to get all the detail in the sky. What do you think?

I edited this picture a lot different than I normally do. I was going for dramatic.

Thoughts? Here is the whole shot, and then a crop I'm considering as well.

 

[Robin_Usagani]

Looks awesome on my iphone.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I prefer the first. I love the mood and the scenery. What a lovely photo to frame.

 

[mmaria]

The first one for me. I like the atmosphere and your edit.
And sorry but I'm all about the critique, constructive I hope.
In the tighter crop I can't not to look at her hand and awkward position of her fingers, and also a direction of her gaze is more prominent.
It's a nit pick maybe but I would like it more if she looked at her instrument, just to made impression that she is engaged with it. This way it feels ( just MHO) like it is too posed. What is she doing? She is posing and that's it. There is really no connection between her and the instrument and a beautiful dramatic atmosphere. If she was playing some intense music there and you captured that moments, you could get some awesome pictures!

 

[Granddad]

I like everything except the odd looking field behind her. It looks like it's been cloned in; the shape and texture just looks wrong.
She's gorgeous, the main part of the photo is awesome (though I think it would be more effective if she was looking at her instrument or making eye contact) and the sky and the lighting are good. The crop (#2) is good but in losing the bottom half of her and her instrument you lose half the impact.

 

[sm4him]

The crop just loses ALL the drama and impact of the scene and makes it "just" another portrait shot, imo.
I really like the first one, but I agree with Granddad (how can you NOT agree with someone called "Granddad?" ) that something looks "off" about that field in the background, like maybe it's been artificially blurred or something. Still, it's a lovely shot.

 

[Rebekah5280]

Thank you all for the feedback! This shot was taken when she thought I was still setting up my lighting. This was not posed, just a capture. She was strumming her bass and watching the lightning across the field.
I didnt do any edit to specific parts of the picture (the field), I just played with clarity and luminance in lr. So the filed looks like how the field looked. Lol. Its a chopped down wheatfield.
The crop is a lot less dramitic. I agree. I was just trying to find a way to do a closeup, which I did, when I ditched the instrumen
t completely. Lol

 

[kathyt]

Very nice. Love the drama.

 

[manicmike]

I like it. Job well done, imo.

 

[Derrel]

I really like the high main light placement, and the strong, well-defined shadows it gives. And the background light--awesome. I LOVE those storm clouds! I like the first photo a lot. I agree, a bit of eye contact with the viewer would be a nice alternative, but the tall shot is still a nice shot. Very cool.

 

[Granddad]

... I didnt do any edit to specific parts of the picture (the field), I just played with clarity and luminance in lr. So the filed looks like how the field looked. Lol. Its a chopped down wheatfield.

It must be something about the lie of the land. Having seen the field as weird I can't unsee it now!
Next time I visit my daughter and grandkids in Washington I'll have to ask for directions so I can see it for myself! :lmao:

 

[yioties]

I think the un-cropped version is amazing!

 

[CorrieMichael]

It looks really soft to me in the face like details are lost or something? And her hands....they look plastic or something like not real and not clear or crisp at all. It looks amazing other than those things for me

 

[Rebekah5280]

It looks really soft to me in the face like details are lost or something? And her hands....they look plastic or something like not real and not clear or crisp at all. It looks amazing other than those things for me

Yes, I was going for this look with the edit. Very soft and dreamy. The clouds rolling in were fierce but still very smooth and so that is why I went with this edit. The original is sharp, but I prefer this one.

 

[DiskoJoe]

Why did you make her drag her bass out into a field? You know that thing is heavy right? Whats the deal with her outfit? Does she play classical or some sort of bluegrass or something?

Sorry for all the questions but as a former classical bass player I always associate the instrument with a more formal setting and attire. Too bad you didnt get a shot with the bow either.