Prairie Wind

[smithdan]

 

[Mike Lamb]

This could be great with some focus. The foreground and/or tractor in sharper focus would be voo.

 

[ceeboy14]

Agreed. I had this same comment on someone else's image this morning. The main subject has to be in focus. Something to try, and it works relatively well is taking two exposures from the same spot. One you shoot for foucus on the subject, allowing the background to drop off with a shallower depth of field (let's say 4 or 5.6). Make the second is shot with a greater DoF (F:/16-22) which will allow true focus up to the tractor and to China if need be. Put both into your editing software and paint out China, allowing only the foreground and tractor to remain in focus.

 

[The_Traveler]

IMO, the square crop fights the content and composition.

 

[smithdan]

Thanks for having a look. Can't seem to generate comment on this site very much, don't think my stuff is that bad..

I have posed a little over on Film Alternitive but wanted more critique. Also I want the image to stand on it's own. Camera here is Brownie Reflex Syncro ca. 1950 with probably the last roll of VP 127 on the planet inside and very much out of date. Stiff foothills wind blowing that day as well so lots of movement in the foreground.

Traveler, could a different crop improve things? Dont want this to turn onto just a picture of a tractor.

 

[ceeboy14]

Ah a filmer...and an alt-er. Sorry that i didn't query first before suggesting other technique, though I've used it with film as well, only a lot trickier with an enlarger. Other than the focus issue which I don't think is a death knell, I did a crop which exemplifies the Rule of Thirds but in this case went for more foreground than sky. The Rule of Thirds is always merely a suggestion and while it can be bent, breaking it without good cause almost always creates a failure to communicate.

 

[amolitor]

I think the softness can be fine. It gives a pictorialist feel to it, but if you're gonna go that way you have to flatten the contrast a bit. You have high acutance and low sharpness, which is distracting and unpleasant to look at.

There's a little confusion for me with the title and the look of the thing. Is it windy? I see a some flattened stalks in the foreground which could be wind, but I don't get a sense of wind overall. I get a soft pastoral scene, with a confusing foreground.

 

[The_Traveler]

Traveler, could a different crop improve things? Dont want this to turn onto just a picture of a tractor.

I think the problem is not you but with the format of the film. If the tractor was a smaller piece of the image then the image could have been cropped to reflect the sweep of the land and sky. In the original, the sweep isn't there.

 

[smithdan]

Thanks for the adjustments ceeboy. I wasnt happy with the tractor position and tried various crops but at the expense of the foreground as that is where the simple lens shows its shortcomings. somehow, it didnt look right.

Traveler, now that I see your clever addition of at least a half section, I see what the problem is. Also I was then and still now not familiar with square format so will pay more attention to balance in future. thanks for this

Have a hard time with titles Amolitor. It was a windy day and I had hoped to include that feeling in the picture. As for the soft focus, it was expected but certainly not as much. I'm an old guy so like my scenics in focus from the belly button out. As for contrast, Im working on learning how to get ps to tiddly up these negative scans better.


Thanks again for your suggestions and help. D