Left on the Stalk: We had a blizzard going on yesterday morning, so I decided to take a "shortcut" through the country on dirt roads on my way back from the vet. I was looking for a...

Nightski

We had a blizzard going on yesterday morning, so I decided to take a "shortcut" through the country on dirt roads on my way back from the vet. I was looking for a great gnarly little tree .. but this is what I found. The wind was whipping this cornstalk around so I really had to get my shutter speed up. That wasn't too much of a problem since the blowing snow provided plenty of light. I do not have blown highlights. Go ahead and check, but I did process it in high key.

Canon 6D
Canon 100mm F2.8L IS

ISO 250
f/4.5
1/1800 second exposure

Hand held in high wind .. a testament to IS.
This looks brighter and has less color than the one on my screen. :-(

Cornstalk

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

Looking at this photo, I can't help but wish there was more in the background to give me a better feel for the subject's setting and surrounding. Maybe if the background was less out of focus, revealing more ground detail, or if there was some kind of recognizable object or feature included in the background. The cornstalk is certainly interesting, but I don't think it is interesting enough all by itself to hold a viewer's attention for more than a few moments.

I hope I'm not being too critical... this is a visually very pleasing image, and a well-balanced composition. The exposure seems to be spot on.

Nightski

rook2c4 wrote:

Looking at this photo, I can't help but wish there... (show quote)

Not at all. This was the thing that kept me from posting it at 500px.

1) I would have liked to have more background, but I had to get in close for this shot to avoid other distracting grasses and stubble.

2) I wanted to really get the detail in this cornstalk, but if I had shot from further away that may have been lost and I would have had to crop anyway to get a close up of the detail.

I wonder if I should have shot it closer if I wanted the detail in the corn?

I could process it differently allowing the background to be sharper ... not sharp .. but the stubble in the field would be recognizable.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

That you had to select a less ideal, wider aperture to compensate for the high shutter speed is understandable. I don't know if coming in closer toward the cornstalk would have been a feasible option, given that the stalk was whipping in the wind. You may not have been able to dial in a shutter speed value able to freeze the rapid movement successfully, now intensified by increased proximity to subject.
What I'm thinking is that perhaps a different lens would have been a better solution, such as a 50mm. The out-of-focus background would have been less blurred, plus you would have a broader area of the surroundings within the frame. But not everyone carries assortment of extra lenses - I don't! What's attached to my camera is usually my only option.

Nightski

Yeah ... I had my 16-35 and my 50mm and my 150-500mm with me. It's just that I didn't want all the other stuff .. grasses tall stubble in the frame. The 50mm may have worked better, but the 16-35 would have picked up too much ... unless I got really close to it. But then the wind ...

Nightski

Hey, you know what rook, I have to take my little Zoe back to the vet again tomorrow morning .. she's having laser therapy on her knee ... and it will be a great chance to play with a couple of lenses just for fun. I will post again.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

Nightski wrote:

Hey, you know what rook, I have to take my little Zoe back to the vet again tomorrow morning .. she's having laser therapy on her knee ... and it will be a great chance to play with a couple of lenses just for fun. I will post again.

A chance to revisit and explore other possibilities is always good!

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

This is wonderfully taken, beautiful detail and clarity, and the thing that I definitely don't want, is more background.
I think the soft bokeh background is perfect.
If there was any detail in the background, then that would be deemed too bright.
It would attempt to steal the show.
This image is about the dead corn plant, not about the background.
The isolation of it is perfect.
The subject provides its own context.
Maybe not a "fine art" image, close though. Maybe with a different corn spike.
But I can see this as the perfect image for an article discussing agriculture/location and bleak times/weather/prices/whatever.

Graham Smith Loc: Cambridgeshire UK

Deep frozen, bleak, windswept. That is what your picture shouts at me, the subdued colour accentuates the coldness. The background serves to intensify the isolation of the place. I enjoyed looking at it... I'm now going to put on an extra sweater... Brrrr.

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

I wonder if you had gotten a little higher so there is less snow storm and more of the blurred stubble. I know not ideal to be out in the middle of a field on a ladder in a snowstorm :)

Nightski

Country's Mama wrote:

I wonder if you had gotten a little higher so there is less snow storm and more of the blurred stubble. I know not ideal to be out in the middle of a field on a ladder in a snowstorm :)

Oh yeah ... I had my step ladder with me. Shoot ... try again tomorrow .. lots of ways. :-)

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

OH, I remember those days when the corn stalks poked through the nearly white-out conditions. You've done a good job of recreating that. I feel cold just looking at it. For my taste, I would darken the stalk just a tad. But then I like dense images.

Nightski

AzPicLady wrote:

OH, I remember those days when the corn stalks poked through the nearly white-out conditions. You've done a good job of recreating that. I feel cold just looking at it. For my taste, I would darken the stalk just a tad. But then I like dense images.

I have darkened and saturated the stalk a bit more and brought out a tiny bit more contrast in the stubble .. but I didn't want to go too far with that, as it could become a distraction. I shot the scene again today with my wide angle ... I still might like this one better. The winds were really whipping today. I was too cold to get back out of my car after a lens change .. so I'll try my 50mm on Friday. I have to go by there for the next few weeks or so to take my little Zoe to the vet for laser therapy on her knee.

The sun was also brightly shining through the blowing snow today so it will be a different shot altogether.

Nightski

Here is a link to another version of this shot.

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-261643-1.html