Ready for the harvest: The teeth of the combine ready to take a bite out of the fields of soy beans. Switch out the head and it will pick the corn fields. FYC What are your thoughts on...

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

The teeth of the combine ready to take a bite out of the fields of soy beans. Switch out the head and it will pick the corn fields. FYC What are your thoughts on this one?

Walt

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St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Whuff wrote:

The teeth of the combine ready to take a bite out of the fields of soy beans. Switch out the head and it will pick the corn fields. FYC What are your thoughts on this one?

Walt

I like to shoot SOOC as much as possible, but if I were to change anything it would be to remove the post and the wire hanging from it. Normally I would say keep them, but with the composition as it is they do nothing but distract from the image and that beautiful depth of field. Love it! S-

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Whuff wrote:

The teeth of the combine ready to take a bite out of the fields of soy beans. Switch out the head and it will pick the corn fields. FYC What are your thoughts on this one?

I love the subject {we live in similar environments}, but to my eye the DOF is too shallow; I get cross-eyed, or some such thing, when the main subject becomes so blurry so early in the image.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Very interesting and different, Walt. Love the perspective and the closeness. Agree with Steve about removing the two mini-pesky elements.

Would like to hear your thoughts about choice of depth of field for this composition (and if you have any with other apertures). Thanks!

Frank2013 Loc: San Antonio, TX. & Milwaukee, WI.

Whuff wrote:

What are your thoughts on this one?

Walt

I like it Walt. The composition I think is great. The shallow depth of field works well for the farther part of the image but I would like it to be sharp at the front. It appears that it is only sharp on teeth 5 and 6. Yes I looked this one over well and would have loved to see that fly tact sharp.lol The subject here would speak for itself in the first foot or so and then could have gone out of focus. For me all the background elements are fine as is.

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

St3v3M wrote:

I like to shoot SOOC as much as possible, but if I were to change anything it would be to remove the post and the wire hanging from it. Normally I would say keep them, but with the composition as it is they do nothing but distract from the image and that beautiful depth of field. Love it! S-

Many thanks Steve, I was focused on too many other things and overlooked the wire and pole altogether. That's why it's good to have other sets of eyes looking. Here is the same image with those items removed.

Walt

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St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Whuff wrote:

Many thanks Steve, I was focused on too many other things and overlooked the wire and pole altogether. That's why it's good to have other sets of eyes looking. Here is the same image with those items removed.

Walt

Now my eye focuses where it should and is not distracted wondering What's That And Where Does It Go. Maybe I have ADD? LAF

Thank you for the revision, and I'm sure I already know, but do You like it better? S-

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

Linda From Maine wrote:

Very interesting and different, Walt. Love the perspective and the closeness. Agree with Steve about removing the two mini-pesky elements.

Would like to hear your thoughts about choice of depth of field for this composition (and if you have any with other apertures). Thanks!

I have images of this same scene with other apertures but unfortunately they are even wider so the DOF is even less. I was using a wide aperture to try to blur out the elements in the background and on the small LCD display on the camera the tines on the combine were all pretty well in focus. I'm thinking right now that maybe I should have used the photopills app on my phone to calculate the DOF while at the site of this scene. Here is another one at the same aperture (f4) but the effect is not as enhanced. I also backed off a bit on the processing as after posting the original I decided maybe I had gone too far. Perhaps I could get some feedback on this second shot as well.

Walt

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Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Whuff wrote:

I have images of this same scene with other apertu... (show quote)

Very interesting to compare the two! I prefer your angle of view on #1 for the natural framing provided by the "line" pieces of the machinery around the curved parts. Also, you can see those three circular wheel things better.

But I much prefer the pp of the second. Viewing them side by side I feel the blur of the first overpowers the image, putting the interesting machine itself into second place.

Super-neat to compare and contrast, and again Walt thanks for a different subject than we usually see!

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

rehess wrote:

I love the subject {we live in similar environments}, but to my eye the DOF is too shallow; I get cross-eyed, or some such thing, when the main subject becomes so blurry so early in the image.

Thanks for the feedback and I understand. I've posted a second shot above and hope it doesn't hurt your eyes.

Walt

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

Frank2013 wrote:

I like it Walt. The composition I think is great. The shallow depth of field works well for the farther part of the image but I would like it to be sharp at the front. It appears that it is only sharp on teeth 5 and 6. Yes I looked this one over well and would have loved to see that fly tact sharp.lol The subject here would speak for itself in the first foot or so and then could have gone out of focus. For me all the background elements are fine as is.

Thanks for the reply Frank. See if the 2nd shot is more appealing.

Walt

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

St3v3M wrote:

Now my eye focuses where it should and is not distracted wondering What's That And Where Does It Go. Maybe I have ADD? LAF

Thank you for the revision, and I'm sure I already know, but do You like it better? S-

Yes, I do.

Walt

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Whuff wrote:

Thanks for the feedback and I understand. I've posted a second shot above and hope it doesn't hurt your eyes.

In my opinion, the second one is better.

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

Linda From Maine wrote:

Very interesting to compare the two! I prefer your... (show quote)

As I view these one after the other I like the 2nd treatment much better. The sky is more natural looking and the composition is more appealing than the 1st one, to me anyway. I see more of a farm image with the John Deere combine with a corn picker head in the background and bales of hay more clearly defined yet they are secondary to the combine detail. It's more how I saw it and why I was enticed to capture it.

Walt

NJFrank Loc: New Jersey

As I am late to the party I got to see both shots before commenting. I think Linda summed up my thoughts very well. I am pretty much in agreement with her views. Thanks Linda for doing all the heavy lifting. LOL