A single soy bean plant ready for picking: I was able to single out this one bean plant which has dropped it's leaves along with all the rest in the field. It will be harvested soon if...

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

I was able to single out this one bean plant which has dropped it's leaves along with all the rest in the field. It will be harvested soon if it stays dry enough. It can get kind of tricky this time of year. A rain fall will increase the moisture content, so it becomes a decision - try to let it dry down in the field or pick them and run them through a grain dryer. This looks like it had a lot of processing but really didn't. It isn't much altered from SOOC. Just a bit of detail extractor and a couple other minor adjustments. 24-105mm f4L set at 85mm on my Canon T3i, f4, 1/1250, ISO 100. For Your Consideration.

Walt

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

Walt I like the composition with the two stems behind going diagonal. The blurred background is good and compliments the subject. I wonder if it was a downward angle that caused all but the top four beans to fall out of the focus plane, or was that intentional.

jenny Loc: in hiding:)

Well I'm thankful for ANY soybean that might be in focus because I never saw one before as it looks in the field.
Wonder how tall those plants are? They probably grow around here too, but it isn't a great idea to stop on a
busy highway to get a look at what the green stuff looks like closeup.

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

jenny wrote:

Well I'm thankful for ANY soybean that might be in focus because I never saw one before as it looks in the field.
Wonder how tall those plants are? They probably grow around here too, but it isn't a great idea to stop on a
busy highway to get a look at what the green stuff looks like closeup.

They're only around 20-24 inches tall. They're green all summer long but 2-3 weeks ago all the leaves began to turn yellow then start to get a brown speckle on them before they drop off. When the leaves drop off this is what remains.

Walt

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

Frank2013 wrote:

Walt I like the composition with the two stems behind going diagonal. The blurred background is good and compliments the subject. I wonder if it was a downward angle that caused all but the top four beans to fall out of the focus plane, or was that intentional.

I think you're on to the answer about the focal plane. I wanted the background blurred thus the wide open aperture, causing the short DOF.

Walt

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Whuff wrote:

They're only around 20-24 inches tall. They're green all summer long but 2-3 weeks ago all the leaves began to turn yellow then start to get a brown speckle on them before they drop off. When the leaves drop off this is what remains.

Walt

We have some in Indiana that can reach as tall as 40 or so inches, but most of them are about 30" or so.

Nice photo, by the way.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

You haven't seen hops up close and I've not seen soybeans on the stalk 'til now

Interesting shot, Walt! The fuzzy pods are cool + diagonals add a lot of visual stimulation as well.

I wonder about cropping out the bottom pods. For me, a natural framing for the bottom area could be the darker green on right and the horizontal lighter green on left.

Did you grow up in an agricultural area? I think my interest of the fruit orchards and hops fields here is because it's so very different from lobstah boats in Maine.

neilds37 Loc: Port Angeles, WA

Linda From Maine wrote:

You haven't seen hops up close and I've not seen s... (show quote)

Agriculture is so mundane! Now, the lobster business, there's something interesting. Ever think of taking a vacation (with camera), and go for a visit back to Maine? Work one of those lobster boats over good.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

neilds37 wrote:

Agriculture is so mundane! Now, the lobster business, there's something interesting. Ever think of taking a vacation (with camera), and go for a visit back to Maine? Work one of those lobster boats over good.

There is absolutely nothing mundane about the agriculture business. Consider that the next time you go to the grocery store.

neilds37 Loc: Port Angeles, WA

jaymatt wrote:

There is absolutely nothing mundane about the agriculture business. Consider that the next time you go to the grocery store.

I was thinking of mundane as common-place, not as insignificant or unimportant.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

neilds37 wrote:

I was thinking of mundane as common-place, not as insignificant or unimportant.

Cwilson341 Loc: Central Florida

Today must be the day to learn about interesting crops. I had no idea that soybeans had to be so dried out for harvest. Somehow I always thought of them as the green pod variety and assumed they were always processed at that stage. Very educational post.

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

Linda From Maine wrote:

Did you grow up in an agricultural area? I think my interest of the fruit orchards and hops fields here is because it's so very different from lobstah boats in Maine.

Yep, born and raised here. Being a landlocked state with no mountains, agriculture is the dominant scenery. I was once discussing photography with a nephew and we agreed that a landscape photographer in Iowa would have to be EXTREMELY creative. I've kinda taken that as a challenge. As flat as it is, and dominated by fields of soy beans, corn and hay, I find a lot of beauty in the landscape that's ever changing from season to season and even within the seasons.

Walt

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

jaymatt wrote:

There is absolutely nothing mundane about the agriculture business. Consider that the next time you go to the grocery store.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Whuff wrote:

I was able to single out this one bean plant which... (show quote)

They look pretty dry to me.