Cat Tails: All comments, suggestions and edits appreciated, especially about using the foreground as a subject, and the crazy looking clouds which are as they were but could be...

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

All comments, suggestions and edits appreciated, especially about using the foreground as a subject, and the crazy looking clouds which are as they were but could be emphasized more or less I guess. Ontario has a classic style of old farm, with a specific set of buildings usually all made of logs. Most are abandoned and are fun to explore to whatever point you can get without some serious trespassing. I always seem to get caught and then have to talk my way out of it.

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

I've gone round and round with this one minniev and find nothing better than what you have presented. Well done. Only thing I might change is the darkness in the two little puffs of clouds upper left.....lighten a bit as they keep grabbing my eye, as you said more or less I guess less.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

I enjoyed the image a lot, Minnie. The textures of the grasses makes an appealing subject. They are not cattails, though

I did a search and came up with Common Reed (Phragmites Australis), an invasive species. As for trespassing, I am rarely tempted because of barbed wire and loose, large dogs.

I agree about lightening those two darkest cloud puffs; otherwise, another solid and pretty scene that gives a nice sense of the area.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Frank2013 wrote:

I've gone round and round with this one minniev and find nothing better than what you have presented. Well done. Only thing I might change is the darkness in the two little puffs of clouds upper left.....lighten a bit as they keep grabbing my eye, as you said more or less I guess less.

Thank you Frank for going round and round looking. I always appreciate your eagle-eye!! I wondered about those clouds, they look odd even though that's what they were like. When you can see the whole sky and they're dotted about everywhere it doesn't look as peculiar. That's another problem with trying to keep photography too real, sometimes real depends on seeing more of the field than the camera will allow.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Linda From Maine wrote:

I enjoyed the image a lot, Minnie. The textures of... (show quote)

Thanks Linda. Gee I know those aren't cat tails, I took pictures of real cat tails and this ain't them. These are fuzzier. Thanks for figuring them out! I was curious about the clouds. As I told Frank, they looked OK in real life because there were others here and there, but in the photo, they just look kinda odd.

I am a cautious trespasser, and don't cross barbed wire or electric fences, or go places with posted threats about dogs or guns. I'll sometimes push my luck with areas where I can claim "Oh, I didn't know, I'm so sorry".

rlaugh Loc: Michigan & Florida

You keep taking such excellent shots, and then give us permission to play with them!! Here are two I worked on...cropped for a pano look, selective dodge & burn, lightened buildings a tad, lightened a couple of clouds.

#2 I did the same, but added dynamic paint, then took most of it off, so that it's slight...I know a lot of folks don't like paint effect, that's why I did both!!

By no means am I saying these are better, just my take on them!

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Dave Chinn

minniev wrote:

All comments, suggestions and edits appreciated, especially about using the foreground as a subject, and the crazy looking clouds which are as they were but could be emphasized more or less I guess. Ontario has a classic style of old farm, with a specific set of buildings usually all made of logs. Most are abandoned and are fun to explore to whatever point you can get without some serious trespassing. I always seem to get caught and then have to talk my way out of it.

Minnie, a well executed image !!! Only think is, I would have preferred a little more sky. Love the dramatic clouds.
Dave

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

I like those two dark clouds; they give the photo some balance, I think. The only thing I might do is to brighten the background a bit. I'd leave the foreground the way it is.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

rlaugh wrote:

You keep taking such excellent shots, and then give us permission to play with them!! Here are two I worked on...cropped for a pano look, selective dodge & burn, lightened buildings a tad, lightened a couple of clouds.

#2 I did the same, but added dynamic paint, then took most of it off, so that it's slight...I know a lot of folks don't like paint effect, that's why I did both!!

By no means am I saying these are better, just my take on them!

Thank you for the encouraging comments, and for taking time to play! I am never possessive of the images I post, and welcome anyone taking a go at them. I have no idea what dynamic paint is but it turned out nice. It seemed to make more of the light on those fluffy weeds (that subtle light coming from one brightening part of the sky on a gloomy day is what made me stop the car and go spend a half hour working this scene).

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Dave Chinn wrote:

Minnie, a well executed image !!! Only think is, I would have preferred a little more sky. Love the dramatic clouds.
Dave

Thanks Dave. I actually agree. I took a dozen or more shots here, and most had more sky, but the slight light that fell on these weeds only lasted a moment, and unfortunately it wasn't the moment I was shooting the ones with more sky

You've given me an idea, though, because I might can steal some sky from one of the others and add it...

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

jaymatt wrote:

I like those two dark clouds; they give the photo some balance, I think. The only thing I might do is to brighten the background a bit. I'd leave the foreground the way it is.

A contrarian vote for the funny dark little clouds. That's interesting, and thank you. I'll see about a tad of selective brightening, the structures are kinda dark. Thank you for our comments!

pfrancke Loc: cold Maine

aw Min, you just keep hitting them out of the park. Awesome! And so nicely done.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

pfrancke wrote:

aw Min, you just keep hitting them out of the park. Awesome! And so nicely done.

Gee, thanks Piet, I'm kinda struggling with the Ontario images, some of the compositions were a stretch and the skies were often uncooperative, so I have had an unsettled feeling about them. I liked the weeds here (erroneously called cat tails by me) because of the light, but liking something and conveying something are sometimes different.

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

I don't mind the dark clouds at all because my eye was drawn to the buildings in the distance after I got past the grasses in the foreground. I like the low perspective and feel it showcases the composition.

Regarding trespassing to get a shot: a woman in Ontario may get away with saying "I didn't know", but a man in the U.S. of A. Risks getting shot. That's not a confrontation I ever want to get involved in. There were a number of scenes today I would have loved to get closer to but the the road side of the wire fence line is as far as I care to push it.

Walt

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Whuff wrote:

I don't mind the dark clouds at all because my eye... (show quote)

Thank you. I think those weeds are actually the subject and the buildings and clouds were window dressing

Trespassing! I don't usually climb the fences but I will walk inside if there's an opening and there aren't any signs proclaiming prosecution, dog attacks or execution. If its a yard and someone's outside I just ask if I can come in to photograph Your Beautiful Tree/Yard/Whatever. I'll check all doors of a church to try and find one I can get in, don't figure the preachers will shoot me.