An Iowa sunset: Does the blown out area in the upper left hand corner of this landscape detract horribly from the image. I'm wondering if I should have composed this differently to...

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

Does the blown out area in the upper left hand corner of this landscape detract horribly from the image. I'm wondering if I should have composed this differently to avoid that. My original thought when composing was to capture the sun rays as the sun set but now I'm wondering if I could have done better by composing differently or perhaps waiting until the sun was below the horizon. I'm sure there are 2 schools of thoughts on sun glare such as this.

Walt

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Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

I shoot into the sun a lot. Sometimes if it's very white, I try to keep the sun quite small in the frame, as you did. At least once I've painted a bit of color onto the center. The drawback of yours IMO is the way the colored bands stop abruptly and how the white appears to be hourglass-shaped (spreading wide near top of frame).

A simple crop from top down to the colored part would alleviate a lot of that and I don't think you'd lose any of the mood of low-angle sun rays backlighting the flowers and grasses. Also consider blurring/cloning the more defined vertical lines of any white that remains.

That foreground is super! I also love the spacious farmland. Terrific feeling with this image, Walt.

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

Linda From Maine wrote:

I shoot into the sun a lot. Sometimes if it's very... (show quote)

Until you mentioned it I hadn’t looked close enough at the white area to notice the hourglass shape of it. Leave it to your sharp eyes to catch that. I like the edit you’ve shown me in the PM and it gives me some ideas to go back and work this. I’m pretty happy with the shot overall for the most part, but believe it needs some more work in the areas you’ve shown me. Thanks

Walt

NJFrank Loc: New Jersey

I like the way the sun rays came out. But like you, now that Linda pointed out the hourglass shape of the sun. She ruined it for me. Just teasing.I think the crop suggested will greatly help.

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

NJFrank wrote:

I like the way the sun rays came out. But like you, now that Linda pointed out the hourglass shape of the sun. She ruined it for me. Just teasing.I think the crop suggested will greatly help.

Yeah, that Linda’s a real spoilsport isn’t she? Just kidding Linda.

Walt

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

Slightly detracts. For me the rest of the image is what I'm looking at and I probably wouldn't have noticed the glaring blow nout flare in the upper left (which is why I don't judge). Perhaps some sort of graduated ND might have helped.

magnetoman Loc: Purbeck, Dorset, UK

It’s never good Walt, but we all do it! Of course we should be carrying our ND filters but they seem to get left behind. Best I’ve done with a burnt-out sun is replace it with a better one in Ps, but you do have those bands of colour to deal with as well. Perhaps you could live with it this time and know you’ll do better next?

artBob Loc: Near Chicago

It communicates the "feel" of looking across a field just fine for me. I wonder if bringing up the contrast on the vegetation at the lower far right might help bring the eyes around, in a circular composition.

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

It's so interesting that the sun's light takes such an interesting shape! The backlighting on the flowers is quite nice. I'd probably have moved to the side and shot from a different angle to avoid having the sun in my frame. But then, that's me, not you. What I don't like about these directly into the sun shots is how dark everything is.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Whuff wrote:

Yeah, that Linda’s a real spoilsport isn’t she? Just kidding Linda.

I learned from the best, Walt

wayne barnett Loc: Grants Pass, Oregon

This is a great shot. Yes the sun is blown out but it defines the shot and gives a sense of direction for the source of light on the flowers. In situations like this a few minutes wait and taking several shots as the sun goes down may be a mode that would give some choices as to which shot would be better. That being said the later shots may loose some of the drama because the directional component of the sun may be lost.

pfrancke Loc: cold Maine

I agree more with Bob and with Wayne. I like what it did for your splash of yellow flowers. At first I was thinking that the glare would capture my eye, but then it ends up feeling like blank space that lets the rest of it comfortably rest. My favorite words from above - "it defines the shot". While it makes one naturally squint a little bit, it also places us in that field in a way that we can feel the depth of the country side and the contrast between the warms and the cools.

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

John N wrote:

Slightly detracts. For me the rest of the image is what I'm looking at and I probably wouldn't have noticed the glaring blow nout flare in the upper left (which is why I don't judge). Perhaps some sort of graduated ND might have helped.

Yes, maybe. I haven’t done a whole lot of work with filters, but I’ve thought about getting a set. Something more to look into.

Walt

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

magnetoman wrote:

It’s never good Walt, but we all do it! Of course we should be carrying our ND filters but they seem to get left behind. Best I’ve done with a burnt-out sun is replace it with a better one in Ps, but you do have those bands of colour to deal with as well. Perhaps you could live with it this time and know you’ll do better next?

I’m out of town right now but when I get home I intend to work on it some more. Linda has shown me a way that may improve it quite a bit.

Walt

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

artBob wrote:

It communicates the "feel" of looking across a field just fine for me. I wonder if bringing up the contrast on the vegetation at the lower far right might help bring the eyes around, in a circular composition.

Actually, I’m quite pleased with everything with this photo except for the blown out area.

Walt