Took these pictures tonight. I am inspired by Bob Jarman who posted "My goal is to post more and comment less - see if I can put into practice what I've been suggesting to others in the forum"

1) iso 100 1/30 f8 15mm tripod,cp, ndgrad


2) iso 100 1/6 f16 15mm tripod,cp, ndgrad


3) iso 100 1/6 f16 20mm tripod,cp, ndgrad


Suggestions on any appreciated.

My first reaction is that I would have backed up on all of them and gotten the whole thing in focus. The fence would be more interesting with the rails and posts in the foreground creating a strong compositional line in the photo. As it is, the details of the fence seem more of a distraction to the overall composition.

Thanks naypay. I have a shot as you described but it did not seem exciting. I will check again. I agree the lack of depth focus is detracting.

For me there's no doubt its the first one. I guess the question is, as the photographer, what is the meant to be the subject? Is it the sunset, the fence, or the strand of barbwire?

1 - Ignoring the focus point in this shot, this is the best composed shot of them. It sets the environment. To me, the sunset is the subject of this shot. I could easily see this one on a Leaning Tree Christmas Card!!!! The only change I might do would be to shoot it every so slightly higher so that the barbwire has more separation from the trees off in the distance. There are a couple of places where it is too close and blends in.

2 - This one follows the same as the first, however, the railing being the whole lower right hand corner is more bothersome than complimentary. It actually detracts from the photo since it appears to be the focal point, yet I don't perceive it to be the subject you were shooting for (barbwire?). Also the distortion in the fence rail takes away from the photo.

3 - This one clearly has the barbwire as the subject of the shot. The wooden fence is nowhere to be seen so doesn't distract from the subject, and the sunset off in the distance is complimentary, but not distracting since its out of the depth of field in the shot. Perhaps masking off everything, except the wire, and then adjusting the density to lighten it up, might push your eyes more towards the wire.

Thanks for sharing!!

Robert

Thanks Robertjm. I was struggling because the light was not cooperating and then I decided to try the fence because without it seemed boring. I should have gone higher on fstop and focused 1/3 way I think but all good points.

Hi Scott,

I like the first, but then IANAA (I am no artist) For me, the entire image communicates a sunset on a probably cold winter's evening (or maybe Spring even in your part of the world).

thaks for sharing,

Bob

Thanks Bob. It was a warm spring evening (0 C [32f]) after 20cm snowfall. In Calgary in the month of may we can be plus 20 (70F) for a week and then get two feet of snow the next and it disappears shortly thereafter. But the birds show up and we know spring is coming. And even better, the sun is going down at 9 and coming up at 6. Great for sunsets, tough for sunrises.

I I really like the first one for composition (foreground, middle and background with interesting lines) but the out of focus sun really bugs me at f8. The 2nd has better focus with a foot back and f16 but the wire is still out of focus - another foot back would have been better.

So I think the best shot would have been 1/2 way between first and 2nd - 1 foot back f16 would have made the wire and the sun clear. I was using 10-20mm sigma and overestimated the depth I would get.

So for me - I like last because the wire is in focus or 1/2 way between 1st and 2nd. I am going to re-look through my other shots to see if I can salvage the picture set.

I like the first one best . You have some good locations I envy you
How do you get the sun pictures looking through the lens ?I am real careful with my eyes since I have a lazy left eye so I have only one good one.
Do you look through lens quick or set up with tripod and take it aimed towards sun .
Thanks Don

Littlefield:

A good location is good except that it reduces my excuses for bad pictures.

I first choose my aperature and focus point depending on what I want to achieve without looking through the camera. Then I look through the lens and avoid looking at the sun . Becaause I don't like spots in my eyes either. This is similar to how I regularly shoot anyway because I choose a spot to be in focus and then shift to shoot.

So I frame with around the sun and try to choose the aperature and focus distance according to what I want to achieve.

You seem to have a good handle on taking pictures.
Thanks for the above about sun ,but you mean you look through the lens and try to keep your eye to the right of sun ? Sorry was not clear on what you meant .
Thanks
Don

Littlefield wrote:
You seem to have a good handle on taking pictures.
Thanks for the above about sun ,but you mean you look through the lens and try to keep your eye to the right of sun ? Sorry was not clear on what you meant .
Thanks
Don

The challenge is to i) not stare at the sun, ii) choose your depth, iii) have it focused, iv) and get your exposure right -- all in large exposure contrast.

In this picture I tried not to look at the sun (right and left and down is where I looked), focused 1/3 into foreground at a in-between area (I leave my camera on center exposure and adjust), hit the timer and reframed on the tripod.

Normally I put autobracketing on just in case with 1/2 stop each way and then delete the bad ones otherwise I have to sort through too many pictures. [Unless I am thinking about HDR]

The second one doesn't work from me.

I like the look of the first one, sort of like something you'd see on a christmas card..a lonely christmas card. But it's got some feel.

The last one has a nice "alone" feeling to it. I like it.

Scott these images are all very pretty. I actually dig all of them with emphasis on #3.
The reasoning is basically because the DOF has a nice bokeh. Very alluring.

The first and third win for me. The second shows the fence but in such a way that it seem like it might be leaning over, whereas the first shows the wires in relation to both the post and rail and puts the fence upright again. The third isolates the wire better and without the wooden rail it seems to not be out of place.

As for Bob's inspiration, I think it would be a good idea for both of you (and everyone else) to post more shots and perhaps learn more from the feedback, but it's often the quality of the feedback from the likes of you two that makes the feedback worth having. i.e. it may be your gain but it will be our loss

- Alan

Thanks Ericson, Kaden and Alan.

I appreciate the input.

You are welcome Scott. Geez, you are the most attentive poster on this forum and
I appreciate that.

I'll comment then read the previous comments. :-)

I like the framing of #1 and the exposure of #2.

nice.

I love the reflections on the snow in the second, but I prefer the framing of the first.
The third one, well, I have taken shots of barbed wire before too, but never found an image worth much.

Cheers,
James

Thanks rce and James.