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Weekly assignment 306: Overhead
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Archive 2008 · #321 Stack of Stalks
  
 
Steve Spencer
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · #321 Stack of Stalks


Around where I live a number of farms make stacks of stalks after they harvest their corn. I thought they have a lovely rounded shape and might make a good subject for the weekly assignment. Comments and critiques are much appreciated.

Edited on Nov 30, 2008 at 08:34 PM · View previous versions
Nov 29, 2008 at 07:10 PM
Photon
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · #321 Stack of Stalks


A great sky for your background. Almost makes the bundle look sad with its blue cap.
If you happen to be able to catch a play of day's last light on one of these things in the next few days, that could be a real winner. This is good, probably as well done as could be at the time and place, but I'm afraid to me it falls a little short of potential.
Nov 29, 2008 at 11:11 PM
Carrol
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · #321 Stack of Stalks


Hi Steve.
You've captured a beautiful sky, but it really dominates the darkness of the hay bale.
I rarely ever use a flash, but wonder how it might've affected this shot.
I'd suggest another go at it... either this subject, or something else. Sorry, I don't mean to be picky, but I've seen your work before, and I don't think this shot is quite up to your abilities.
With respect!
~ Carrol
Nov 29, 2008 at 11:21 PM
Steve Spencer
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · #321 Stack of Stalks


Hi Jess and Carol,

I really appreciate your honest feedback. I have a tendency to like images that are too dark and I often forget to correct for this tendency. The shot I have now posted is with a slightly different exposure and processing and is brighter. I am afraid it still may not have that something special I was hoping for, but I think it is now the best from that evening. I will try to shoot again, but we don't get clear sky very often here this time of year (tonight was the first day without gray skies for a week), so I may not get another chance to shoot this subject again. I will keep trying to come up with another idea too. Thanks again for helping to set me straight.

Best wishes,

Steve S.
Nov 30, 2008 at 12:05 AM
Carrol
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · #321 Stack of Stalks


Well, I do like the lighter version better!
But, the hay bale - dark or light - still looks very flat. If you want to keep this photo, you could darken JUST the right side of the hay bale in PhShop to give it some volume. Up to you. It's late... and my comments are probably worth what you paid for them.

Edited on Dec 02, 2008 at 11:21 AM · View previous versions
Nov 30, 2008 at 12:32 AM
hanamj
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · #321 Stack of Stalks


At least the concept is spot on - nice and rounded.

I envy the country life!

John
Nov 30, 2008 at 12:53 AM
Steve Spencer
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · #321 Stack of Stalks


Carrol wrote:
Well, I do like the lighter version better!
But, the hay bale - dark or light - still looks very flat. If you want to keep this photo, at the very least you could darken JUST the right side of the hay bale in PhShop to give it some volume. Up to you. It's late... and my comments are probably worth what you paid for them.

Hi Carol,

Thanks again for your input. I have fiddled with it yet again and used a yet different exposure to both brighten up the corn stack (it actually is not hay, but rather corn stalks and people around here calls these stacks and use the term bales for a different type of processing of the crop) and I think gives a better 3D feel to the image. Your comments have proved very helpful and I really appreciate them. I will probably still look for other possibilities for this week, but I am starting to like this one more.

Best wishes,

Steve S.
Nov 30, 2008 at 08:51 AM
Steve Spencer
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · #321 Stack of Stalks


hanamj wrote:
At least the concept is spot on - nice and rounded.

I envy the country life!

John

Hi John,

Thanks for your comments. It is a lovely area. I appreciate your taking the time to drop by.

Best wishes,

Steve S.
Nov 30, 2008 at 08:52 AM
az-dave
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · #321 Stack of Stalks


Hi Steve,

I like the way the image is turning out compared to the original. Good luck this week.

Dave
Nov 30, 2008 at 09:20 AM
Steve Spencer
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · #321 Stack of Stalks


Hi Dave,

Thanks for the encouragement. I appreciate it. Thanks for taking the time to comment as well.

Best wishes,

Steve S.
Nov 30, 2008 at 02:44 PM
Steve Spencer
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · #321 Stack of Stalks


Well I think I am going to keep this image. Even if others don't, I like it now (it only took me 5 tries). I finally broke down and processed the sky and the rest of the image separately, which I think fixed the problems with dynamic range that were inherent in this shot. For me it now creates the feeling I wanted. Even though it is a cold environment, the warm light of the sunset overcomes that cold and that together with the harvest feel creates for me a feeling of hope that I find fitting for Thanksgiving. Perhaps other won't see it, but for me it captures what I wanted so I will keep it. Thanks again to those who commented, and although I am done changing it other comments or critiques are both welcome and appreciated.
Nov 30, 2008 at 09:34 PM
CDalessandro
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · #321 Stack of Stalks


Hi Steve, Wonderful sky and all that snow......good wishes, Carolyn
Nov 30, 2008 at 11:39 PM
Bill Sutherland
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · #321 Stack of Stalks


Somehow reminds me of a small loaf of bread. It has improved greatly and turned out well.


Dec 01, 2008 at 01:27 AM
Strad
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · #321 Stack of Stalks


Nice reprocessing, Steve. It does remind me of the many Haystack paintings by Monet. Very pretty!

All the best,

Endre
Dec 01, 2008 at 03:14 AM
Steve Spencer
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · #321 Stack of Stalks


CDalessandro wrote:
Hi Steve, Wonderful sky and all that snow......good wishes, Carolyn

Hi Carolyn,

Thanks for your encouragement and I am glad you liked it.

Best wishes,

Steve S.
Dec 01, 2008 at 06:01 AM
Steve Spencer
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · #321 Stack of Stalks


Bill Sutherland wrote:
Somehow reminds me of a small loaf of bread. It has improved greatly and turned out well.

Hi Bill,

These stacks do look just like loaves of bread and some people even call them loaves instead of stacks. Thanks for the encouragement. I appreciate it.

Best wishes,

Steve S.
Dec 01, 2008 at 06:03 AM
Steve Spencer
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · #321 Stack of Stalks


Strad wrote:
Nice reprocessing, Steve. It does remind me of the many Haystack paintings by Monet. Very pretty!

All the best,

Endre


Hi Endre,

I am glad it reminds you of that Monet series. I take that as very high praise. When I shot this I was trying for an impressionistic blurring of the sky. I shot this at f/2.8 in an attempt to get the corn stack in sharp focus set off by blurred background of the colorful sky. I glad you liked it and really appreciate your thoughtful comments.

Best wishes,

Steve S.
Dec 01, 2008 at 06:09 AM
Steven Roberts
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · #321 Stack of Stalks


Maybe if the stack was further back and the houses in the tress were taken out. The sky is pretty dominating and the stack is to close..It conflicts a bit for me however, sometimes the shot in the moment is better than all the technical crap and in this case, I bet it was nice to see this develop.

Steve R
Dec 01, 2008 at 04:20 PM
Steve Spencer
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · #321 Stack of Stalks


Hi Steve,

Thanks for taking the time to comment, I appreciate it. It seems for a number of people the shot doesn't seem to work, but I am happy with it. I did take a few a bit farther back and didn't like them nearly as well. It was nice to see this beautiful sunset develop. Maybe I appreciate it partly because it was gray and snowy for about a week before and it has snowed pretty much non-stop since the evening I took this shot. It was a nice feeling to see the sun and admire the warm colors of this sunset. I still feel the colors of the sky complement the corn stalk stack, but I guess not for everyone. Maybe you need to have grown up on a farm in the country (as I did) to appreciate it.

Best wishes,

Steve S.
Dec 01, 2008 at 11:41 PM
Vipermike
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · #321 Stack of Stalks


I like it!
Dec 02, 2008 at 04:13 AM
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