POTM POTM Entry August 2008: "Modern Farming"

Point of View entry. Or Culture. Or both...

 

This is a nice shot, and you have dealt with the exposure great.

 

Thanks, means a lot coming from you who always takes impeccable landscape shots!

I was hoping the blades would blurr slightly to give a sense of motion. At some point I want to arm myself with a tripod and filters and do a series of Shutter Priority shots where the blades are blurred to full circles.

 

A tripod would be necessary, but if you caught it early or late enough in the day you could work without filters.

 

I love the theme and its unique interpretation. However, I think the picture could use a little bit of assistance for clarity with its post processing. The general exposure is NAILED but I actually lose the upper right blades in the clouds due to their color, making them almost a strain on the eyes.

I'd start with it in Photoshop, and probably apply the following:
0) slight crop to bring the windmill out of center for a more dramatic appearance - look to the lower right for a "hold" corner and shrink down til the tower is at about 1/3 from left. Will cut left and top down a bit for a nice shape.
1) Unsharp Mask (by the look of it, settings of about 200%, radius 1, Threshhold 10?)
2) Adjustment layer, Contrast - 10%
3) Clone the main image, blend mode multiply, opacity 30%
4) Apply "hide all" layer mask to that layer, then use a bar gradient on the layer mask. Center of the bar should be the middle of that light patch.

That will help even out the tone and eliminate that "bright spot" which makes it harder to distinguish details of the image. There's more I'd probably suggest, but it'd be having a play and hard to explain. Nothing that will change the look drastically, just "iron out" the wrinkles provided by natural light

 

I've got Paint.Net here (can't afford Photoshop). It does not have some of the functions you describe... Sharpening is basic, and it does not have a "hide all" layer mask function with gradient bar so I had to cheat with a white-to-transparent gradient on the 30% opacity layer... but here's the result:

 

Wouldn't "Culture" be the category? Culture is the direct meaning of farming and it fits well as a descriptor of the taming of nature in the shot. Otherwise please hint at me to connect "Points of view" and a wind turbine.
Is it a hint at the different views on wind turbines? Whether they are pretty or not? I'm only seeing one point but not the view (relation)... Maybe I'm just dense...

Edit: Oh and good to see a submission from you again . Is it my lacking memory or has it not been a while?

 

Well Nexxo called the shot "Modern Farming" so I guess the explanation would be that it's farming from a different point of view (i.e. not agriculture or livestock, which is the typical thought when someone mentions farming).

Nice shot Nexxo, I agree the top prop does get a bit lost in the clouds, but the sheep in the bottom half of the shot give it a nice sense of scale.

 

You're right: it would be as good an entry under "Culture". I was originally thinking about the controversy of wind farms: many people think they are ugly and pointless; I consider them beautiful and functional. As Blademrk says there is also a contrast with traditional ideas of farming (sheep). I think that sheep alongside electricity generating windmills are going to be a sign of the times. Farming ain't what it used to be.

It has not been a while. Been busy, and I've not photographed anything worth submitting for a while.

 

Second pic does look better.

 

Lovely shot, and nailed on colours and exp. Think I'd actually prefer a landscape crop with 'mill in left side of frame with downward slope to bottom right corner and lovely cloud colour space in top right. If that makes any sense.

 

The second shot helps quite a bit to me. Nexxo, if you want me to have a go at it sometime since you're sans Photoshop, I'll be happy to try. I really like the concept.

 

I see. I still think the semantic impact would be greater having "culture" in mind though. I guess I'm still too dense to see it

Please to make to translate?

Oh and 2nd one is by far the best. Composition works a lot better.

 

I agree

Windmills are beautiful objects IMO. Although when they spin too fast and implode is another situation...

 

I love how calm this image is. The warm colors and soft edges throughout all lend to a serene feeling. It kind of creates a visual paradox of cold science vs the warmth of the natural landscape. Windmills are the new trees, it seems - when I think of this type of shot I almost always imagine a giant oak tree dominating the scene

As others have said, the exposure is well handled, and the composition in the second version is great. Although I'm completely fine with the first composition, placing the turbine in the left portion of the frame provides a stronger visual impression of the invisible wind. If the turbine had been rotated slightly to face the camera, and if the blades had more motion blur, I think the first composition would have had a greater impact. Still, this is a wonderful shot as it is.

-monkey

 

Go for it.

 

Email me the RAW, I need it if at all possible.

 

Very nice Nexxo

 

At which altitude did you shoot this? I'm asking since you have the clouds hiding the top... I know the UK can get cloudy but this must have been shot rather high up?

 

Really nice. I love the look of wind power...I will never understand why people think those beautiful towers are hideous.