Hay Bale Field nr Stratford-upon-Avon

Stu Meech

Stu Meech

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I found this field the other day when I drove past to go to Sainsbury's (like you do), and once checking on TPE it seemed it could have nice light in the evening.

Anyway, I would appreciate hearing people thoughts as it's the sort of shot I have looked at for a few days and can't make up my mind on - mostly due to the sun not hitting the bales under the horizon on the left.

SJM_0384_sml.jpg
 
You have some nice golden light hitting the bales, thats good and i can see what you mean about the cloud has put the field partly into shade. It would have been nice to have it all in the sun. Its always a pain isnt it nothings ever in the right place!!! I always wonder about the merits of cropping in these situations but never sure might be worth a try.
Did you hang on to see if the light changed. Or run over to the other side there's some sunlight there;). I guess you could lift the sky somewhat, give it some more colour, that could take the focus off the shadow... Trouble is now you have mentioned the shadow everyone will focus on that... Still a nice shot mate.

Anyhow you did better than me, i went back to the field at sunset that i had reccied that morning and the bales had GONE!

BTW on a different note how do you find the 16-35?
 
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The cloud throwing the distant bales into shadow really doesn't detract from this at all for me - in fact, I think it gives some quite nice definition between the foreground and background and adds some depth to the image.

However, something just isn't sitting quite right with it and I think it's the composition and framing that are bothering me:

The first thing that catches my eye when I look at this is the very strong line of the 'furrow' leading off from the dominant bale . . . I really want that line to lead me further into the image, but instead it takes me right to the far left and then peters out.
When I take my attention back into the picture, I'm then grabbed by the second nearest bale over at the far right. I think because it's more side on than the main focal bale, that strong geometric circle shape is grabbing my attention and it's fighting with the closest bale to be centre of attention - especially when you look at the way the sun is lighting up that circle and giving it a golden glow.

Taking those two things together (leading line taking me to the far left and the bale fighting for dominance on the far right) I'm left with the impression of the image being quite claustrophobic and feeling like it's been cropped too tight on either side.
I really want to look at this and get a feel of space and wide, open fields but that's just not happening for me with the current composition.

Lovely location and lovely light though - if this is somewhere close to you, I'd love to see you go back and try again from a different angle and perspective because I think that could take it from a 'nice shot' to something a bit more special.
 
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I actually really like the composition and the light. Sure light across the entire field would be nice, but you've got a great sky and good light.
Nice work.
 
69Bonni said:
Anyhow you did better than me, i went back to the field at sunset that i had reccied that morning and the bales had GONE!

BTW on a different note how do you find the 16-35?
Click to expand...

I've had that with a couple of other fields of late, so I made sure I hot footed it over there as soon as possible to try and get a nice shot!

As for the 16-35, so far I'm finding it a really nice lens. Sharp from corner to corner, nice colours, good contrast etc - the only thing I can't comment on is the VR as I've not used it yet. Its built like a bloody tank and is massive for a UWA but it's stlll a really nice lens. I got a brand new one (UK stock) for about £750 which I think was a bargain. I'm hoping that it'll give me many years good service as I can't see me getting anything else now for FX cameras for quite some time.

SarahLee said:
The cloud throwing the distant bales into shadow really doesn't detract from this at all for me - in fact, I think it gives some quite nice definition between the foreground and background and adds some depth to the image.

However, something just isn't sitting quite right with it and I think it's the composition and framing that are bothering me:

The first thing that catches my eye when I look at this is the very strong line of the 'furrow' leading off from the dominant bale . . . I really want that line to lead me further into the image, but instead it takes me right to the far left and then peters out.
When I take my attention back into the picture, I'm then grabbed by the second nearest bale over at the far right. I think because it's more side on than the main focal bale, that strong geometric circle shape is grabbing my attention and it's fighting with the closest bale to be centre of attention - especially when you look at the way the sun is lighting up that circle and giving it a golden glow.

Taking those two things together (leading line taking me to the far left and the bale fighting for dominance on the far right) I'm left with the impression of the image being quite claustrophobic and feeling like it's been cropped too tight on either side.
I really want to look at this and get a feel of space and wide, open fields but that's just not happening for me with the current composition.

Lovely location and lovely light though - if this is somewhere close to you, I'd love to see you go back and try again from a different angle and perspective because I think that could take it from a 'nice shot' to something a bit more special.
Click to expand...

Hi Sarah, thanks for your really good feedback, it certainly gives me something to think about. I don't know if I'll be able to get back there as I'm away from home til Sunday but I'll have a look when I get back.

Composition wise, I have got quite few different ones, but I did settle on this one as I like the fact the left hand foreground bale leads to the right hand one then off through the rest of the shot. I did have a few where there was more space in the foreground but it ended up looking a bit empty so I went for this one where the bales fill the front of the shot a bit more.

69Bonni said:
Dead right Sid, I was brought up on a farm too;), lots of people don't know there's a difference.
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:) shall remember that for if/when I post to Flickr!
 
69Bonni said:
Dead right Sid, I was brought up on a farm too;), lots of people don't know there's a difference.
Click to expand...

Indeed. My own favourite so far this year is the packaging of Tesco Porridge Oats, which until recently was covered in pictures of wheat ... :cool:
 
I missed that one Dan:), marketing department cocked that one up then!
This weekends rain didn't help the hay making! A lot of windrows still out there being raked over down here, that isn't going to dry well, bad timing for some farmers I think. Unless they got in before the rain.
 
Also found this alternative composition on my hard drive yesterday which does give the shot a bit more room and looser composition.

SJM_0391.jpg
 
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