Forgotten Oak

Southeast Alentejo.
Near Vale do Guadiana Natural Park, Portugal

Last Monday I was so tired from the last trip to the south coastal limits of the country, I came back from a 24 hour journey, being awake (barely slept in the car for some few moments) for about 40 hours straight. I traveled by night from Cape St. Vincent to Lisbon on Sunday, arrived at 1:30 a.m. and slept a few hours, just before leaving on a two and half hour trip again at 6:30 a.m. to South Alentejo plains on work. Had to make 2 stops on the Highway...
At the end of the day, incoming storms from Southwest were taking place, and the high drama of the scenery just made me forget how much I needed to rest - well, just as if I could under these conditions :))
I grabbed the car and drove into some nice plains nearby. Got all wet on the field, the rain was becoming quite intense, got back to the car, found shelter on some trees... In an hour - during this stormy sunset - light, clouds, winds, all was changing in a matter of seconds - all the time, quite some colors and plains drama.

This rendition is one of my first attempts, I had to be allays very quick, quite some adrenaline back there, but as soon as the sun beams start to burst the clouds, I started shooting.

Technically this is hard stuff. Contrast was just too much, I made 3 shots and manually blended them, with the following exposures, taken in 15mm wide lens:

sky:
1/30s f/19 ISO200

Sun beams enhancement:
1/60s

field:
1/60s f/11 ISO1100

The strong wind and low light available in the wheat field "forced" me to expose as is to all lower portion of the scene. On larger version, some blur is visible, adding some more to the comp.

Processing took hours, as interpretation of the scene I kept in mind that I was working to have a natural feel and tones, and exhibit the overall light available.