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Widow Field

Discussion

9 replies
Posted by David Cobb on March 28, 2009 at 10:06 PM
Widow Field
Kevin McNeal, Adrian Klein, and Jonathan Ley joined me at this grass widow field last Saturday, but the light was a bust. We went on an old schoolhouse tour instead. Since this field is only a five minute drive from my house I went back on Sunday and Monday morning for better light. This image was taken on Monday just as the sun broke the ridgeline. I was after the glancing light and the glow of the Grass Widows in the early morning sun.

1.3 sec., f32, 400ISO, 78mm, Canon 5D, Canon 70-200mm lens, CPL
Posted by Darren White on March 28, 2009 at 10:37 PM
I am curious as to why you might have used F/32 as opposed to F/16. Is difraction not an issue with full frame cameras...

you could have used f/16 @ 200 iso and got the same result with better image quality.....am i missing something here......

enough tech talk, what I like about this image is the layers of light.....dark to light to dark again....

what I don't like is the almost washed out part in the middle!
Posted by David Cobb on March 28, 2009 at 11:31 PM
Thanks for your comments Darren. Last year I took a similar image from this vantage point as a vertical, and did what you suggested, but the detail in the oak seemed to be lacking. That's why I experimented with f32 this year. This year the Grass Widow bloom is about a week later than last year and only about 70% of last year's bloom. That washed-out area is just light tan grass which was filled with flowers a year ago. I might try and darken that area a bit. Even though most of the flower opportunities were poor in 2008, the grass widows were the best I'd seen in 20 years. Probably more than you wanted to know though.

David
Posted by Richard Sogn on March 28, 2009 at 11:40 PM
What a difficult subject to capture well, which you did.
Posted by Craig Strand on March 29, 2009 at 12:06 AM
I like it, beautiful image and I think the lighting as capture is great! :toast:
Posted by Jack Garrett on March 29, 2009 at 3:45 PM
Darren, what settings would have used with a Canon 40 or 50d? Since I'm still trying to figure my way around I have people tell me that with less than full frame sensors you should go about f16...is that correct?
Posted by Catherine Reilly on March 29, 2009 at 5:54 PM
Ah, that's nice, David. How great you were able to pick your "perfect light" day.
Posted by Ned Fenimore on March 30, 2009 at 1:27 AM
Wonderful - I like the band of trees at the top.. just enough!
Posted by Cliff Dodge on March 30, 2009 at 10:07 AM
Very nice light and shadow, oh, and color and what Ned said. :)
Posted by Adrian Klein on March 31, 2009 at 11:51 AM
Glad to see you ended up getting something here David! I like the light and the comp very much. A far different feel from when we were there the other weekend!