| Minutes
after this was taken the wheat was in the hopper. Silhouettes give you the best return for minimum effort, and all
you need do is 'see' your subject. In most cases your exposure
will be 'as is' too. |
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There is a farmer on
the south end of the Palouse who has assembled a fence of old
wheels and cogs etcetera, and they make ideal frames for his barn.
Now if only we can get him to paint that barn a shade of brick red! |
This
is typical
of the serendipitous jewels that one can stumble on while going
from one particular image to another on the Palouse.
The bold line of green Cat-tails gives 'strong support' to the
main subject.
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This shovel was in a
barn with the light falling in just the right place.
There are compositional guidelines out there that we are all aware
of, and I teach that they are useful, but are to be broken if you
feel you can improve the picture. Here I opted for the right-hand
third, and have no regrets! |
| A shot
that could be found almost anywhere, and was improved by moving my
camera angle until the subject was set against a dark background,
which on this occasion was a distant stand of trees. The long lens
used throws them well out of focus. |
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These
are wild oats, the bane of the grain farmer. There are often some
growing among the other crops, but the ones easiest to locate
will be at the edge of the field.
Try backlighting such as I did here, and the darker the
background the more they 'pop'. |
| This
old school on the Washington side of the Palouse has stood for a
number of decades, and is still a worthy photo subject despite the
rusted farm machinery all around. For this shot I got down low
with a 19mm lens for a different perspective. |
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Even
stubble is an interesting subject if the elements are right, with
low light being important for this one.
I used a lens in the 200mm vicinity to compress the perspective.
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| I
admit to using a graduated gray filter [split neutral density] for
this one as I wanted to tone down the bright sky. Bringing
the filter down over the landscape at the horizon makes it look as
if a cloud has shaded that spot and adds a bit of 'depth'. |
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In my
opinion, the Palouse is best photographed in June when
there are bold colors and strong lines such as this, or during
harvest time when the chaff is flying.
This is obviously the former and has no 'center of interest'
perhaps. Understandably then you'll either love it or hate it!
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It looks like a healthy barn , but it
was torn down early in the millennium! |
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The lines of stubble were pleasing to
the eye, but without some PhotoShop manipulation it lacked that
certain something. |
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Another image I
just had to play with. Besides the color, I also find the
composition very pleasing to the eye, and that's a major ingredient
of successful images. |
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A
typical harvest scene on the Palouse in August. Nothing special
about this one, but I do suggest getting in closer for more
impact. Don't worry, I doubt you will end up in a box of cereal!
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Harvesting
in the late light. Note that the header on the combine adjusts to
the terrain while the cab stays vertical. Exposure for a shot like
this can be tricky, and thus I underexposed by a half a stop.
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Yes the
Palouse has it's fair share of barns, but it's how we approach
each one with a camera that will set them apart from each
other. This one benefits from having the lead-in or framing
lines of the corral in the foreground. 28mm lens set at f.22 for
sharpness from front to back.
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A
Palouse scene with a difference, but is best photographed in the
spring when there is more color around. Unfortunately that is all
down to the farmer's crop choice for a given year.
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I go and
on about how blue skies are nice, and overcast light reduces the
contrast, but better still is changeable weather when it gives you
golden moments like this. That's just what makes my trips to the
British Isles and New Zealand so interesting!
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Low
light makes this shot by bringing out the lead-in lines in the
stubble. Rules should be broken to enhance the viewer's pleasure
when necessary, but here the 'rule of thirds' comes in handy.
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An empty truck
heading back to the fields after having unloaded it's load into a
'community' grain bin.
This particular perspective was achieved with a lens in the 300 to
400 mm range. |
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Nothing more than a section of a barn
near Steptoe. You either love or loathe this kind of shot, right?!
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Early
and late light on the Palouse is the best time to be out with a
camera, and this image is a dawn shot from Steptoe Butte. All you
need is an alarm clock, tripod, long lenses and to be there!
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Yet
again the stubble complements this image of the stark tree. I used
a tripod with my lens set at f.22 for maximum depth of field.
Trees like this become trusted friends when I take group after
group to such spots. This one unfortunately is no longer with us.
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On each
trip I pick up a few wheat or barley stalks - these are wheat -
and attach them to my tripod so that folk can get shots such as
this. It sort of sums up the whole Palouse experience really.
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| The
symmetry of the grain bins at Staley recorded with a 200 mm lens.
It tells the Palouse 'story' more than anything else. |
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More wheels, this time south of
Moscow, Idaho. To get the image sharp from front to back a setting
of f.16 or f.22 has to be the aperture of choice.
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Some
Deer are hard to identify as a rule, but when the White-Tail Deer
is alarmed, up goes it's, well, erm, white tail.
This one was spotted [literally] on Steptoe Butte, and although
shots like this are more miss than hit, it helped that my camera
settings were conducive to the grab shot. |
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A close-up of a parked combine's
header. If you look at the crooked horizon in the corner of the
image, it'll tell you that I tilted the camera to keep the
converging lines within my viewfinder area.
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Another
approach to barns near Moscow, Idaho. This time I found it more interesting
to shoot just a section of them. Not much going on in the way of
impact, so it may work better as magazine cover or similar.
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It
helped to see this ranch falling off into the shade which adds
more interest to the image. The yellow canola does the rest.
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You're
more likely to see the hopper being emptied into trucks in the
middle of fields, but as there is no fence at this spot they take
full advantage.
Shots like this can easily be taken on your 'Program' setting, as
the exposure is likely to be around 500th of a second @ f.5.6,
depending on your ISO setting.
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An
'action' shot of sorts! Looks better cropped and a lot larger! |
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Just another combine in action. Why
all the 'space'? Well, I was hoping to get it onto the cover of
something! |
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