Going for the minimalist look

[Donald]

Any comments would be welcome.

It was done with 13 stops of neutral density filters to give a 2 minute exposure. As you can see from the shadow from the bale, this was photographed at about 1pm.

[lovelife65]

I love it. Of course, I love minamalist stuff, so I'm a bit partial.
13 stops! Holy crap. I have a 6 stop filter which I love, you must have stacked them.

I *MAY* have removed the electric poles/wires, but not sure.
I like the texture of your sky balanced by all the lines from the fields. Good choice of B&W.
I took a similar photo recently on my travels to Pullman.

[Donald]

13 stops! Holy crap. I have a 6 stop filter which I love, you must have stacked them.

Sharon - I have a Singh Ray vari ND which can give me up to 8 stops and a Singh Ray 5-stop. They were stacked.

[lovelife65]

Sharon - I have a Singh Ray vari ND which can give me up to 8 stops and a Singh Ray 5-stop. They were stacked.

Awesome Donald, fantastic image.

[Stagecoach]

It works well for me Donald, even though it's not square

I must admit I'm becoming a fan of images where a large area has had detail removed to concentrate your viewing more on the subject/s.

[LePetomane]

I like it, especially the clouds.

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[Rita]

It's lovely Donald.

[mugge]

I love it. My only 'complaint' is I think you could safely reduce the sky a tad. Having said that, it is one of your best.
Cheers Ole

[tbob]

Initially I thought the sky and ground balance was too heavily skewed towards the sky. After mulling it over for several hours and revisiting the image several times it has grown on me . Quite like the effect now

[Donald]

I think you could safely reduce the sky a tad.

Not sure what you mean, Ole. Do you mean have less sky; i.e. change the format so there is less sky, or do you mean reduce the effect in the sky by showing less contrast.

[Black Pearl]

Just my sort of image.

Excellent work Donald.

[JBW]

First things first. It is a deceptive shot. At first I thought it was a shed behind the jelly roll. The fields being the roof and the posts being the support structure.

Secondly I like the shot.

I am lousy with definitions but I have trouble seeing a 7 layer shot as minimalist.

[mugge]

Not sure what you mean, Ole. Do you mean have less sky; i.e. change the format so there is less sky, or do you mean reduce the effect in the sky by showing less contrast.

love the contrast. I would crop a bit off the top, say 30mm, you will still have a bit of highlight in the RHC.
Cheers Ole

[JohnRostron]

I have to dissent from the near-universal praise for this shot. It is simply that I do not like these long-exposure skies (or waterfalls). They just strike me as too artificial. That is the photo does not look like the subject. I realise that this is a purely subjective assessment. In this case in particular, the sharply-defined foreground is incongruous against the blurred sky.

Chacun a son gout.

John

[Merlin52]

Yeah @Lovelife65 I think I would also clone out the wires/ poles right on the horizon line as once seen they do draw the eye and work against the minimalist concept.

@JohnRostron Long exposure was also something of an uninspiring thing to me too until I realised that by slowing the shutter speed the camera is capable of recording things that we humans cannot ever possibly see.
Our brains process images instantly (1/25th second) and don't add up pictures of scenes the way a long exposure does therefore a technique ( tumbling/swirling water is an obvious example) producing its own unique effects.