Country Farm

[jkshyt]

Trying to get accustomed to my new toy (a7iv).
CC welcomed
Thanks
Original
_A741254 by jk Sullivan, on Flickr

Post
_A741254 by jk Sullivan, on Flickr

[mugge]

In the first image I don't think you have set the white and black points. The second image I quite like especially with the red tractor providing some focal point.
Cheers Ole

[Geoff F]

You have a difficult scene there, Jack. With those light issues I would prefer to take some bracketed exposures then combine 2 or 3 shots with masking to produce a 'hand merged' HDR type of image

I agree with Ole that the second image is the stronger composition. Some identifiable subjects and less of the rather bland foreground from the first photo.

Maybe a little bit of extra editing, with masking, could enhance the foreground while retaining that rather delicate sky.

[jkshyt]

Thanks for the input guys!
I believe you may be correct, the first image was a jpeg with no correction thanks!
I hadn't given bracketing much thought, I have to try this!
I'm still trying to understand and find the best metering settings on the camera, if I remember correctly, this was set for highlights. I've captured other scenes and blown out the highlights.

Practice, practice, practice!

Cheers, thanks again!

[DanK]

Jack,

While you might be able to improve detail by bracketing, you don't actually need to bracket. When I look at the histogram, I don't see clipping at either end. So, your camera is able to capture the full dynamic range of the scene. However, you might get more detail in the shadows if you bracketed.

I don't know what your intention with the image is, but I did a quick edit to show that you don't need to bracket and that bracketing isn't the most substantial issue. First, I corrected the white balance, which was quite far off on both dimensions, using the truck on the right as a target. Then I used a levels adjustment to bring up the midtones, brightening the entire image. Then I used a curve to impose some contrast. Finally, I added some saturation, which I rarely do, but I thought this image might benefit. I didn't do anythng more complex. In particular, I didn't do any local adjustments. I'd probably make some areas darker and add more color to the sky, which is more interesting in your original. I might actually limit all of the adjustments to everything but the sky. But I think this enough to show what I mean.