Andre', nice photo.
One suggestion is to crop a little on the right side.
Bruce
I like it as well, although if it were mine, I'd crop some of the sky (maybe make the 1/3 line roughly the highest point of the peak of the larger roof, and I'd dodge the nearmost barn building.
But it is a rather nice looking sky and there is quite a bit of darkish somewhat uninteresting grass in the foreground. So I would be tempted to crop a bit from the bottom with a balancing amount from the right side.
There are several possible options including losing a little from top and bottom to end up with a widescreen format.
Well, one thing is clear: you can’t follow the advice from all of us!
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I like this image, particularly Manfred's reworked version.
A small point perhaps - I wonder about the title, as it suggests to me a more positive view of a rural location but, looking into this image, it seems to be a rather sad scene. The buildings and equipment look neglected or abandoned;. the straw rolls appear to have been in place for some time; there are no signs of present or recent human or farm animal life; and the natural vegetation seems to be taking over.
Philip
While I cannot follow everybody's advice, all of it provided food for thought and was definitely worth considering. I posted this on the same day that I took it and I rarely stick with my first edit. My current thinking favors a panoramic crop very much along the line that Manfred suggested.
English is not my mother tongue so I could be wrong but I understand serene to mean calm,peaceful or tranquil. In that sense, the scene was indeed serene.
Thank you all for your constructive critiques.
Your understanding of "serene" is correct. However, it's often stronger than "calm"--that is, one can be calm without reaching the point of being serene. It's also used much less frequently, particularly in speech. I think it's a good choice for this image.
As possibly a typical Englishman, I have a very limited capability regarding the use of any languages other than my own, and I'm humbled by those, like yourself, who show a good command of English as a second language. I agree with you that "serene" is an appropriate adjective here.
So apologies for any misunderstanding, and I should have been clearer that my previous comments were intended to refer to "pastoral" in the thread title. For me this word usually suggests an uplifting scene depicting a positive relationship between humans, their buildings and equipment, their animals, their crops, and the countryside.
For example, a "pastoral" scene related to your image might include - a farm hand unloading hay from a tractor-trailer, or the hens wandering freely around the farm, or a shepherd and his collie rounding up some sheep, or the combine harvester reaping the wheat, or cows resting to ruminate in the shade of the trees with perhaps the village church in the background, etc.
Cheers.
Philip
I used "pastoral" in the sense of "in the country side and peaceful". It appears as though were are both right. Th Oxford dictionary favors your definition where as the Merrian-Webster also includes mine.
Thanks to you, my knowledge of the English language has improved today.
Cheers.