Harrowing Times..... Photo

Photographer’s Note

A picture taken near midday today from the little village of Dairsie in Fife, showing a harrow at work.

After the harvest of wheat, barley or oats, the straw is baled into the familiar round bales which you can see in the foreground. The land is then ploughed and left rough as can be seen in the very far left of the picture. After that, a harrow, an implement consisting of rakes, chains or (as in this case) discs, is drawn across the earth to break it into a finer tilth for future planting. Because the process unearths worms and other creatures living in the soil, the harrow is followed by flocks of birds in search of an easy meal.

Shot in RAW at 200mm focal length and converted and edited in PSE6.

All comments/critiques/advice welcome!

bj40, saxo042, graffer has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

bj40 (1245) 2009-10-05 1:15

Hi John,Attractive scene of the countryside clear and bright with plenty of detail,the vertical format is put to good use with no wasted space.Looks like the seagulls are having a feast.Thanks Tom.

[2] +

graffer (1764) 2009-10-05 5:57

Hello John,

A very timely picture in the farming year, and your description of what is happening here, from an agricultural point of view, is spot on. As ever with your postings, this is clear, sharp and the colours are faithfully rendered.

Now, I was going to give my compositional analysis WSs a bit of a rest, because I thought I might be becoming a bit of a bore with them. However, this image really seems to be a very suitable subject.

The three main elements here are:

1. The straw bales in the foreground.

2. The dynamic one of the tractor entering the image from the left with its entourage of seagulls;

3. The building among the trees with its white tower.

The next thing I see is that the image divides neatly into three horizontal bands, and the border between the ploughed and the unploughed land is bang on the lower horizontal line of thirds.

The photograph has been taken at 200mm FL, so there is a foreshortening of perspective. Because of this the white towered house comes forward out of the background quite strongly, and my gaze, instead of being led smoothly through the picture, from foreground to background, tends to 'hunt' slightly between it and the red tractor. This is my only small niggle with an otherwise fine composition.

Kind regards,

Peter.

See WS for diagram.

[workshop] [compare] +

jonathan_hart (22578) 2009-10-05 9:21

your picture is great and i'm sorry if you think i killed the composition in the workshop
just to see how i would do myself... i respect YOUR composition
very interesting view, i enjoy the natural colors
jc

[workshop] [compare] +

saxo042 (15850) 2009-10-05 10:11

Hi John,

I can actually see three totally different pictures here, combined into one upload. This is quite a feat (is that the right word?) as all other TE members only can upload one picture a day.

The first picture is a very fine hose or maybe castle embedded in green trees under a blue sky.

The second picture below, which I think is the better one, shows a colourful tractor with an harv after. Here is a lot of action with all the seagulls looking for worms. Interesting to see the birds gathering along a line here.

The third picture is quite conventional, there are many photos of hayrolls here on TE. But I like to see them like this, without the usual white plastic bags. And they form an attractive pattern in your picture here.

And Peter´s WS is also very interesting, as usual!

Kind regards
Gunnar

Glint (3044) 2009-10-05 10:39

Hello John,
this has so much going for it. The compo in thirds-ish, the light and colours and the textures too.I like the graphic qualities of the bottom part of the picture and then the surprise of the more conventional top.
Bev

finlay (401) 2009-10-08 10:38

John

I think this composition is excellent and a perfect example of the rule of thirds. There is a great contrast in colours between each of the sections. Very effective.

Regards
Finlay