Gleaner Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

While roaming the backroads of rural Montana (there's a lot of them in Montana) I stopped to watch this farmer harvesting wheat. This is not something I often see near my current residence in Maryland. While I watched I mused about the technologies utilized today by farmers; contrast this by the technology of a centrury ago. I imagine that people would have come from hundreds of miles just to see one of these baby's working. By no strech of the imagination am I an expert on the subject, but this harvester is just one such example. These new machines are really smart. Often they are computer controlled and measure moisture levels, air temps and many other parameters that enable the farmer to quickly harvest and at the same time capture most of the grain. Some machines can even be programed to steer themselves, while the operator goes along for the ride, just in case the machine gets stupid or breaks down.

mimi, quegardens has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

mimi (2321) 2004-04-07 23:55

I really like this, Ned. It does a great job of illustrating the points in your note. I like the placement of the harvester, but I might crop a bit from the front and the left side. I find the close-up of the wheat in the front a little distracting.

gringofil (0) 2004-04-08 4:02

Nice one and a good subject to boot. I really like your compo, but just two things bother me here. First, the image is a little flat. You'd have to pop the colors a little more to have the image stand out. And the sky needs to go...just a touch of blue here and there, but mostly it is white. A high contrast B&W version would help solve this problem. Second, way oversharpened...I can see sharpening halos throughout the shot. Be very gentle when you sharpen photos (and if you can use the internal sharpening in camera). Apart from this, quite an interesting shot.

Posted a sample WS in B&W.

[workshop] [compare] +

quegardens (1469) 2004-04-09 7:29

Yes Ned, the technology of farm machinery is becoming increasingly sophisticated.And as you say, it has come a long way since the old days of the thrashing machine.With the aid of GPS,we are now able to monitor yields throughout the field and combined with a GPS mapping system are able to map out specific areas that need soil adjustment for the next year.This will bring considerable savings to farmers and the environment.It is common practice to apply fertilizers in broadcast applications according to average needs of the field but this new technology,once it becomes more affordable to more farmers,will allow for `spot` applications where the fertilizer is needed.The same would apply for needs in liming fields to balance PH soil levels.The possibilities are endless.
I like how the faded sky adds to the impression of endless fields behind the combine.