Drought

[Han_Schutten]

Critique Style: Standard

The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.

Feedback Focus: Artistic / Expressive

About This Image

A farmer is irrigating crops with a rotating pulse sprinkler.

This was shot about an hour before sunset, with a low standing sun backlighting the water beam. Wind helped to disperse the water. I waited until the water beam was in front of the dark trees.

Feedback Requested

I am most interested in feedback about mood and composition.
Any other feedback is always welcome as well.

Technical Details

Camera: PENTAX K-3 Mark III
Focal length: 85mm
Shutter speed: 1/16000s
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 800

Processing: I kept the image rather dark and the shadows intentionally without detail. There was a small cloud in the sky, that I removed because I felt it was distracting. Behind the water beam there were a few greenhouses, that showed through the trees a bit. I cloned them out (bright distractions).
The color is a bit off, but I like the mood it conveys.

[Kris_Smith (Kristen M Smith)]

Keeping the shadows dark was a good call since it highlights the time of day and the water so well. I put a crop suggestion up that I feel strengthens the composition. We have a ton of these around since there is so much farming, but I’ve never photographed one working the fields. Such a strong story with this shot - it has so much presence and is of its time and place.

Visual Notes

[Crop] Not sure we need more than this.

[Han_Schutten]

Thanks @Kris_Smith for your suggestion. You are right, the image can use (another) crop. I started with a still wider image and a more pano format, that gave some more information about the surroundings. I decided that I had to crop. But I apparently wasn’t ready to go further away from the starting point

[Huw_Thomas]

lovely light and composition.

Monochrome works too and maybe high contrast, although I prefer colour