While working with students at a recent workshop, I saw this scene unfolding. The light was going to get better and better as it continued setting. I saw this pair of trees with a few Sandhills and thought… man if I could just get a couple of them to lift at the right moment between the trees… Patience paid off and the image was born.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
Processing is pretty minimal from the original capture. I changed my white balance in camera to Cloudy to accentuate the warm tones and see if that was what I had in mind. Yes I know it can be changed later in post, but I always encourage my students to change it in the field to get a better sense of the final product.
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
In a perfect world, the branch on the left flying crane (in the center) wouldn’t have intersected the wing, but I didn’t feel like it was enough to deal with the pain of trying to work it.
Any pertinent technical details:
Olympus EM-1 Mark II, 300mm f/4 @ 1/640, ISO 400, f/7.1
You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
Gorgeous light, Keith. The exposure looks just about optimal for the backlit scene. I like all the cranes hidden in the grasses. It’s the kind of think that keeps a viewer coming back to an image. Did you try a crop from the bottom to eliminate the brighter foreground vegetation at the bottom? Just curious, because it looks like it might work a touch better. Definitely a wall hanger.
I like this compositionally. I would be interested to see a slightly closer crop accentuating the cranes a little more. I think you could clearly take a little bit off the bottom with the warm reddish orange tones at the base of the image which are a little eye grabbing. You could probably do the same with the top and make it more of a panorama. Seems pretty saturated but I suppose this was your artistic intention.
Two votes for a tighter crop so I’m adding a second version with a bit trimmed from the bottom. I don’t want to take any off the top as I want the sun up there. Yep, a bit saturated, but shooting directly into late afternoon light does that and I didn’t want to change the mood I saw. Thanks for the input.
Incredibly well-executed–from the field through post. I love it. The exposure on the cranes is spot-on. I also like the tighter crop. This seems like one of those opportunities I might see developing but then look away the moment the cranes flew!
This light is just stunning and retaining detail in the cranes takes it to another level. I definitely prefer the second slightly tighter crop as eliminating the bright grasses at the bottom of the original frame makes it even stronger. Very well done Keith
