late night at the grain elevator

Tallboy

Longtime lurker, first time post and all that stuff.

The local grain elevator stocked up with empty railcars in anticipation of the wheat harvest that just starting.

Shot probably 45minutes or better beyond official dusk time. Lighting by street light, moon & stars.

10mm @ f/4 for 30 seconds. ISO 200



C & C gladly accepted.

rainbow

Very interesting use of the 10 mm. I love the colors and the exposure with the great sky. The contrast between the foreground red and the sky blue is excellent.

Did you try a vertical orientation with the lens? My thinking is that it would have made the silo much more imposing and focused my attention a little more there. Right now my eyes follow the line of rail cars into the distance with nothing to lock my focus on to.

grosda

RE: late night

Tallboy wrote:

The local grain elevator stocked up with empty railcars in anticipation of the wheat harvest that just starting.

Tallboy: nice combination of the elements. Not too many of us who even know our way into NW KS. I'm headed that way in seven days to spend a week (hopefully!) documenting the harvest in SW NE.

Tallboy

rainbow wrote:

Very interesting use of the 10 mm. I love the colors and the exposure with the great sky. The contrast between the foreground red and the sky blue is excellent.

Did you try a vertical orientation with the lens? My thinking is that it would have made the silo much more imposing and focused my attention a little more there. Right now my eyes follow the line of rail cars into the distance with nothing to lock my focus on to.

I agree with you - there is a lot going on with no one object as the focal point of the shot. I was worried about that. crap. I wanted to shoot that side of the elevator on the right - I should have tried a vertical shot and just got the line of cars on the right; I may see what the light is like tonight and give it another go.

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it.

Here is a shot of the same elevator from back in late March or early April in a vertical orientation.

Tallboy

grosda wrote:

Tallboy: nice combination of the elements. Not too many of us who even know our way into NW KS. I'm headed that way in seven days to spend a week (hopefully!) documenting the harvest in SW NE.

Wow - that'd be fun. Hope the weather holds out for you and the farmers you are shooting. I talked to the elevator operators last night while I was shooting and they said they'd taken in the first 6000 bushel Friday and a bit more yesterday - there is still quite a bit of green in a lot of the wheat, they were thinking it would really pickup mid week in 3 or 4 days.

Will you be blogging as you go?

grosda

Tallboy wrote:

Will you be blogging as you go?

Yes, I will probably be updating things.

My childhood home is near Imperial, NE. Photo project #1 for this trip is to begin a portfolio of landscapes of the region for publication some day. The timing of trip will may let me catch the harvest in action. I usually come out later in the summer, so I haven't been there at harvest time in 10+ years.

Tallboy

grosda wrote:

Yes, I will probably be updating things.

My childhood home is near Imperial, NE. Photo project #1 for this trip is to begin a portfolio of landscapes of the region for publication some day. The timing of trip will may let me catch the harvest in action. I usually come out later in the summer, so I haven't been there at harvest time in 10+ years.

Very interesting mix of landscapes in that part of the state - from big rolling farm fields to rough yucca strewn draws and mini-canyons. As much rain as we've gotten out in this area, it is oddly still quite green down here.

I'm originally from NE Kansas and have only been out here for 6 years and am still discovering what the area has to offer.

Good luck to you in the coming weeks, then - I'll have to remember to check your blog. Will your project work take you on the other side of I-80 into the Sandhills as well?

grosda

Tallboy wrote:

Will your project work take you on the other side of I-80 into the Sandhills as well?

No, not this trip. But the project over time is to document images all the way north to the SDakota line.

thapamd

Unusual and beautiful. Rich colors and great comp!

Tallboy

OK, so I gave it another try tonight. About the same time as last night...10:15pm or so. As per the suggestion earlier, I tried a vertical composition and was a bit more happy with it other than catching my shadow in the foreground. oops. I swear it was dark and in the shadows where I was setup...guess 30 seconds is long enough for a lot of light saturation.

thapamd

Tallboy wrote:

OK, so I gave it another try tonight. About the same time as last night...10:15pm or so. As per the suggestion earlier, I tried a vertical composition and was a bit more happy with it other than catching my shadow in the foreground. oops. I swear it was dark and in the shadows where I was setup...guess 30 seconds is long enough for a lot of light saturation.

I really like this last one the best, Tallboy! That puddle of water in the FG make all the differene.

grosda

Tallboy wrote:

OK, so I gave it another try tonight. About the same time as last night...10:15pm or so. As per the suggestion earlier, I tried a vertical composition and was a bit more happy with it other than catching my shadow in the foreground. oops. I swear it was dark and in the shadows where I was setup...guess 30 seconds is long enough for a lot of light saturation.

Nice! At 30 seconds you probably have time to step away from the camera (not that I would have thought of it either!). I like the movement effect in the clouds to the right of the elevator headhouse.

rainbow

I like this vertical orientation.

Next time you might consider running the length of the train during the exposure to give it a ghosty effect...

Allan FG

Excellent

I like the vertical but I think the horizontal has a bigger impact, it feels like the rail car is towering over me.

schmoo

I love the colors in all of these BTW! Twilight shots are the absolute win.

Personally I prefer the first version. The train cars draw the eye right into the photo, although I agree that the puddle and the clouds in the latter are engaging as well.

I really hope to see more of your work here. With shots like these, you shouldn't be a lurker!

Tallboy

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions - I really appreciate it.