PICSPIRATION SUNDAY: One of my favorite places to take photos is my own home commune: Ås in Norway.
I was jogging my regular route in Ås this week when I saw the field filled with straw bales. I knew it would be beautiful a couple of hours later during sunset. And I was pretty sure it could be this week´s Picspiration Sunday photo. But would the straw bales stay that long? At the other side of the road three farmers were busy moving the fresh straw bales away with their tractors.
So I stopped one of the farmers. He smiled and promised “my” straw bales would stay the whole evening – and welcomed me to come back for photography.
About the photo
I stayed an hour and half in the field that night, admiring the many straw bales as the sun set. At the same time the sky and clouds turned pink.
Of the many photos this is the one I liked best. But you make like others better. See in the bottom of the article for a couple more.
Technical info
I used of course a tripod – and could therefore select a low ISO (100) to avoid grains. The aperture is f/13, which give very good depth of field.
The photo is put together by five exposures to make sure all parts of the image is exposed correctly: 1/30 sec, 1/15 sec, 1/8 sec, 1/4 sec and 1/2 sec. The tone mapping has been done in HDR Efex Pro.
Other Picspiration tips
Technical tips can be cool, but in my experience getting great photos is much more about your attitude:
- Get actively out there looking for great photos to capture. The hour before and after sunset can be magical.
- Seize the opportunities when you see them. The only reason I got this image is that I decided to come back the same evening when I saw all the straw bales in the field.
- Take many different photos – and try many angles. Don´t just settle on the first alternative – try them all.
Photo location
Other photos from this Picspiration shoot
Excellent and inspiring work. I guess the camera was your 5D, but which lenses?
Trond: They were taken with my Canon EF 24-105 F4.0L. And a tripod, of course 🙂