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I was out on walking trail with some friends on a beautiful, warm, June day and we happened to pass by a really pretty wheat field. I had brought my camera along just in case I had the opportunity to shoot some pictures of my friends or the scenery around us. I was so excited because this wheat field seemed like the perfect place to get some good nature photos! I snapped pictures until I thought had taken enough to get some good ones and I came out with these 2 that I think are the best. What are some things that I need to improve with nature photography or what should I have done in my situation to capture better photographs?
These pictures were taken with a Cannon EOS Rebel T5. I used the 55-250mm zoom lens.
Specs of picture #1: f/5.6, 1/250, 208mm, ISO100
Specs of picture #2: f/5.6, 1/250, 154mm, ISO100
Thanks!
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Beautiful pictures! They represent well a nice crop waiting to be harvested!
In terms of composition, I prefer the first one. The picture is nicely ”balanced” and there is plenty of breathing space.
It would have been neat, though, to have the left wheat ear tack sharp.Also, maybe warming up the white balance a bit wouldn’t hurt.
Great pictures! One thing I noticed is the bright green in the background. I would probably try to remove that as it tends to draw your eye away from the subject.
Thank you @Mr.Quebec and @Austin Vinar for your helpful comments! 🙂
@Mr.Quebec, that’s the picture that I was preferring too. I had noticed that that left wheat ear wasn’t as sharp as it could have been. It looked like to me that the camera focused in on the top of the ear. I’m not exactly sure how that happened. 🙂
@Austin Vinar, I hadn’t noticed that green until you mentioned it. Yes, it does distract from the subject. I’ll try and see if I can fix that. Thanks for pointing that out!
I had noticed that that left wheat ear wasn’t as sharp as it could have been. It looked like to me that the camera focused in on the top of the ear. I’m not exactly sure how that happened.
That’s weird, since usually sensors tend to focus on the nearest object from the camera. I am wondering if the camera wasn’t focusing on the ear on the right…
Were you focusing with all your AF points or were you shooting with just one point?
It can get tricky to focus at the right place when there are many subjects in the picture and you’re shooting with all your AF points.
If you were focusing with one point, I would guess that maybe a slight wind moved the ear a bit and caused the top of the ear to be sharp instead.
If there was any wind, of course… 🙂I really like the way you positioned your subject in the first picture. Like what @mr-quebec said, living things should be given more room or “breathing space,” which is what you have done in your pictures. It seems that you had two basic ways of taking pictures at the wheat field: (1) Close-up of the ears (which is what you did) and (2) Landscape of the entire wheat field. My suggestion, especially for close-up pictures, is to ensure that your subject is in sharp focus. This way your picture would have a clearly defined and appealing subject. Apart from wheat ears, this tip can be applied to any close-up subject of nature, whether it is a flower or an insect. I’m just wondering, did you use a macro focus for these pictures? I guess if your camera had a multi-spot focusing option, you could have used it so that you can get most of the wheat ears tack sharp, especially in the second picture.
Just a thought: you could have taken a landscape shot of the field (while applying the Rule of Thirds) and watermarked the upper third of the picture with the opening words from “America the Beautiful”: “O beautiful for spacious skies/ For amber waves of grain.” 🙂
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
Hey @mirandawaite! I remember you from Taccoa. I had some similar thoughts as the ones mentioned by others on here, but I would add one other idea. Did you consider processing this as a black and white image to bring out texture and details? That’s probably something I would try.
I don’t know what the scenery was like, but sometimes you can make a cool composition by shooting wide along the edge of a field (creating a “leading line” to the horizon), with a wheat grain head as the subject up close in the lower right rule of thirds “crosshairs”.
On second thought, I think I’m going to recommend editing it a little bit more heavily too. Next time I’m near my computer I’ll try to show you what I mean. BTW, it is a really nice photo idea.
Hello @thefarmhand! Yes, I remember you too!
Hmmm…I hadn’t thought of processing it as black and white. That sounds like a good idea! When I have the time, I will play around with it and see what happens. 🙂 Thanks for suggesting that!
The landscape behind the field wasn’t really the greatest for landscape shots. I had wanted to do some landscape photos but there was a lot of equipment and turned dirt behind it, not really the best for a photo! 🙂 I know that the rule of thirds was probably mentioned in the photography class with James but I can’t seem to recall if it was or not……… Can you enlighten me? 🙂
Yes, please do. I would love to see some of your ideas!
Thanks!
Miranda
Okay @Mirandawaite, I’m attaching some images that I grabbed online. They demonstrate the rule of thirds. Basically, our eyes are drawn to photos that have the subject on one of the lines you will see in those images. It’s easy to find these in your Lightroom crop tool as well.
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@thefarmhand, can the rule of thirds be applied to portraits as it is applied to landscape shots?
@Joshua Ong, Yes. You should definitely take it into account for both the background and the placement of the subject in portraiture.
@thefarmhand, thanks so much for taking the time to show me how you might edit the picture! I can see the improvement and I will keep it in mind for future pictures!
Also, thanks for explaining to me the “rule of 3rds”. I believe I understand it now. I had actually been taking pictures with that kind of concept but I didn’t know what it was called! 😉
Thanks again!
Miranda
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
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