Corn Fields - which one?

A couple of shots of corn fields taken in New Hampshire. Would appreciate comments and critique on composition, lighting etc.

Hi Raman - absolutely the first one. Very nicely done and thanks for sharing; love the time of day you did this with the clouds for moody effect. Leave all of the sky in, but I would crop off about 20% of the bottom. The water filled tracks and random stalks close in are a distraction to me. Do that I feel you'll make a very good shot even better. - Stu

sapearl wrote in post #8831276
Hi Raman - absolutely the first one. Very nicely done and thanks for sharing; love the time of day you did this with the clouds for moody effect. Leave all of the sky in, but I would crop off about 20% of the bottom. The water filled tracks and random stalks close in are a distraction to me. Do that I feel you'll make a very good shot even better. - Stu

Totally agree with the above. Beautiful shot!

Definately the first one. Beautiful colours.
I'd crop the bottom though. I feel like my eyes get drawn to the puddle instead of the horizon.

Wow, love the first one! Beautiful

First one's great. But it's important to think about why it's more successful, and learn to recognise that and plan for it. The things that occur to me: #1's horizontal lines carry the eye back and forth through the shot: there's room to move, and room to see them defining a slope and changing proportions of track and field across the shot. In #2: the horizontals cut across and the eye has to jump over them to travel the length of the shot. In a portrait orientation, lines running up and down, further from camera and back towards it, help carry the eye and reinforce the sense of depth. The post is an element of foreground interest, but isn't balanced, and the top competes a little with the hills behind in defining a clean horizon line. The first one's foreground interest is the grass, tracks and reflections that a couple people would prefer not to see, but personally I prefer them in. It makes the shot a bit more complex and layered, but all up a net plus for me. The second one has more red trees at the left too, which makes a charming counterpoint to the green hill and scattered autumn colours at right. #2 has a harsh, ugly overexposed patch in the sky. Not trying to be comprehensive here, just illustrating the sort of considerations to look for....

Cheers, Tony

Thanks a lot Stuart, eloquentpixels, Helen and Tony!

Really appreciate the detailed feedback on why one image works over the other! Thanks again!

You're welcome Raman - and I can see that you and I have a similar "eye" for things . I would suggest you post a cropped version of the first, just as an experiment to see how it looks. And with all those different color tones, a B/W interpretation could even look interesting. - Stu

rraman wrote in post #8833431
Thanks a lot Stuart, eloquentpixels, Helen and Tony!

Really appreciate the detailed feedback on why one image works over the other! Thanks again!

sapearl wrote in post #8833545
You're welcome Raman - and I can see that you and I have a similar "eye" for things . ...

Thanks Stuart, good to hear that

Here is the slightly cropped version of the first image:

Hmm, I say neither. #1 has unattractive puddles and grass sticking up in front of the camera and #2 is has a fence post and weeds being what is largest in the photo instead of the corn field.

I see your post above mine, and you need to crop out all of the puddle and clone out the weeds or hay sticking up at the bottom left corner - even if it takes you out of 3:2 image ratio.

#1 for me, and I agree with cropping the bottom... to just under where the stalks start on the right.

The 1st is best.

It would have been nice to have some additional altitude like 10 feet or so. Here is a rendition that is slightly different than yours. By letting the clear cut act as a band across the bottom it makes it a complete graphic statement for that element edge to edge. IMO it helps strengthens the shape and path of the other edge to edge graphic elements. I also removed most of the conflicting grass strands. I do that. Some may scream. I don't care. It's printed a bit dark.

The image is nice, the color is perfect, the content is satisfying.

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