Peaceful coexistence: Washington

[Hazel Grant]

Visiting in Washington recently, I spied another scene for my "peaceful coexistence" series.People there, and in many other places, argue over the windmill placements. I happen to think they are beautiful and add elegance to a scene as they silently dance. Many will disagree. Anyway, comments on the photo? Almost full size. Slight coloring adjustments.

[Don Railton]

Hi Hazel

Interesting to hear the same arguments on the other side of the world.. I personally like the graceful movement these turbines have, but many others in Australia think they are a blot on the horizon... Regarding this image, I think you could remove a good half of the sky (I would choose the top half...:S3:) this would improve it for me.. It could also do with about 1.5 deg CW rotation, based on the cladding on the barn, and the sky could do with a little NR and the dust spots removed (3 at least..) that clump of grass in the middle lower frame is also a little distracting but only slightly.. I love the scene, even with the whirleys.. I have adjusted the image to level it and cropped to about what I was thinking but not touched the noise or dust spots..

regards

DON

[Hazel Grant]

Thanks for your comments. First, apologies for the dust bunnies. I removed 3 of them, but missed the ones you found. I had just had the camera professionally cleaned, but guess I forgot to check the front of the lens before shooting. I should know better. Like the crop idea. re the rotation: it was hard to decide, but I did rotate it so that the green line of land was level and used that for my point of reference. Maybe this was not the right choice. Will have to think about it. appreciate your input

[Don Railton]

Hi Hazel, I agree there are no strong references, (the cladding and the turbine pylons is all I could find) so the level is subjective, I guess this is my take... Diane Miller had a technique for making the bunnies stand out, I think it was to temporarily crank the (either ) level or contrast slider all the way over to make the spots stand out. You then deal with the spots and return the slider to its original position.

DON

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Hazel, a nice farmscape, but am wondering if you could have moved in closer and maybe lower to evict the dirt along the bottom edge and lower to hide the turbine coming out of the barn's roof. I would love to see a longer exposure of this scene to see the blurred motion of the turbines. About a half hours drive from my home there are over a hundred of these things and I think the constant hum from them would drive people crazy.

[Hazel Grant]

Great idea Don (and Diane). Thanks! Andrew, I have some other views. Will see if the blur is there. I tried several different settings on this.

[Diane Miller]

The verticals on the building and windmills should be vertical -- the grass could be on a slope. Dust on the front of the lens shouldn't show as spots except possibly in very wide angle shots set at close focus. I'd do a sensor check and see if the pros really did a good job.

http://www.adorama.com/alc/0013666/article/The-Secret-of-Effectively-and-Safely-Cleaning-Your-Digital-Camera-Sensor-Yourself

For me, sensor cleaning is a DIY thing, both to get it right and to be able to do it whenever needed.

[Hazel Grant]

I'll check out the link you sent. I'd always been told "don't touch that sensor!" so I was afraid to. I'd had it cleaned in the shop where I bought it, one that has been in business almost 50 years. It was a dusty, windy day there in WA. Don't know if that affected it or not.

I did do the contrast check suggested and found several bunnies. Will do some sky shots to see if they re-appear.
I did some more work on the photo based on suggestions. Attached here.

[Hazel Grant]

Just checked in and saw that this repost is so dark! Ignore it please. I'll work on it and repost better color.