Get out of the dam..!

[Don Railton]

Hi guys, My daughter has just got engaged to a farmer south of Perth. My wife, grandkids and I visited them last Christmas in what will become a regular trip I think. One particularly hot evening we all jumped on the farm utility and roared off across the paddock to have a swim in a dam and watch the sunset over a glass or two of wine and some nibblies. We were being idiots throwing mud and weed at each other when over the hill came a big mod of sheep that I think were very indignant to find the bunch of Yahoos in their water hole.... My daughter had her little Olympus Stylus PS at hand and I took this shot... I was a little disappointed that I had left my canon behind at this point although I knew the mudfight was a certainty..

Olympus Stylus 1 at equilivent of 300mm at 35mm. think it was 63mm FL...

1/1000 sec at F7.1 ISO 1000. shot in P mode (how do you work this thing Kelly...dunno dad.) shot as a JPEG.

hand held, bit cropped off the top and bottom and there was a tree poking in from the side just above the dead branch I did not like & removed. Also deleted a sheep edge of frame RHS.

DON

ps. we left soon after so the sheep could enjoy the evening as well..

[dankearl]

A nice rustic feel and old time look to this, Don.
I like it...
I would just darken the sky a bit.

[Hazel Grant]

I do hope you'll be making regular trips there....where your daughter will life:) Like the color and mood. I think the branch in the lower right adds a color balance to the top dark trees.

[Don Railton]

Thanks for commenting Dan & Hazel...

It's a pretty common farm scene during summer, dare I suggest it maybe the Australian equivalent of the classic red barn surrounded by a post and rail fence... for some parts of Australia anyway. I did already darken the sky slightly Dan, but you know me, never one to push things too far... I am still working on that. Hazel, in a few years we are actually thinking of retiring close to the farm somewhere...

DON

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Don - I like the mood and the one lone sheep sort of front of the others really checking the yahoos out. Nice colors and sunset feel to it too. Not sure if you can do anything about the fringing around the trees on the upper right. I'm sure you won't leave your DSLR behind next year. Just protect it from the mud.

TFS,
Rachel

[Don Railton]

Thanks for commenting Rachel. I think the fringing is a probably the result of darkening the sky a little with poor masking. As soon as I saw the dusty flock come over the hill backlit with the sun I dropped my head an muttered a few words... including bringing the camera next time.

Don

[Morkel Erasmus]

Loving the light and mood/setting here Don.
Congrats on the upcoming nuptials!
I tried a screen crop to remove the dark stump in the FG but liked it better as is, feels more "anchored"...

[Don Railton]

Hi Morkel... I tried removing that stump myself, also decided it should stay... Will pass on the congrats... Thanks for commenting.

Don

[Andrew McLachlan]

Nice capture Don and congrats...I too like the idea of the crop without the fallen branch in the foreground and also a little darkening of the sky. Look forward to seeing more from this farm