Field Of Gold
This shot was taken shortly after some uncomfortably hot weather. The type where your clothes start to feel like part of your skin. Once the light got good thou...
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This shot was taken shortly after some uncomfortably hot weather. The type where your clothes start to feel like part of your skin. Once the light got good though, I didn't care about anything but documenting the beauty that was unfolding in front of me.
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Jun, 2017Views
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prayerofserenity
December 02, 2017
Terrific composition! Really like how the clouds create a silhouette of the tree against a orange, purple, and orange sky!
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AW_Images21
April 27, 2018
Very unusual bright colors in the failing light. magnificent. Such a cool idea
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PaulEnigma
April 27, 2018
Join the conversation. Add a comment or even better, a critique. Let's get better together!
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photograph was taken in Yolo County California during a mid summer sunset. I knew this particular sunflower field was at its prime and I only had a small window of time to shoot before they were harvested.Time
Apparently I managed to time my arrival during the peak summer heat at a not so comfortable 102 degrees Fahrenheit lol. I wanted at least an hour to wonder around and find a composition I was content with. I remember bushwhacking through the sunflower fields trying to dodge incoming insects while hunting for a patch of flowers that caught my eye. As the sun started to set the insects started to fade away allowing me to really get in the zone. As the cloud cover continued to increase so did my excitement in knowing that it would be a colorful sunset.Lighting
Well the light did all the work for me...all I did was hit a couple buttons haha! I really wanted to capture the light when the sun was below the horizon but still bright enough to illuminate the tops of the flower petals. I'm a sucker for really soft light.Equipment
For this particular image I used my Feisol Ct-3372 tripod. This tripod extends fairly high at 58.9 inches which helped me to get above the sunflowers. Since I needed to keep both of these large sunflowers in frame, I had to use my widest lens which was the Canon 16-35mm. To reduce camera shake I used my remote trigger since the scene was too dark to try anything handheld.Inspiration
It may sound a bit cliche but just being out in nature constantly inspires me to photograph. These sunflower fields are gorgeous and I really wanted to capture the feeling that they went on forever. I wanted to incorporate a lone tree because I feel it adds strength to the image. I way of anchoring it.Editing
Oh yes! First I did some basic Lightroom adjustments as well as some color balance tweaking since I had to blend a 6 focus stacked frames as well as a sky exposure. So 7 images in total. I utilized the minimal focus distance of my Canon 16-35mm 2.8 ii which I believe is around 11 inches to really let the two sun flowers fill a large portion of the foreground and allow the gap in between to act as a leading line up to the oak tree. Next, I aligned and blended all images in Photoshop. Luckily it wasn't too windy that evening and the sun flowers weren't moving much between exposures so it was a fairly easy blend. All in all I spent about 4 hours processing this image.In my camera bag
Currently I have a Feisol Ct-3372 tripod paired with a Sirui K-40x holding my Sony A7R. I usually shoot with Canon glass via a Metabones adapter. Can't catch me without my Canon 16-35mm 2.8 ii, 70-200 f/4 IS ii, and Rokinon 50mm f/1.4 (for night sky images) I also have a Sigma 100-400mm f/4 that I shoot with on occasion.Feedback
If you want your foreground to really appear "in your face" you would have to know how to focus stack in the field as well as blending them together as a seamless image later in post. There are many helpful tutorials you can find online or I would love to answer any questions you have about the process. Like anything, this process takes a bit of time and patience especially in the field, but the results make it well worth the effort!
