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Heaven's Stairway
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tomwillis August 23, 2017
Join the conversation. Add a comment or even better, a critique. Let's get better together!
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tomwillis August 23, 2017
I enjoyed looking through your posted images. Excellent work.
 
ArulJothiPriya September 18, 2017
Awesome!!!!!!
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bevdavis September 21, 2017
Beautiful
 
terryacregan-leidigh December 29, 2017
Just Beautiful!
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tomwillis Jan 26
Congratulations on the finalist in Bright Colors in Nature. A well deserved honor.
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John256 Feb 10
A beautiful shot, the clouds, rainbow, House/barn and tall grass, it just all comes together.
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marcbaechtold May 13
great composition with nice colors and good contrast, keep shooting!
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paparick Jun 14
Great composition and timing. I love that time of day, but it's so brief!

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Jul, 2017
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Heaven's Stairway



Tags
#barn#clouds#evening#pasture#rainbow#red#storm clouds#summer#sunset
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Awards

Won Contest Finalist in Rainbows Overhead Photo ContestFebruary, 2018
Won FeaturedFebruary, 2018
Won Contest Finalist in Bright Colors In Nature Photo ContestDecember, 2017

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Behind The Lens

Location
West central Illinois near Carlinville, IL. Carlinville is about 70 miles north of St. Louis in Macoupin county.
Time
Late in the day as the sun was setting.
Lighting
I was watching and waiting for the storm clouds to clear. I knew the evening sun would cast a warm glow and add drama to the storm clouds and rainbow.
Equipment
Nikon D800E 17-35 Nikkor lens. I usually set mine at 26mm Really Right Stuff tripod and ballhead Nikon cable release
Inspiration
I love old barns and always try to incorporate a rainbow, if I can. I've made several attempts and gotten a few shots of the barn with a rainbow. The thing I like about this shot are the foreground grasses that add interest and help anchor the shot.
Editing
I do most of my post work using Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop. I took a number of shots for focus stacking and exposure blending. To get the depth of field I'm looking for, I load my Adobe Camera Raw adjusted shots into Photoshop as layers. These layers represent the scene photographed at different focal points and then combined using Photoshop's Auto Align and Auto Blend commands. Auto Blend works pretty well, but often hand blending is needed to fix blending errors. There are other blending programs that I think are worth trying. In this image, I also blended exposures for the foreground and sky. To blend exposures, I use Tony Kuyper's TK5 Actions Panel. In addition, I use the TK5 Actions Panel to make color and tonal adjustments throughout the image.
In my camera bag
Right now I only carry a Nikon D800E. I have a D700 but use it as backup. I have a number of zoom and prime lens: 70-200mm, 85mm prime, 50mm prime, 28mm prime and a 17-35mm zoom. I use the 17-35mm for 90 percent of my work. I also use a shutter release and have graduated ND filters, which I don't use very often. That's most of the gear I keep with me other than: Really Right Stuff ballhead, Really Right Stuff nodal slide, lens cloth, mini flashlight, cable release and batteries. I also use a free depth-of-field calculator app from time-to-time.
Feedback
Advice....Be patient and scout the location so you know how and where to set up. Visualize what you're trying to accomplish and look for elements that will help you achieve your goal. Become familiar with your equipment and settings. Once comfortable and confident with the equipment, you will maximize the opportunities that come and go in the blink of an eye. Also, soak up as much information as you can. The Internet has lots of great photographers willing to share their expertise and sites like Viewbug that will help you achieve your photography goals. Find a photographer who you like and follow them. You'll be surprised by what you will learn.

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