More Tobacco - Seedlings

I have a few more shots from my trip to the tobacco farm a few weeks ago that I'd like to share. They're not the best photos I've taken, but I'm still learning with every shot, so they're still valuable to me.

I wandered into this field only a few hours after it had been planted. See, the plants are grown from seed in greenhouses and then the seedlings are transplanted into the fields in the spring.

You can see the marks in the soil left by the tractor wheel in the foreground.

As I've mentioned, the shade covering the field made the light somewhat flat inside, so I find that the colors are too ashy in the photo. I tried to adjust the colors to more closely reflect the actual richness of the soil and the vivid green of the plants.

I also cropped and leveled the photo to bring the focus to the lower left corner. I like the sharpness, but I still think something is missing. I just don't know what it is.

In the next shot I tried to get a macro-style close-up of one of the seedlings. I couldn't get the camera positioned just right because I was awkwardly straddling some of the plants and was afraid that I might crush one.

Again, the colors look too ashy so I adjusted them, and the whole thing looks crooked again. Those things are easy enough to fix, and I also cropped the photo to be in portrait alignment so that the plant would have more impact.

What really bothers me about this shot is that the position of the horizon is placed awkwardly in relation to the top of the leaf in the background.

Maybe the contrast is better in black-and-white? I'm not sure.

Here's a fun one.

When the tractor comes through the field to plant the seedlings it sometimes drops one or two outside the shade tents. Those plants just stay there and will eventually be crushed by the various farm equipment and people who work the fields, or they will wilt away since they are not watered and lay unprotected from the sun.

As I was poking around I found one of these plants that still looked relatively intact. I scooped it up and took it to the end of the field. I set up my tripod to focus on a little shrub I saw, set the timer and ran to stand in front of it, holding my little seedling.

Ignoring how terrible I look in this photo, I was most interested in my hands and the plant. I cropped it pretty close (and was thankful that I took the photo in full resolution so that I didn't lose too much sharpness).

The few hours of being left out in the sun made the seedling a bit wilted, but I still like this shot.

And if you're reading this, Dad, I promise - it was a stray seedling. I didn't dig up the field to get it.

Tobacco Barns

I'm so far behind on this project that I've all but given up on it. I see the assignments go by on my calendar, and I have plenty of ideas for things I'd like to photograph for them, but my ideas are becoming more ambitious, and I can't find the time necessary to set up and capture them the way I'd want to.

Instead, I'm trying to take pictures when I can and pay more attention to framing and lighting as I go. I figure that if I concentrate on taking better pictures with the time and equipment I have, I'll be more likely to know how to take advantage of a better camera once I make the decision to upgrade.

Not long ago I went back to the tobacco fields to take the photos for the "Looking In" assignment. The seedlings were in the ground and it was a bright and perfect day.

I took this picture of some of the sheds. I really, really like it. The grass is the green you only see in springtime, and the sky couldn't have been more lovely.

I did fiddle with the contrast a bit, but for the most part, the photo is SOOC.

I had a coupon and had the photo printed on canvas, and it looks nice sitting here in the office. I plan to go back to the tobacco fields periodically during the growing season and I'll have the best shots printed up and scattered throughout the office.