Photography and cycling are my two passions, and I try to merge them whenever possible. I have not been happy carting a point & shoot on the bicycle with me for getting images I come across while cycling the farmlands west of Chicago. Carrying a DSLRs on the bicycle is not ideal due to its bulk although on cycling tours I have done it. So I've recently bought a used mirrorless camera to make it a bit more doable. Yesterday I took the new camera over to a local river to take some shots and get used to how it shoots. All went very well, so on my way home I decided to drive past a scene I have wanted to shoot for a while. A farm house on one of my cycling routes has two old rusted tractors set up on a field adjacent to the house and I have wanted to get a shot of them for quite a while but didn't want to do so without permission. It is private property and I never saw anyone around when I had a camera with me. As I drove by a guy was out front feeding chickens, so I quickly stopped, grabbed my camera, and walked over to introduce myself and ask permission to shoot photos of his tractors. I go through my intro and what I was after....and he says sure thing...go right ahead. He then tells me he is a professional photographer, and along with his wife, have a successful photography business mainly shooting weddings and architecture in Chicago. I'm completely blown away. I share a card I have with contact info, thank him, and excuse myself to get the images...which I do, then head for home. My favorite image is below. Later in the evening I check my email and sure enough I have an email from him with his websites and WOW he has some amazing images of amazing buildings and residences. My favorite tractor image is of an old Minneapolis-Moline tractor with the big double MM on the rusted faceplate. Their photography business is Miller-Miller Photography (millermillerphotography.com). What are the odds of such things happening? Days like that give me a real jolt of amazement on how interconnected the world of photography is.
Best,
Mike
An Old Rusty Tractor Coincidence
Now here's another cooincidence.
I have always liked tractors. I took a losely similar photo last year, on a Hasselblad I was trialing on approval. Like yours, I feel mine was shot a bit close/tight, I was hemmed in between fishing boats and that's my excuse, which I am sticking to. What I am saying is; more scape might have added a lot, which is what I was trying to do when I cropped mine so wide screen. But yours is nice although I think it needs a bit of sparkle/pop, too.
Tractors bring back good memories of working on my Uncles dairy farm up in Wisconsin. My cousin and I would drag race them across the fields when we were ~ 13 yrs old. Here is the other one that was there. I couldn't figure out the make as it was pretty far gone back to the field.
That's a good photograph. I like it.
My dad was a works chemist for ICI but grandad had a 30 acre small holding and a cart horse. He was very successful in his small farming way but it was very very hard. So not long after dad graduated and started earning, just after WW2, he bought grandad a Ferguson tractor and some impliments. The Fergi was the first tractor with hydraulics so it could do so much more than previous drag only tractors. There were things that horses were better at, though. Hay making involved loading the trailor with a mountain of hay stooks, which was hard work. The stooks were dotted around the field and so the horse would stand by one lot until told to walk on. It would then walk to the next lot and stop without even being told to. With the tractor dad would have to climb up and drive forwards for just a few seconds then climb down. With a horse he had been able to get a sort of breather walking being much easier than loading or climbing on to the machine. So my mum, a newly wed, would drive the tractor in the hay field. Not comparing her to a horse, you understand. Overall however, the tractor was quite a boon.
Cool picture and nice coincidence! How do you go about introducing yourself and asking? I've been thinking of it with some nearby neighborhoods, but I'm not sure what to do. Thanks for posting this photo! I really like it a lot! In my opinion, a bit tight and not enough breathing room, but still really solid photo
I start by introducing myself as an amateur photographer interested in whatever is on the scene there. I have my camera in hand so they can see it and have a simple story ready if they need to be convinced a bit. Like "I'm focusing on old farm equipment right now to document the lifestyle of farm life" ...yada yada yada. If they agree I have a business card with very limited contact info I share in the event they want to see any images (love Vista Print - nice quality and low cost). Lots of people seem to like that. When I share images over an email address I use a low res exported image which looks nice on screen but easily is emailable. You could easily use a school project as your reason. I've had an ~ 75% success rate. The 25% that are adamantly "no way" - I thank them for their time and am happy to walk away.
Awesome thank you! I will be utilising these techniques as soon as it warms up a bit. Although, it was 55 degrees today, so maybe the time is now?
Hey Michael! I went today to the people to take photos, and they agreed and were very nice and friendly. I got some photos of some old farm equipment, and i was wondering if you could give me some post processing tips and techniques. It would be really helpful if you could let me know tonight, because I have a photo project due tomorrow that i would love to turn them in for. And while the project doesn't focus on editing, I personally want to because that is my weak point. Thanks in advance.
I think you have some good instincts on post processing. Color or B&W? Set white and black levels, I use the medium contrast curve most often. Then I decide on crop or not. Fix any distractions. I'll check back in a bit if you have anything specific you need
Thanks! It will probably be in black and white, but I want to try to really draw the eye to the subject by using drama and making it stand out, I'm not sure quite how this look is achieved. What do you mean by medium contrast curve? Is that in the preset panel? Also, I've heard of using radial filters, dodging, burning, and vignetting to make it more dramatic, do you have any tips for playing around with those? Once again thanks so much it is a huge help
post the image and I can give some idea. Your using LR? or PS or some other software? All those tools you mention are in the develop module of LR or Adobe RAW. Go easy..The image needs to be the show not the processing. BTW - congrats on getting a yes on your first request. It is a great to get started off on a positive foot!
I see you are using LR for your other images. The contrast curve selector is under the Tone Curve tab at the bottom of the window. you can choose linear, medium, or strong. My workflow usually goes like 1 lens corrections for distortion ect, 2. Tone curve - medium contrast, 3. crop or not 4. basic panel set clarity, white point, black point, chose B&W and decide to go B&W or color, adjust highlights and shadows to taste. Then start with the tools to do some fun stuff. The image should look pretty good at this stage. If not it's probably not a good image to go with.
Thanks for your help! For the first photo, it definitely needed some TLC, so I did all of it manually. From now on, I am going to start with the curves and then go from there. Thanks again! I will post them tomorrow when I finish them, but tonight I am going to focus on the editing.
had to deal with something....5. I adjust the HSL luminance color sliders (even for B&W) to dial in the tones to my taste 6. add a vignette with effects - but just a small amount -10 or so max 7. use the graduated ND tool, brush, spot removal, and oval tools as needed to accent / fix any remaining issues. 8 sharpen to ~70, mask to ~ 40, and luminence to ~40. 9. export
I think it's a great shot. Love the black and white. Love the sky. Good angle on the tractor.
Hi Mike,
I really like this image and my only criticism is that the crop is tiny bit too tight. I really like your B&W conversion as well. The story behind the image is great as well, I love hearing the "back story" to photographs as I find that the people you sometimes meet and the other factors in taking photographs often are as enjoyable as actually taking the photo. Nice work Mike!
Paul
I was going for a low angle shot of the grill with my 24mm lens so i was really set close. I tried a verticle shot but like the context of this image better
I wonder if you get to shoot it again if being at bit further back with the tractor higher in the frame showing some more foreground (shot from the same angle though which rocks IMO) if it would really make it loom? Just a thought.
Paul, here is the bit wider as shot image. Which do you like better (original 2x3 vs the cropped 4x5)?
Hi Mike, I definitely prefer this version. The sky seems more dynamic which IMO makes the tractor seem more (I'm struggling for the right words here!) resilient and steadfast.
Thanks Paul
Hey Michael
That wide crop looks amazing! (;
I really like this picture!! Thank you for sharing.