Bazza, the reason for the portrait orientation was to take a different shot to one i have seen a thousand times, the shot you describe. Why take a photo that has been done to death. The bale is supposed to dominate, it's the point of the shot with the background giving context and the sky was included as that was the picture I stepped into the field to take.

I took a few in landscape, and as the one that you have posted they were boring, been done so many times that there was no point posting them or even PP'ing them.

It is not over-saturated, the colours were deep and rich. A sunny day with warm lighting as it was drawing towards the end of the afternoon. I take photo's to be art, not a "true" rendition of the scene, mainly as there is no such thing.

I shot it in RAW, therefore you cannot do it "in camera". I am a little bored of the people crying out that its all to be done in camera, rubbish no true photographer did it all in camera. Ansel Adams heavily post processed his shots in the dark room and I have no doubts were he alive to day he would still PP, but in the computer.

I take a photo to please me, it's my art I don't mean to sound pompous in saying that. I PP my work because I want to, people who say should be done in camera blah blah blah are the people who produce the soft and generally average looking shots.

I appreciate the comment about my high standards, and in my opinion this shot is up there with my general level of work.

Here is the unedited shot, just converted to jpeg from RAW.

Stanokella

I have always said that at the end of the day if the photographer is happy with their work then that all that matters. My opinions are just that ,right or wrong, and maybe my edit is bog standard type of photo most would take as you say.
If we all liked the same thing then we would all be taking the same type of picture, and if you like to be a little creative and different then its nice to see what you perceive how a picture should look.

A opinion is just that, we all see and like different things, an analogy is like cars,
some like fast cars- some like family saloons- some like off roaders. They all do the same thing but satisfy different needs.

Bazza

It would indeed be a boring world if we all liked the same things!

Here is a mono version for interest!

You know, I think I figured the problem my eyes are having with that bale (and for the record, other than that, I think the shot is fab - I like the colour and I like the composition a lot) I think if you'd gotten a touch lower that could have helped, because there's a line of stubbly grass just above the main bale - and that creates a bit of an optical illusion of an inverse emboss. The bale just doesn't look real in any of the edits, possibly because of that - which is a shame, and I'm not sure what, if anything, you could do to stop that :/

xx

I just did a very quick edit in PS - and wouldn't post it here as you've not got your edit box ticked - but cloning out that line of grass instantly seemed to help my eye a little. It could be that not everyone sees it that way, as it's an optical illusion, but Little Me saw it too - so at least I'm not just going nuts!

Here are a few more of the day's pics:


Few variations on the hay roll:

1:


2:


3:

Numbers one and two are fab - and number 3 is the same photo as the first post isn't it? If not the effect with the grass is still there... :/

I love number one here though <3

xx

3 is a variation on the original, front bale is smaller in the frame