This is a work in progress. I need to burn the foreground below the truck. The image appeals to me and I think will be worth the effort. The old truck seemed to be trying to reach the safety of the fence when it could go no further.
I would deeply appreciate your thoughts on the composition, along with any other comments that might improve the final print.
Darn good as it is. I like the texture in the grass - wouldn't want to lose that. The truck does look kind of tired and sad. I think it's a Hudson truck, which is kind of rare. The whole thing works quite well IMHO.
Not sure why you want to burn the foreground below the truck. The vertical line of lighter tones in the grass leads the viewer's attention to the truck as does the horizontal line of the horizon. If there is any burning to be done, I would do it very lightly (1/3 stop?) around the perimeter of the image to draw the viewer's attention inward. My 2 cents worth.
I like the juxtaposition of the truck and the fence, the panoramic view is really nice. I like it as it is, but if I were the printer (I wish!) I would do a thin black border to "fence in" the stark white sky (at least the sky looks like that on my screen). Try a few toning variations, like one warm and one cold (blue or gold toner) and see how the mood changes in it.
I agree that the grass doesn't need burning in, seems right to me. I love the subject/composition and if it were mine I would just crop a bit from the sky, but no biggie really.
Hi Dan, looking at your picture, and your idea behind it, I think the tonality of the sky in the upper left and right corners counteract. They are lighter than the rest, and to my eye affects that 'attraction' between the truck and the fence. If it were me, I'd make those corners darker, to 'push' the fence and the truck together. That would support the composition better, in my opinion. The foreground is not directly important for the composition per se, but it adds a much necessary element of stark loneliness, so to alter the tonality of the foreground, also to draw the eye into the image, use care when you darken the bottom, so not to detract from that. The grass between the truck and the fence is darker than what directly surrounds it. I would dodge that a hair to create a form of negative space by making it just a little bit lighter than what surrounds it. Finally the sky between the truck and the fence should be lightened just a hair, once again for negative space, and I'd consider giving the sky a touch of filter grade #5 to accentuate the tiny bit of texture that's there. Support the idea by strengthening the composition.