Saturday, May 8, 2010

May 8, 2010, Second Trip to Wixom Farms



Today was my second trip to Wixom Farms.  Wixom's is an ambitious farm that is practicing regenerative land use. Today they were planting hops, and I also was able to see their new Scottish Highlander Cows. 

While their horns look like they could do some damage, these cattle seem very docile.  They like to be brushed.  Katie the owner is brushing this one.

Lessons Learned:
  • The lighting was tricky.  One moment the sun would be out, the next moment it was cloudy.  I was having to change the settings on the camera frequently.
  • RAW format made a big difference.  I set my camera to record both the RAW and JPEG.  In many of the photos the JPEG would develop into a completely white sky, while the RAW would show some of the textures in the clouds.
 Photo details: Exposure time 1/20 sec, Aperture f/8.0, ISO 200, Focal Length 17 mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, handheld.

12 comments:

Andrew said...

RAW is such a win. And those cows are freaking awesome.

Sandra said...

Raw is pretty awesome. I was able to save a photo that was underexposed because I shot in Raw.
Great cow image!
Sometimes when I'm shooting outside I use "A" or "S" and the camera will do the other. That way I don't miss the shot because I'm messing with my camera. Just a thought.

toledonative said...

Oh my goodness! That is the CUTEST cow I have ever seen! GREAT shot! I hear ya about the lighting changing minute to minute! I've been using RAW lately and having a lot of fun now that I have PhotoShop (even if it is just Elements).

Gary's third pottery blog said...

oh, just gorgeous Steve :)

BSOB said...

Holy Shnikers! Thats an impressive animal and a really great shot. great placement of your subjects and i like the movement - it becomes a subject in itself. Thanks for coming to the show!

ktruns262 said...

The cow's name is Zanzibar. She's always greedy for attention.
Thanks for photographing our ground breaking day, Steve. Our bagpiper showed up today...I'm sorry you missed him yesterday. We look forward to seeing you at the hop harvest at the end of August. How about some black and whites next time?

Yolanda said...

Was this taken with a wide angle? I love the perspective of this! Such gorgeous movement to it!

Reverend Awesome said...

Newest BABB, I like your stuff.
You can make it look like Georges the Sock Monkey look deep.

Andrey Dorokhov said...

RAW is magical, I agree. I do not know how to shoot in gpeg. Even from my days when I owned Canon compact (Canon PoserShot G6) I shoot only RAW. I saves me a lot of time and a lot of good shots!

Breanna said...

Love that cow!

Christi said...

Alright, glad to find your blog too Steve, it's beautiful. This cow is monumental.

ruma said...

Grand Nature.
Magnificent animal...

The scenery is splendid.