click photo to enlargeThe other day I wrote about my liking for the sight of oilseed rape fields in the spring, and noted that many didn't share my view. I ascribed this to the transformation they have brought about in our very green landscape. On reflection, however, it occurs to me that another factor may be at work, namely the relative unpopularity of the colour yellow.
When people are asked to describe this colour they invariably choose words that have positive connotations: happy, warm, bright, etc. Yet, yellow is a colour whose popularity declines with age, to the extent that it usually has only black, brown, grey, and orange placed below it. There are deep-seated, often cultural reasons why this is so, and these may be factors that weigh more heavily with those who dislike both the colour and the increasing acreage of yellow oil-seed rape. On the other hand such people may all be hay-fever and asthma sufferers who resent the discomfort that the pollen brings each spring!
Today's photograph of the crop was taken into the sun - contre jour, as it is sometimes called. The effect that this kind of light has on clouds can be quite attractive, and I like it here. Of course, the almost-complementary of the blue sky also enhances the yellow of the flowers. I tried to make something of a composition with this shot and moved my position so that the line of the track through the yellow entered the frame near the right corner and led the eye across the scene, first to the lone, leafless tree, then on to the horizon.
photograph & text (c) T. Boughen
Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 11mm (22mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/1600
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -1.0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On
