Frosted Hay Bales

The appearance of harvested bales of hay or straw on the prairies is a sure sign that winter is on the way. There is always a rush to finish the harvest before the first snow of the season. In this case, the farmer had a very large job to do and was successful in that quest.

I had passed this wonderful and seemingly endless field of hay bales a week earlier but it was snowing and overcast. I returned a week later to find beautiful wispy clouds quickly moving overhead and most of the bales sporting a white crown of snow. There was snow on the field also, but interestingly, it was only visible when looking directly down a crop line as the stubble was high enough to obscure the snow otherwise.

It was a cold day (- 7 C, 18 F) but I knew I could not pass up this scene. It was also one of my first outings to test out some new specialized equipment that I hoped would take my ultra-high-resolution photos to the next level in terms of size and clarity. I set up all the equipment and spent 50 minutes photographing the view all the while trying to keep my hands warm. Capturing the scene involved 155 different camera positions and up to 15 images at each position in order to ensure high clarity when all the photos would be combined in post-production to create the image I had envisioned.

The new equipment performed flawlessly. After countless hours of post-production, I showed the image to a well-known expert in the field of high-resolution photography and his reaction was to say “Absolutely incredible work. This is one of the most technically well-executed 1,000+ megapixel photos I've ever seen. It is 100% tack sharp throughout.” Success!

Photo Information: A very high-resolution photograph of hay bales in Southern Alberta (Canada) covered with a slight dusting of snow.

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