A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine asked if I would get some images when the time to harvest soybeans came around. I told her the perfect image would be at sunrise or sunset with a nice sky and the combine kicking up some dust. When it was time for the harvest we had two cloudy days which would make for boring images. Finally, on the third day the clouds were breaking up in the afternoon and it looked more promising. I hopped in my car and drove to the harvest location.

Soybean harvest at sunset near Hatfield Missouri.

The light was getting better. I parked my car, grabbed my gear, and ran out into the fields. I picked a spot with a rise in the land so I could get the combine close to the setting sun. When the combine was in lower areas I could not get it close to the sun. I metered the sky in manual mode and set my ISO, aperture, and shutter speed accordingly. With the camera in manual exposure mode I didn’t have to worry about the dark combine throwing off my exposures. In auto exposure mode the dark combine would fool the camera into metering for the combine and the sky would be washed out.

Every time the combine came close to my location close to she sun, I started clicking the shutter. The sun set and the clouds looked great so there was more shooting top be done. The driver turned on the lights. Every time he came by my location I started clicking the shutter. In my favorite frame I was able to get the driver.

I couldn’t have asked for much better light. The next day it was cloudy and rainy but I had the images I wanted.