No wonder they are smiling...

[Jenno]

...the amazing transformation that rain brings to this drought ravaged land of ours.
Farmers are upbeat and smiling for the first time in a long time out around Canowindra and Cowra in NSW. Hope the locusts can be controlled so they can earn some much needed income this year.
Here are a few from my recent trip...I saw the land at it's very best.

[mozzie]

The pictures are gorgeous - I had to read your post twice to believe these were in Aus. Must say I have never seen the countryside painted in those colours before. Brings the coldplay song to mind - it was all yellow

[zafra52]

Glorious colours and good composition in all of them. I also
like their sharpness. I prefer the second and last. The former
because of the road leading you into the scene and the contrast
of colour; the later because of the clouds in the sky contrasting
with the blue and their irregular shapes giving the impression
they are moving fast towards you.

[Jenno]

Thanks for your comments guys

I had to read your post twice to believe these were in Aus

I thought the countryside looked a little like NZ without the snow capped mountains in the background

Brings the coldplay song to mind - it was all yellow

When that song was charting and receiving air play, I had hepatitis so it has unpleasant reminders for me
The canola is so easy to spot from a distance....Would've liked to have seen it from the sky

I also like their sharpness.

Having a few issues with sharpness with posted images of late. Seems like size does matter (these are medium size from flickr as opposed to the large option which seems to degrade sharpness on the forum)

I prefer the second and last

Bit partial to the last myself..That was the only morning during my stay that had anything approaching a decent sunrise. The temperature was very much in the single digits at the time but the pinks and blues in the western sky were magic. Hands were the same colous

[stubbsy]

Ray

You've turned out some fine images here. The first one is great composition where you've made good use of the green path (a road?) through the middle of the crop to lead the green top of the image organically into the yellow bottom.

#4 is my other pick here - again for the interesting composition.

My only niggle is I find all 4 images a little oversaturated.

[aim54x]

That is a transformation, and great images as well.

[surenj]

Wow! Great colors here.

You were lucky to catch these vistas. Maybe I should also schedule a visit next year...

I love off of them but in particular #4, #2 and #3 in that order.

#4 - Great light indeed! Did you have any that you had a closeup wideangle shooting into the sun?

#3 has some fabulous colors to divide the image into diagonals. Great stuff also with the added sheep.

#2 Could be canvassed easily. Is it a multishot pano or a crop? You should have got someone to drive down the road to stir up some dust just for kicks..

These look very saturated but I guess these were actually this saturated especially with the polariser.

[Jenno]

of the green path (a road?

Water course

My only niggle is I find all 4 images a little oversaturated.

The canola in full sun is almost luminous so creates high contrast images especially when bordered by fields of deep green pasture... didn't need to touch the saturation slider.

..here's a desaturated one just for balance

#4 - Great light indeed! Did you have any that you had a closeup wideangle shooting into the sun?

Was'nt all that impressed but judge for yourself

Is it a multishot pano or a crop?

Just a crop

[surenj]

Was'nt all that impressed but judge for yourself

Love them! I think the sun adds another element to balance the strong yellow.

[biggerry]

Great to see these shots Ray, looks liek a great trip out there! The ones that jump out at me are the last in both sets, that lovely, soft, subtle colour in the sky is always a winner for me. The 4th in the first set could only have been improved if taken from a cherry picker in teh same spot to get that road on the LH side more in the frame and lead up into the sky!

I like teh road in the 3 image of the second set, I also liek teh fact that it is offset to teh side, something different to the norm

I love the way these scenes bring out a 'layering' effect, the brllant yellow band in the foreground, the green hills and the lovely blue sky (if I use the word lovely again please slap me or call me Jamie Oliver)

Brings the coldplay song to mind - it was all yellow

rofl mozzie - that song should be banned, but appropriate in this case

I think some HDR technique could have been useful at these locations too... where you using the GND's here?

My only niggle is I find all 4 images a little oversaturated.

I will respectively disagree here, on my monitor which is uncalibrated of course and my work one, they look quite nice and on the mark - on the phone they looked souped up tho!

Hope the locusts can be controlled so

yeah - i reckon if ya find a solution to these little guys you would be a rich man/woman!