WC # 717

Jim, the colors in the grasses and across the field are great.  You've also done a good job of balancing interest between the shed and the distant barn/houses.  Yes, the lighting conditions look very challenging and I think you've done well handling them in a single exposure.  I do see some green and brown coming into the center of the sky, that I expect is due to heavy burning.  I have two suggestions;  1) take this at -1 EV to hold most of the sky, with careful processing you may be able brighten the shadows enough to get decent detail and limited noise with limited blown highlight in the sky (admittedly, this may not give the nice warm glow in the grass that you have here), or 2) make multiple exposures (at say +1, 0, -1, and maybe -2 EV) and blend in the bright areas to avoid the badly blown highlights.  Another option might be to time your shot for when the sun was partially obscured.

I like your choice of exposure, Jim, it works very well.  The sun looks as bright as it should be and the rest of the scen fits that lighting.  Very nicely done.

A nice "golden" shot here Jim with lots of detail in the old shed.  Good composition with the shed on the left, allowing the viewer to look out on the wide expanse of grassland into the distance.  And, you have an interesting sky with the clouds.  Wondering if a graduated ND filter would have improved the scene or not.  Thanks for sharing.

A nice scene with a good composition, Jim.  The distant buildings add some nice depth and the light is very dynamic.  I would agree with Mark that the best way to deal with this type of lighting is to shoot multiple bracketed shots and do an HDR blend (not a tone mapped HDR, just a blend).  That can be a lot of work on the computer but if the scene has a lot of potential it can be worth it.  In my case, I've been spoiled rotten since I got my Sony a6000.  It has an HDR function that takes 3 bracketed (very fast) shots, aligns them perfectly and then does a blend in camera.  It spits out two jpeg images, one at the settings you used when you took the shot and the other is the 3 image blend.  It does such an excellent job with the blending that I rarely have to make any changes after the fact.  It even works hand held so I don't have to use a tripod!

I want to thank those who took the time to comment, it is greatly qppreciated. I have only been using this camera for two months, previously used Canon's SX30 & SX50, so with still being on the learning curve, suggestions are definitely helpful. I have also recently upgrade to Lightroom 6.1.1, so I am just starting to play with bracketing and the HDR merge option now offered. Thanks again.