I've decided that. given the limited dynamic range of the sensor in the GF1, images are best shot early in the morning or late in the afternoon to reduce the dynamic range of the scene. To borrow part of a quote from Ansel Adams this mornings early shot was
"a sharp image of a fuzzy concept" so it was back to the drawing board. Salvation came in the form of a farm contractor who arrived just after lunch to bale a field I can see from my cottage. The cottage is to the left of the barn in the far distance on the right of the image below. A walk through the woods in the picture and a doubling back bought me to the field being baled and just in the nick of time. This was the second to last bale before the field was finished (it's rather a small field). I was lucky, since he's baling up and down the slope he has to jack knife the baler before discharging the bale so it lies end on to the slope and doesn't run away down the slope. He jack knifed my way. Likewise it had clouded over reducing the dynamic range of the scene. I had to use some digital graduated filter in post processing to recover detail in the sky. Given I'm using a wide angle lens it would have been preferable to be nearer the baler, but no contractor in his right mind would discharge the bale with me being "dramatically close" to the action. Likewise there wasn't time to get into position to get a bale in the near foreground. At least I caught the moment. Perhaps the wrong lens for the subject, or the wrong position, but needs must and I'm not too disasatisfied with the result so that's what counts.
I took the decision to not crop the image, the foreground is in focus and I think it sets the scene in context quite well.
View attachment 200745
The birth of a bale
Barrie