A couple of years ago, in midsummer, I was scouting rural roads of the Mirabel region looking for beautiful images to take in the late afternoon. This area is an agricultural region full of green cultivated fields. After two hours of roaming around, I became discouraged. I was unable to compose a decent image.

On my way back home, As the sun was getting low, I saw a barn illuminated by the sunset rays. I parked the car on the side of the road. I decided that a very small aperture (F16) would create rays of light in the scene as well as emphasizing the field’s texture and the vastness of the landscape. I installed my tripod and composed the image. I waited 10 minutes before taking this image.

As I was fairly sure that my camera’s sensor had insufficient dynamic range to capture the scene properly, I used 5-shot exposure bracketing to ensure that I would have enough information to build a final image in post-processing. That day, I learned that physical components are not the most important elements for a good image, lighting is paramount.