2025 Little Easy Bean Network - Growers Of The Future Will Be Glad We Saved

[Blue-Jay]

It's a miracle - we had some sunshine today! It wasn't for long, but I ran out there for 30 minutes this afternoon to catch up with photos for the year's beans. It's amazing how quickly the quality of light fades at this time of year. The illumination is warm and orange-ish the later in the day it gets, awful really. I think for the next couple weeks every time the sun peeks out I'll have my work cut out for me.

I agree with @Decoy1 about the sun VS the shade photos. Maybe it's also the time of year with the sun's light angle being so much lower. The sunlight photos have too much shadowing wiping too much of the seeds detail. I like your shade photos better.

 

[ruralmamma]

My plans to mail the beans out yesterday got majorly sidetracked by some health issues with my husband. Some medication changes and all seems to be well at the moment. Upon looking at some of the bean photos I took, it's probably a good thing as some aren't very good. So tentatively speaking it will likely be next week before they start their journey.

@heirloomgal I prefer the pictures in shade too. One thing I really noticed about natural light this year is that variations show up that aren't visible inside. Unfortunately I took the plastic off my make-shift greenhouse months ago as it was the perfect place for bean photos.

 

[heirloomgal]

Interesting. Where you have taken comparative photos in sun and also in shade the apparent difference in colour is considerable. The sun photos are very appealing but I’m thinking that the shade photos probably give more of a faithful impression of the true colour and also show detail more clearly.

It probably does rather depend on the colouring of the bean itself. With Goose for example, the shade photo gives a much whiter impression and I’m guessing that the sun photos gives a truer impression of the background colour. On the other hand, with black seeds, nearly all the detail is lost.

Yes, that's what I've concluded as well at this point. The colors are definitely more realistically represented in the full sun shots, but the details tend to get more lost and then there is battling the shadows in full sun which is nearly impossible at this time of year. Thanks very much for the input @Decoy1 I appreciate it. I have found when it comes to taking bean photos I tend to be blinded by my own perceptions, its my DD that alerted me to the fact that I'm not making the right calls on what photos best represent certain beans. In a lot of instances there is a real tension between photos that represent the beans prettily and photos that represent them more realistically in detail. I'm very partial to bright color too. One of my goals in 2026 is to improve my skills in taking photos so this feedback helps.

 

[heirloomgal]

I agree with @Decoy1 about the sun VS the shade photos. Maybe it's also the time of year with the sun's light angle being so much lower. The sunlight photos have too much shadowing wiping too much of the seeds detail. I like your shade photos better.

Thank you @Blue-Jay I appreciate getting your perspective. Looking back, I agree the details are getting wiped out by some degree of exposure and the shadows. I'm so glad I posed the question because this feedback will help me become less biased in what qualities I select for in pictures. Funny, I have only ever battled shadows while taking pictures in fall/late fall. so it is definitely something seasonal. All the more reason to never hold off on taking pictures early in future years.

 

[heirloomgal]

My plans to mail the beans out yesterday got majorly sidetracked by some health issues with my husband. Some medication changes and all seems to be well at the moment. Upon looking at some of the bean photos I took, it's probably a good thing as some aren't very good. So tentatively speaking it will likely be next week before they start their journey.

@heirloomgal I prefer the pictures in shade too. One thing I really noticed about natural light this year is that variations show up that aren't visible inside. Unfortunately I took the plastic off my make-shift greenhouse months ago as it was the perfect place for bean photos.

Thank you @ruralmamma, I appreciate it. It's not the responses I would have expected from everybody, so all the more reason I'm glad I asked.