Towards A New Country

[Ken Watkins]

A view over the plains of Kidepo National Park, towards South Sudan, just over the mountains.

As can be seen there was rain on the way, 16th June 2012

EOS 1D MkIII

70-200mm F2.8 MkII at 70mm

F8, ISO 400, 1/160

[Gregor Bergquist]

Hi Ken

Really nice, I like this. Wish I was there, or at least somewhere on the African savanna...

I´m not really (yet) a landscape guy, but just some thinking. I like the blue, but maybe it could be just a tad less. And I would like more foreground (maybe - or at least see it to compare, landscape is hard for me yet to vision).

TFS, Gregor

[Ken Watkins]

Gregor,

I am not really a Landscape guy either but the beauty of this park inspired me to give it a go.

[Morkel Erasmus]

I like the scene Ken, and the moody sky is captured well. I would have liked more clarity on the mountains but shooting through the downpour meant no luck in that.
I do think you can extract more from the trees as they seem rather 'blocked'...perhaps try and recover some detail/exposure there - might be best to do it via a double-RAW blend if it doesn't work on the jpg.

I did it VERY quickly in this repost (you can see some halos around the trees from sloppy dodging)....but just a suggestion - also added some drama to the sky and falling rain
WDYT?

[Ken Watkins]

Morkel,

I know what you mean, but it all sounds too difficult for me.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Morkel,

I know what you mean, but it all sounds too difficult for me.

You're never too old to learn, Ken.

You don't have to do blending etc. Just use the RAW or TIFF and do selective dodging of shadows and midtones on the trees, for a starter. :S3:

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Ken I am with Morkel on bringing out a bit more detail. I like the storm and dark clouds though TFS.

[Hilary Hann]

Gives us a really nice impression of Kidepo but would agree that more can be brought out of the scene, whenever you're ready Ken! :S3:
Hope you have some more from this beautiful area.

[Robert Amoruso]

Morkel,

I know what you mean, but it all sounds too difficult for me.

I suggest getting NIK Color Efex Pro. Much can be done with the filters offered in the program that does not require advanced PS skills.

[Ken Watkins]

Robert,

I already have Nik, I have had their various tools since they first came out many years ago. This image had detail extractor run on it but I presume by the comments not enough, I find most of their stuff pretty good but they can produce for me at least some really aggresive and unnatural results.

[Ken Watkins]

Following Robert's comment I have done a rework from scratch being a little more bold with Nik Detail extractor, did it work or have I gone too far?

[Morkel Erasmus]

It's a different image, Ken. :5
Might boost it a tad more even...