Damaraland Oryx Scape

[Rachel Hollander]

Another from my recent trip to Namibia. I thought having the oryx/gemsbok in the frame gave a little perspective to the vastness of this area. The color of the sky is due to the dust and the mist from the coast in the air.

Canon 5DIII
70-200 II @ 170mm
1/1600 (because the Oryx tended to run everytime we stopped)
f6.3
ISO 400
HH from safari vehicle, straightened, luminosity mask, levels and curves adjustments, LCE and sharpened in CS5.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Robert Amoruso]

Hi Rachel,

I like the idea of the animal's inclusion to give scale to the largeness of the area. I like the inclusion of the middle ground peak on the left to breakup that area. I like the strong horizontal line in the BG peaks. The detail in them is well captured. I would crop out the OOF FG for sure and even suggest a crop from bottom all the way up to the where the grass texture evens out. I have reposted my idea. I would also eliminate a small bush creeping in at the right in the grass plane.

Besides the crop, I added a mild s-curve and using selective color added black to black and neutral colors to give the image more contrast. I also corrected vignetting in the sky.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Robert, your tweaks take it up a notch.

[Steve Kaluski]

Looking good Rachel. :cheers:

Steve

[Hilary Hann]

You've certainly captured a desolate scene Rachel and I like Robert's repost, the crop certainly strengthens the composition. This would have been spectacular in very early or late late.

[Mark Wiseman]

Hi Rachel,
I like the image and the Gemsbok does add scale to the image. As Robert's image shows, the additional foreground removed adds to your image. I would maybe have shot at 200mm to increase the magnification and cropping may not have been necessary.
Best wishes, TFS and good light,
Mark.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Steve, Hilary and Mark.

[Ken Watkins]

Rachel,

Sorry for being so late, this image brings back some good memories, and is in my experience of the area a good representation of the wonderful scenery and the colours of the mountains. I agree on the crop, but feel that the colours in the re-post are slightly too strong.

[Andrew Aveley]

Thats Namibia :) Great recrop and maybe look into a BW version :)