Rainbow over khwai floodplain

[Vincent Grafhorst]

Khwai floodplains, Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana
January this year (rainy season).

I know there is a major element lacking here to make this a great image, namely foreground interest (preferably animals). That of course is the difficulty with rainbows, they mostly don't last long and then when you really need a herd of red lechwes, they are nowhere to be found:(. Now the focus is on the rainbow only. My question does it work at all IYO without foregorund interest?

Camera Model Canon EOS 40D
Shooting Mode Aperture-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/160
Av( Aperture Value ) 16.0
Metering Mode Spot Metering
Exposure Compensation 0
ISO Speed 200
Lens EF-S17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM with circular polarizer
Focal Length 81.0 mm
Image Size 3888x2592
Image Quality RAW
Flash Off
White Balance Mode Color Temperature(5200K)
AF Mode One-Shot AF

Vincent Grafhorst
www.khwaiphotography.com (http://www.khwaiphotography.com)
vincent@khwaiphotography.com (vincent@khwaiphotography.com)

[Paul Pagano]

Vincent I don't dislike it, but truthfully there isn't a lot to draw me in except the rainbow which is necessarily framed by something else nice in the image. It's there but that's pretty much it. I ran your image through a tone mapping process to see if it could be made more dramatic and came up with this. Other than the fact that I over sharpened it, I guess just the colors pop more.

[Robert Amoruso]

Vincent,

Actually, your FG is OK as you used the layers in the vegetation - dark green, lighter green, tan to the dark tree line to create a layered affect that leads the eye to the rainbow. Layering in an image, whether it is due to atmospheric affects, colors or shapes helps to guide a viewer around the image and give it depth. I believe the image has depth as I feel I am in the field watching the far-off rainbow.

You have a very dramatic sky and the rainbow is unique and colorful. A herd of something might have been the icing on the cake, but the cake is not all that bad here. :)

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Vincent,
I'll agree with Robert's assesment on the layered effect of the colors. For my tastes........Paul may have gone a little too far with the base colors.......but it does add a bit of drama with the lightening of the greens. Dramatic skies always add to a landscape image.........take that out and even the animals wouldn't save it. Your self critique of animals in the image is also correct.............if you had that with the sky you had......that would put it from the very good into the extraordinary category.
roman