Sanctuary Sunset

[Rudi van den Heever]

Mountain Sanctuary Park in the North West Province, South Africa...

A blend of 3 exposures - 2 for the sky using luminosity masks and a manual blend with the foreground image. Also used the advanced contrast application and needless to say... all in an attempt following Hougaard Malan's tutorials...:tinysmile_shy_t:

Some selective dodging and burning of the rocks...

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Rudy, this is a very attractive scene, with the leading lines provided by the FG rocks. I think you really did an excellent job on the sky, but I'm not so happy with the way the FG turned out. It has that somewhat unnatural HDR quality. I think you should hold back a little on the saturation (especially on the greens and yellows) and should tone down the highlighted area on the right side of the image. This has the potential for a really great image!

[Ron Bernstein]

After reading Jerry's comments I recalibrated my Eizo monitor to make sure that I was seeing true colors, particularly given the effort Rudi put in to making this image.
I must say that I don't agree with the criticisms regarding this looking too "HDR."
I think restraint was used with saturation, and it looks like a very good job in post to me.
I do agree with toning down the right side highli
Like Jerry, I like the comp and the leading lines.
It's an unusually dense landscape.
Rudi: did you adjust each image for the camera and lens you were using before proceeding further into post?
I wonder if there isn't a lens correction issue here after looking at the horizon line.
Well done!

[Jerry van Dijk]

After reading Jerry's comments I recalibrated my Eizo monitor to make sure that I was seeing true colors, particularly given the effort Rudi put in to making this image.
I must say that I don't agree with the criticisms regarding this looking too "HDR."
I think restraint was used with saturation, and it looks like a very good job in post to me.


Good that you raise this point Ron. On my (uncalibrated) HP monitor at work the image looks fantastic. At home I have the wide gamut Dreamcolor screen on the HP Elitebook, which is calibrated to represent Adobe RGB colorspace. With this calibration, the image looks oversaturated. When I switch the calibration to sRGB , however, the image looks fine. I just got this computer and I'm still confused which settings to use when, and whether to trust the factory calibration (although reports on internet confirm that this calibration is quite accurate). Sorry for the unjust critique, Rudi!

[Morkel Erasmus]

So this is the 'secret location' you spoke about? :bg3:
This is IMHO your best blending job to date, Rudi.
I disagree that it has the "HDR" look but what I think prompted that comment is that the exposure seems a bit unbalanced - the FG is a bit too 'luminous' and bright compared to the sky from where the illumination must come. The sun was also partially hidden. Toning down the total brights of the foreground (the rocks seem aglow?) would help just topping off the natural look you were going for. Make sense?
:e3

[Rudi van den Heever]

Thanks for the feedback guys! It is much appreciated!

Ron, yes, always do some lens correction in LR4, but the horison did "dip" in middle - I considered straightening the horison, but decided to keep the original contours of the land.

See what you mean about the FG Morkel... I also noticed the "lighter" portion to the right after the fact, but has toned it down since.

Appreciate guys! :w3