Sunrise Starburst

[Vivaldo Damilano]

D800e 14-24 f2.8 1/60s at f11 ISO100. Three blended images

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

How beautiful is that? I admire those of you that get out and get these beautiful scapes. The rays are awesome and seem to reach out and lightly touch the foliage up front.

[Valerio Tarone]

lovely , very fine details. I remember a tip by Art Wolf: the sun only at the last moment and between the monutains. what you made. Cheriou.

[dankearl]

Beautiful color and 3d Looking sky.
Just wondering about stopping down a bit more for even more of a burst effect?

[Markus Jais]

Wonderful shot. I like the placement of the sun and the tree. Great colors.

Markus

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Thanks everyone :S3: Dan I was looking to get good FG detail, not sure how much darker one can go but it's a interesting suggestion thanks.

[Russell Johnson]

I like the rays here, Vivaldo, though feel the with the blending the image looks a little too light in the foreground.

[Jason Stander]

Hi Vivaldo, this a really beautiful scene... enjoy those wonderful rays... excellent comp and beautiful details... makes look along time... very well processed and blended... overall an image to be proud of... VWD!:w3

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Thanks again everyone, will look at darkening the FG slightly later :S3:

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Here's a slightly darker version, it definitely works very nicely thanks.

[dankearl]

Vivaldo,
The repost is an improvement for me, the sun burst is more prominent, the colors are richer and it is not too dark for me.
Very nice.

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Thanks Dan appreciate suggestion, OP was definitely a little bright.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Vivaldo,

Wonderful capture. I prefer the repost mostly because the tree is now a little darker, I thought it was a tad too light in the original post. Foreground elements are arranged nicely as well. I see a very slight greenish tint from shooting into the sun...in the past I have used Viveza to de-saturate such flares. Lovely work!

[Morkel Erasmus]

Nicely composed, Vivaldo, and overall well processed (more critique about that in a moment).
I like the slightly darker repost for mood and contrast/effect.

Shooting at f22 renders the most pleasing starburst with the 14-24mm. You may suffer from diffraction on the D800e at that aperture so I would shoot your general exposures for blending at f11, then shoot a dark exposure for the starburst at f22.

Do you know how to get rid of the excessive flaring produced by shooting into the sun? It's s tip I got from Hougaard Malan - shoot another exposure metered for the foreground (which is where your flaring will be most prominent), and hold your thumb "over the sun" from the top of your composition. This eliminates the effect of the flare. Now you blend this last exposure into the main one (on top of your similar exposure without the thumb) and erase the your hand using the erase/mask tool.

With regards to overall blending - the sky is a tad too dark for me and this has left a smudged/smearing overexposed blotch around the sun. I would rather work with a bit brighter exposures and have an evenly diffused area of "overexposure" around the sun (hope it makes sense). I also feel you could add more midtone contrast as the midtones look a bit flat.

Shout if you need clarification on these steps?

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Morkel thanks for suggestions, they are very helpful :S3: Next time I am out taking landscapes, will try the thumb suggestion, sounds quiet easy to do. It should work very nicely. Do agree with dark sky, slightly lighter would have been better.

[Lyle Gruby]

Beautiful. Great choice of FG. I like the darker version.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Vivaldo,
Late to critique but see you have some excellent advice above. I too like the darker version and morkels points on the exposure blend are right on! All in all still a very fine scene!

[John Ippolito]

Beautiful image, Vivaldo. I like the darker version, but agree with Morkel thet the sky looks a bit dark to me in the repost. Having said that, I wish we all had the same monitors:S3: Lovely image indeed !

[Mark Dumbleton]

A pleasing image Vivaldo. I do agree with Morkels remarks about the area around the sun. I would rather these areas be a lot brighter. I never try and blend these very bright highlights back around the sun, as for me I prefer to keep it natural, as the eye sees it. If I look to the area around the sun with my own eyes, Its a diffused mass of overexposure, and thus try keep it that way. If you look at my sun in this image, http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/112870-Namib-Sunrise, it gives a better idea of what I mean.