A tree on a hill

[Morkel Erasmus]

I really haven't been able to get away to shoot new landscapes of late. Blame the wildlife, I say :shock::mrgreen:


Anyway, like my last post, this is also from my 2011 archives (from a trip to the trout-fishing mecca of the South African Highveld).


It's a blend of 3 exposures using luminosity masks - sunrise shot.


Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8
f16 | ISO-200

[Norm Dulak]

This is beautiful, Morkel. The foreground and tree are very nice, and oh that beautiful sky! The only thing that in any way diminishes my impression of this image are two tiny but bright spots below the tree. They are distracting, and I would eliminate them.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks Norm - those would be wildflowers.

[Don Nelson]

Very nice sky and tree. However, for me, my eye keeps slipping into the green nothing-ness of the nicely detailed grass in the foreground. From the image, I think you'd have gotten lower to the grass if that was your intent. Looks like you've stayed with a standard 3x4 crop, but perhaps leaving that behind might improve the image?
For my taste, I'd get out the foreground cropper and trim it out of the image so I can get focused on the excellent sky and tree. J
Maybe something like this (and I'd lose the 2 flowers as well but haven't done that)
139044

[Norm Dulak]

Thanks Norm - those would be wildflowers.

Indeed. But their brightness is so out of character with everything else in the frame, that I'd remove them. It would be different if there were a substantial field of them. It's a minor thing, but I find them a little distracting. And I think that Don's elimination of some of the foreground grass is a nice improvement. It emphasizes the more dramatic elements in the image.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks Don and Norm
Don - this is actually not the latest version of the photo, and my more recent version (which I somehow couldn't locate to upload last night) was cropped almost to the tee as per your RP. Thanks :5

[Andrew McLachlan]

Very nice Morkel, I really like the lone tree in the foreground...I like both the OP and Don's repost.

[Don Railton]

Hi Morkel

I know I am very late on this but that wont hold me back.. I like this image a lot, it looks like wonderful country to visit, and the colour in the sky and cloud draw the eye nicely. I think the foreground crop is a small improvement and the bright flowers actually don't bother me at all, the sky is strong /dominant enough for my eye not to be influenced by those little flowers... I do think the whole image is a little dark for my taste, but I have a feeling you intended this way so each to their own... If it were mine I would consider a gradient mask from the bottom up to the skyline to lighten the rock pile a little. This might balance the foreground against the sky and also dampen down the effect those flowers have.. my 2 cents..

regards

DON

[Rodney Flowers]

I really like the your image. I can see where cropping off from the foreground helps.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thank you Andrew, Don and Rodney for your comments and suggestions.
:5