Maropeng Day Break (2)

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

As promised, a follow-up to the first pic in this series ('Maropeng day break') to place the former pic in context. For that reason I've left the hot air balloon in the scene but under normal circumstances I would have removed it first as it's too far away to add value. I've cropped quite a bit from the top & bottom for the sake of a panoramic feel.

Envyable scene to wake up to for the owner of the farmhouse on the right...

D600
Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 70mm
f/11 | 1/80s | ISO 400

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Tobie, I preferred the previous post to this one. As you noted the balloon is too small here and would be best if evicted. There are areas of the dried grasses that looked too bright. I would try to down these down if you can. I think I would like to see a little more of what is cropped from the bottom as well as I am wanting to see the whole trees along the bottom edge and not just the tops. How much more do you have left that could be added to the bottom?

[Don Railton]

Hi Tobie

I think this is a much nicer composition than the last. The farm house is nicely muted in the shadows and as such is included but not competing with the scene. Pity the balloon is so far away but it still adds IMHO. I like the Pano crop, perfect I think (although I obviously don't know what you cut out..), the layers and the early morning? light, and the way the land falls away to reveal the plain. If it were mine I would work on quieting down the hot grass in the lower RHS especially as they are almost blown (are in two channels) in the presented. I would consider a luminosity mask to back out the brightness on those bits, or maybe a double process and blend.. A bit more contrast would help also I feel to add a bit of 'punch', although do that only if you can reduce the hot areas..

regards

DON

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Hi Tobie, I preferred the previous post to this one. As you noted the balloon is too small here and would be best if evicted. There are areas of the dried grasses that looked too bright. I would try to down these down if you can. I think I would like to see a little more of what is cropped from the bottom as well as I am wanting to see the whole trees along the bottom edge and not just the tops. How much more do you have left that could be added to the bottom?
Thanks for your comments Andrew. I too preferred the previous one - I actually never planned to place this one but decided to do so following a few of Don's remarks on the 1st one. An interesting feature of both these scenes (as you've correctly observed) is that the sun was just appearing on the horison so there were streaks of lights and darks filling the picture. Obviously I might darken some of them but the idea is to portrait what I have seen. I have lots of space on the bottom but the problem stays the same - as you expose another rolling hill, there are new tree tops to content with. But I'll follow up with one having more space on the bottom (after all this is about having fun and playing with ideas, not so?) :S3:.

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Hi Tobie

I think this is a much nicer composition than the last. The farm house is nicely muted in the shadows and as such is included but not competing with the scene. Pity the balloon is so far away but it still adds IMHO. I like the Pano crop, perfect I think (although I obviously don't know what you cut out..), the layers and the early morning? light, and the way the land falls away to reveal the plain. If it were mine I would work on quieting down the hot grass in the lower RHS especially as they are almost blown (are in two channels) in the presented. I would consider a luminosity mask to back out the brightness on those bits, or maybe a double process and blend.. A bit more contrast would help also I feel to add a bit of 'punch', although do that only if you can reduce the hot areas..

regards

DON
Thanks for your comments Don. Watch this space for the RP...:w3

[Arthur Morris]

Image looks sharp. Harsh light left the sunlit grasses toasted. Ad the lack of a clean lower edge with several bushes pretty much cut in half are problematic... What is your longest focal length? I ask because the distant layers of distant mountains are quite lovely.....

[Morkel Erasmus]

I like the "scene" here more than the previous one (more natural scenery for sure).
All the big issues have been noted already. There are some nice scapes to be shot in this area, Tobie - it's perhaps worth getting some access permissions from local plot owners?

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Image looks sharp. Harsh light left the sunlit grasses toasted. Ad the lack of a clean lower edge with several bushes pretty much cut in half are problematic... What is your longest focal length? I ask because the distant layers of distant mountains are quite lovely.....
There were no real 'anchor points' here Arthur. I was on a viewing deck with photographers below me (whom I did not want to include), followed by rolling hills as far as the eyes could see. The previous photo in this series was taken with my longest reach lens & TC to feature the hot air balloon. I'll bring down the highlights a bit in a RP. Thanks for looking...

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Tobiie, What is the longest focal length lens that you own?

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Thanks Tobiie, What is the longest focal length lens that you own?

500mm, Arthur.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Tobie. I would humbly suggest that with you along with a 1.4X and a 1.7X TCE the next time that you visit and concentrate on the layers of the distant mountains....

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Thanks Tobie. I would humbly suggest that with you along with a 1.4X and a 1.7X TCE the next time that you visit and concentrate on the layers of the distant mountains....

Thanks - will do if I get a chance again. In this case we were granted special access at 05:00am in support of NatGeo's 'Know my world' initiative (that's what we took the photo's for) so the chances are slim that we'll have another opportunity like this. But I'll file it away in my memory banks for similar situations in the future... :S3: