African Bliss

[Morkel Erasmus]

A gorgeous sunrise in the Mara Triangle (Kenya) from 3 weeks ago - even though our group of photographers was hard on the scout for lion movement at the crack of dawn, we couldn't help but stop and capture this magical moment.


Single exposure and no clipping on either end of the histogram - man I love this D800 sensor! :D


Techs:
Nikon D800
Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II @ 175mm
f5.0 | 1/160 SS | ISO-100
EV -0.3

[Don Lacy]

Beautiful image Morkel, I really like the comp and placement of the sun in the image

[Rachel Hollander]

Stunning image Morkel, I wouldn't change a thing.

TFS,
Rachel

[Don Railton]

Beautiful Morkel..

[Diane Miller]

Gorgeous indeed! Nice work!

[Dvir Barkay]

very nice shot, simple moody, just works. yeah the dynamic range of that 36mpx sensor is amazing, can't wait for the A99II to get here next year so I can finally get that sensor. BTW did you use prophotoRGB in camera RAW to compensate for the possibly clipped yellow saturation in the sun, or did the sensor actually manage to pull it all with just adobe RGB (I am assuming that is what you use, maybe you use prophoto for all your images)

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks folks!


very nice shot, simple moody, just works. yeah the dynamic range of that 36mpx sensor is amazing, can't wait for the A99II to get here next year so I can finally get that sensor. BTW did you use prophotoRGB in camera RAW to compensate for the possibly clipped yellow saturation in the sun, or did the sensor actually manage to pull it all with just adobe RGB (I am assuming that is what you use, maybe you use prophoto for all your images)


Dvir - I capture in Adobe RGB on my cameras but convert to ProPhoto when taking it from LR to PS.
The sun is like that in the RAW file as far as I recall.

[Dvir Barkay]

thanks folks!




Dvir - I capture in Adobe RGB on my cameras but convert to ProPhoto when taking it from LR to PS.
The sun is like that in the RAW file as far as I recall.

Ah, I also capture with Adobe RGB in camera as it makes the image more true on the back screen of the camera. In camera RAW, I don't use LR, but its a similar if somewhat more clunkier interface, I use adobe RGB for images with simpler histograms, while I use Pro photo for images with lots of saturated yellows and reds, which above RGB struggles with.

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Great shot with a lot of beautiful elements, Morkel, well done!

Interesting that you've used your 70-200mm here - I can imagine myself swapping to the 24-70mm for such a scene. But so we learn...:w3

[Morkel Erasmus]

Great shot with a lot of beautiful elements, Morkel, well done!

Interesting that you've used your 70-200mm here - I can imagine myself swapping to the 24-70mm for such a scene. But so we learn...:w3

Tobie, I did capture some with the 24-70 which was on the other camera LOL
The 70-200 shots seemed to work better though due to the focal compression of the elements.

[Steve Kaluski]

Works for me Morkel. :cheers:

[Diane Miller]

Sounds like you all know this, but just to clarify some semantics for readers who may not: If you're shooting RAW the camera setting for the color space doesn't matter. (It will affect the LCD preview and be cemented into an in-camera JPEG.) The camera will actually capture a color space close to ProPhoto, and LR/ACR (and any other decent raw converterer) will work behind the scenes in that wide color space. Only when going to PS do you reduce the color space to whatever you've set for its working space. ProPhoto is the widest one, but you need to work in 16 bit to minimize posterization for tonal adjustments. And even in AdobeRGB, 16 bits is a very good idea.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Morkel, Stunning sunrise...kudos...Yes the D800 sensor is pretty incredible, I often find that I can capture such images in a single exposure and seldom find myself reaching for my grad filters. :cheers:

[Dave Mills]

Hi Morkel,
Beautiful lighting showing nice detail in the dark areas.The comp is well seen using the 3 dominant tree groups to good effect. I also like the fact the sun is offset. Nice image....

[Valerio Tarone]

Morkel, stunning image, very 'african'!

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks folks!