Quivering Sunrise

[Morkel Erasmus]

I created this photo last month on a trip to the arid Northern Cape province in South Africa.

The trees silhoutted here are called 'quiver trees' as they resemble the flighted ends of arrows in a quiver. This was taken just before the sun stuck its head out behind the trees. No colours were changed/added in this photo - the effect was created by merely playing around with the histogram until the desired colours surfaced, and then selective saturating for enhancement. I had to work very carefully to avoid halos forming around the edges of the trees, and after about 4 reworks from scratch I am very happy with the end result. The idea was to create a sort of 'surreal' feel, and show the depth in the difference in the sizing of the 3 trees (which are roughly the same size if they would be put next to each other).

I added the frame as this is an artistic take and I think the frame covers the picture nicely.

Canon 1000D with 18-55mm IS @ 20mm
f8.0 @ 1/400 SS @ ISO 400 (exp bias -1)

All your comments and crits are most welcome.

[Robert Amoruso]

I think you should be very proud of your effort here, this is really outstanding. I know what you are talking about regarding the halos so know what you did took skill and patience. Great composition too. The juxtaposition of the trees works well and balances the large tree with the small one.

[Dave Mills]

Morkel, I like the color and the comp. I would take some off the bottom...

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks very much for the kind words Robert & Dave! I was waiting for someone to mention that Dave...
how's this?

[Dave Mills]

Hi Morkel, I do like it and think the image has a better balance...

[Rene Quenneville]

Beautiful tones and balanced composition. There are still a few holes in the trees where the color is too pale vs the background, you probably forgot to select them while processing the histogram. Overall very pleasing image

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for your comments Dave & René! I seem to have missed those spots, will touch them up :)

[Fabs Forns]

Very interesting image design, and killer colors. Repost with less base seems to work well, good job and keep them coming, Morkel.

[Arthur Morris]

Spectacular light and image design needing only a bit more room above. Pointing the camera up a bit at capture would have been the winning move. Thanks by the way Mork for your membership support.

[Morkel Erasmus]

thank you for taking time to view and the kind comments Fabs & Artie!

Artie - yeah how we often wish we'd taken the shot differently in hindsight. Still it gives us food for thought on the next shoot. I will attempt to add in some canvas artificially. Membership is a pleasure and I am learning so much here on BPN!

[Morkel Erasmus]

here I've added some canvas. was tricky since the colours easily show manipulation. I also fixed the areas (at least those I could spot) on the trees where the BG wasn't the appropriate colour.

your thoughts now?

[Arthur Morris]

I love it even more now. Now, the next time that you are there, move to your right to line the departing sun up with the base of the big tree....

Thanks BTW for your kind words about BPN.

[Morkel Erasmus]

the kind words are a pleasure, Artie.
this was actually shot at dawn ;) but yeah I'll definitely keep that in mind for similar compositions in the future.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Morkel,
Excellent advice given above. I may go for a bit more off the base......but that is my preference. this was very nicely composed and well thought out with very nice colors. Well done.

[Morkel Erasmus]

thank you Roman...

[Mitchell Krog]

Lovely image Morkel, good pp work from the original one I saw before.

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks Mitchell! yeah this is one that's worth putting time into :)

[Mitchell Krog]

Told you so :)

[Morkel Erasmus]

that you did...:)