Valley inside the Fish River Canyon

[Morkel Erasmus]

I've mentioned before that we did the gruelling hike through the Fish River Canyon in Namibia at the end of May. It is a very harsh and unforgiving place, but also a place of immense beauty for those who know how to find it.

This valley greeted us as we scampered over large dune - and it brought us great joy - for down where the river bends against the right-hand canyon walls was the spot where we would camp for the night after about 23kms of hard hiking.

The light can be quite tricky down there - since the sun only peeks over the canyon walls well after the soft morning light is gone, and it disappears again before the sweet evening light can begin. As we crossed this dune, I was able to capture the last vestiges of light as it played against the far canyon walls. Down the slope of the dune you can see a friend of mine hiking down towards our campsite. This gives a good feeling of the vastness of the place. This was shot handheld so I am very pleased with the outcome.

I applied many of the great tips in Robert's tutorials for this one, and would really like some feedback on where I can improve.

Thanks

Techs:
Canon 1000D with 18-55 IS
f11 @ 1/5 SS Handheld @ ISO 400

[Katherine Enns]

We were commenting that we love this image and are immediately drawn to the figure in the centre. The scale of the figure and the immense landscape are complimentary. I cant comment on the technical aspects, maybe it could be brighter, but all in all, the story in this is amazing.

Great shot. Lovely landscape and very challenging physically, obviously.

Kat (and Bruce)

[JB Ellis]

Very nice image. I haven't a clue how to improve it. I'm glad you have the hiker in photo, as it certainly helps me understand scene. As Kat said " the story in this image is amazing."

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for the comments and compliments Kat (& Bruce) and JB.

[Judd Patterson]

Morkel, it sounds like you were on quite an adventure! This location does have a lot of potential. Because of the bland sky (but there is a bit of color on the left side), you did well to minimize its presence in the image. I might be tempted to go even farther by cropping some off the right side where the sky goes pure white. As far as the overall composition, I think you can create something stronger by adding more depth to the image. By "depth" I'm referring to the style of including a foreground object up close to the lens and using a wider focal length to bring in the rest of the scene in the background. Some of those rocks and bushes just might have worked nicely. I agree that having your friend for a little scale is a nice touch. I hope you tried some photographs down by the river too. It looks to have some nice bends and curves that could create intriguing compositions!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Morkel,
this is quite the place. Well worth your troubles and effort! I especially like the sweeping curve that leads us to the hiker. I looked at the RH side like judd did and came up with a suggestion.......crop below your name at the top towards a tree at the ridgeline and then at that same tree off the RH side. This minimizes the sky bright area totally and draws the eye more towards the hiker! Maybe toning down the lakes and river....but I am OK with them as they add a sense of place. Nicely done overall!

[Robert Amoruso]

I understand what Judd is talking about and that composition is well worth investigating. However, I very much like the "bowl" shape in the FG that acts to frame the scene before me. The right hill leads down to the hiker and the water, the mountains moved from the FG right to BG and the river and BG mountains on the left lead to the distance BG - all providing depth in the image.

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for your suggestions Robert, Roman & Judd!

here is the crop as suggested - I also brightened it slightly.
I will try a multi-exposure blend sometime to see if that puts some life into the bland sky.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Morkel,
Repost shows the crop I was talking about. Puts the hiker more towards center of frame.....but in this case I am OK with it as he is not leaving the frame as much.....If that mekes sense. I also lightened the RH mountains a touch and adjusted the color balance. Added blue to take some of the yellow away and also added blacks in selective color.....not sure that is the way to go as it made it a bit more reddish and contrasty, which I like......you will be able to judge that better as you were there but figured I'd give you an option. Let me know what you think.
PS had to save around 60.....so a bit of loss there

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for your effort Roman!

the reddish is fine since the Namib sands and rocks have a red (sometimes even magenta) glow at dusk and dawn and it still does resemble what I saw. I will definitely have to lighten the RH cliffs a bit in the full size image.

when adding blues for example, do you merely up saturation on the blues, or do you go to the colour channel mixer?

[Roman Kurywczak]

Did it in Image>Adjust>color balance......since I felt it was a bit yellowish.....moving the slider in the opposite color direction (blue in this case) lessens it's impact. If you feel it's a bit too green....add magenta and so on. Pretty effective sometimes.

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for the tip! there are so many ways to skin the proverbial cat (sorry green folk!) in PS.

[David Kennedy]

Be sure to watch out for the ridge-tops--you've got some halos appearing, likely due to over-application of local contrast enhancement. I think Roman's suggestions are good ones to follow.