Stormy Desert

[Morkel Erasmus]

Some of you might have seen this tree before - from my sunset shots.

So you'll know:
a. no way to get closer (National Park, stay in vehicle)
b. no way to get lower (see reason stated above :))

On our last morning at this particular camp in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, the weather was building up for what was looking to be the first spring rains in an area that desperately needs every drop the heavens can muster.

It never did end up raining much over the park that day - the weather blew further West into the Namib desert in neighbouring Namibia - but I loved this shot showing one of the colour palettes that makes this place special regardless of the great array of wildlife and birdlife that abound here.

Your thoughts much appreciated...

This was a one-shot exposure from a beanbag on the car window.

Techs:
Canon 40D with 100-400mm L IS USM @ 100mm
f5.6 @ 1/3200 @ ISO-400
Exp +0.3

[Dave Mills]

Hi Morkel, I can see why you were attracted to this scene with the contrast in colors and the wispy sky.I realise you didn't have free will in composing the image due to being in the car. First off even with the wispy clouds I don't feel they are strong enough to devote that much room to them. I would crop down the top to a little above the 2 triangle shaped clouds. The tree(it is interesting) is losing alot of impact due to most of it merging with the backround.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Morkel,
I would prefer reverse....less FG! Oh well.....one of those times that because of restrictions you may not get this to it's full potential....this would be very strong up against the sky!

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks Dave & Roman...I wish I'd spent more time and applied some landscape comps, but in my mind at the time I only wanted to include as much of the yellow, red and purple layers as possible. :)

[Robert Amoruso]

What attracts me most to the image is the red, yellow and blue layers. I would suggest this is best with equal amounts of both horizontally (think ROTs here) and w/o the tree. Going for a graphic presentation would be the best course of action IMO.

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for the input, Robert.

I see what you're getting at - something like this??

[Harold Davis]

hi morkel, the last pic is killer imho!! i like it a lot. as far as the original, i'd crop a little off the bottom as roman suggested. i like that one too.

[Ramesh Adkoli]

Hi Morkel, IMHO, the OP and re-post convey two very different perspectives. I liked OP for its uniqueness: rarely you get such a splash of colors without a single flower in sight. I don't mind the tree as it breaks layers and gives something interesting for the eyes to follow. I agree, it may not be an ideal composition, but it has its merits. TFS both the perspectives.

regards,
ramesh

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for your input Harold & Ramesh...:)

[Grady Weed]

I'm with Harold here, I like them both.