Cosmos Fields

[Morkel Erasmus]

It is that time of year again - the cosmos is in full bloom on the South African Highveld. The problem in my area is finding a good composition between all the steam towers, mining shafts, power plants, pylons and power cables all around.

I went out last weekend looking for a suitable field of flowers and maybe some accomodating hay bales...I think I spotted one in this week and will try to photograph it sometime when I can get out there again.

This is a shot from last weekend at the one spot where the horizon was relatively clean. Nothing solid to anchor the foreground here but just wanted to show this field with the gorgeous sky. There are cosmos fields even bigger than this, but with atrocious surroundings.

Techs:
Nikon D90 with Nikkor 18-105mm VR (loaned kit) @ 18mm
f8.0 @ 1/800 SS @ ISO-320
handheld, one exposure

I processed this very quickly on my uncalibrated laptop so bear with me...

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Morkel,
Congrats again on your wife and you expecting your first child!!! You will never forget that thrill!!!
I think you did extremely well composing this easy:D landscape ( had to get 1 more shot in on the avian crew;))....this one works for many reasons....while breaking the rules....yeah the tree is off to the right....but I happen to like it there as it has no real importance except keeping my eye in the frame.....the cosmos are the stars. Just the right amount of FG to sky......and that is one killer sky! Perhaps a bit of burning and fading along the horizon edge.....either a slight halo or natural....a slight blend/darkening there will help this one overall and be a final tweak. Very nicely composed and looking forward to the other find!

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Morkel,
The sky is nice. The foreground flowers are beautiful. I think the main interest is the flowers. In that case, I feel the sky is overpowering. I would suggest an unconventional crop. Cropping the top so that the sky is slightly more than the bottom portion, will ensure focus coming back to the flowers. Also, that would ensure that the bright area is very near the rule of thirds position.

The horizon seems to be curved, I guess due to barrel distortion. Overall, a nice image. Look forward to many more.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Robert Amoruso]

I agree with the previous comments Morkel but I would suggest that your correct the distortion.

[Kobus Tollig]

Great shot but Ditto all the comments above

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for the feedback Kobus, Robert, Roman & Sabyasachi

I'm not so sure it's distortion as the lie of the land is very much "rolling hills" here, the left was definitely sloping up. Will check it out anyways...:)

The sun was setting as can be seen on the right and the last rays shone through illuminating the stretch of sky on the horizon.

[Bob Miller]

Hi Morkel....I like your composition and the sky is awesome. I kept wanting a little more contrast and sense of light in the flowers. Great shot!

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks Bob...

Sabyasachi how about this crop?