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Morkel Erasmus
05-13-2010, 05:48 PM
This image was taken on our recent trip to the South African Highveld. These magnificent stacks of cumulus were building up over a tree on a distant hilltop, and I found my new 10-22mm lens to be too wide to give it the scale it needs (the clouds looked small, when they were in fact huge).

I noticed that the circular polarising filter I had bought (Kenko Pro CPL) was a 77mm thread, which was also the thread of my 100-400mm lens...voila!!

A little adjustment in the white balance and adding some to the black channel got this image to the mood I wanted it to have during post-processing. Cropped a bit from top and bottom to get rid of dead space on top and cluttered bushes at the bottom.

All comments most welcome!

Techs:
Canon 7D with 100-400mm L IS USM @ 100mm
f8.0 @ 1/1000 SS @ ISO-320

Hilary Hann
05-14-2010, 12:28 AM
Morkel, my kind of landscape completely. If you had complete control over the weather I would have loved to see some light on the tree as it has been lost a little. Love those African clouds.

Morkel Erasmus
05-14-2010, 01:06 AM
thanks Hilary - I have some light on the tree as the sun was actually coming from more to my side of the shot, but I darkened it on purpose to enhance the mood here...

Hilary Hann
05-14-2010, 01:20 AM
Ah, interpretation is everything! I'd love to see the lit tree, may not prefer it at all. ;)

Sabyasachi Patra
05-14-2010, 05:35 AM
Morkel,
I am with Hilary on this one. The overall image also feels a bit dark to my taste. Also, slightly more space at the bottom would have been better. Is the horizon sloping in the original? Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

Lance Warley
05-14-2010, 09:09 AM
There are clouds, and then there are YOUR kind of clouds, Morkel. Very, very dramatic.

Just wondering - would a little lightening and contrast light them up even more without losing the mood?

Dave Mills
05-14-2010, 09:45 AM
Hi Morkel, Talk about clouds that have impact...this is it! Nice job framing the comp with the sepia tone adding some drama. I like the small tree and placement but felt it was getting a bit lost in the image due to the darness in that area. I lightened the area a bit to show some more separation. Another idea!!

Morkel Erasmus
05-14-2010, 02:33 PM
thanks for the varied views Dave, Lance, Hilary & Sabyasachi.

I did a rework tonight and went for a pseudo-HDR (using manual blending masks) to get detail and a lighter tone on the tree and maintain the mood I was going for in the sky. How does this sit with you guys?

Dave Mills
05-14-2010, 04:47 PM
Hi, Better...i would just like to see the clouds more dimensional...

Hilary Hann
05-14-2010, 05:20 PM
I like the direction you're going in but agree with Dave's suggestion. I do think you can get more drama from those magnificent clouds, especially with your skills in this area.

Dennis "Curly" Buchner
05-15-2010, 01:19 PM
Great clouds and landscape, maybe a candidate for B/W

Mike Fuhr
05-15-2010, 03:13 PM
BW is an interesting suggestion. Would love to see that. Otherwise, your last post is my favorite -- it doesn't look quite as "processed" as the first. Love the composition.

Morkel Erasmus
05-15-2010, 03:55 PM
thank you Dave, Hilary & Curly...

here is a final repost where I blended in a B&W layer for more texture and drama...I think I like this one best...

Hilary Hann
05-15-2010, 04:43 PM
Morkel, I'd be happy with your final repost … feels awe inspiring!

Morkel Erasmus
05-16-2010, 03:00 PM
thanks Hilary - appreciate your comments!

Roman Kurywczak
05-23-2010, 02:50 PM
Hey Morkel,
Yeah....I was away when you posted this one and missed it! I think you are on the right track with the re-post but it lacks some of the color of the OP....which IMO is necessary. I think you can get there by doing a screen layer at reduced opacity on the sky and then just some levels layers tweaks. I do agree on a bit more FG if possible but you really have some excellent drama in that sky!

Nagesh Mula
06-08-2010, 03:58 PM
Beautiful picture infact poignant and I agree with Roman here to add more space at the bottom. Congrats!!

Morkel Erasmus
06-13-2010, 03:43 AM
thanks Roman & Nagesh!