Goera Pan Sunrise

[Morkel Erasmus]

This is one of my attempts at capturing a wonderful Kalahari sunrise on the Goera Pan (a giant salt pan in the Kalahari desert north the town of Upington in South Africa). This was captured from a small dune in the middle of the pan.

I used Kuyper luminosity masks to blend 4 exposures into one. The tracks in the sand are the tracks of small mammals like the Cape Fox, Bat-eared Fox or African wild cat which had walked there during the night.

All comments most welcome!

Techs:
Canon 7D with 10-22mm USM @ 11mm
f22 @ ISO-100
Circular Polariser

[Chris Ober]

and capture it you did! Great sky and colors, lighting. The bushes blend in with the sand making them hard to discern. Would be nice to either see them more I think.

Now I need to look up what "Kuyper luminosity masks" are :)

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Morkel, nice sunrise image. I really like the rippled sand in the foreground and the animal tracks too.

[Bill Randall]

Nice, I particularly like the orange and blue contrast. Good timing also.

[Marc Mol]

Love the contast in colour Morkel with that magic sky, very nice indeed.
I too would like to be enlightened by the "Kuyper luminosity masks"??
TFS

[Robert Amoruso]

"Kuyper luminosity masks" is good stuff. Here is link http://goodlight.us/writing/luminositymasks/luminositymasks-1.html.

Morkel,

Nice work with the starburst, FG element placement and pleasing sky. Overall well composed and exposed.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Morkel, Love the light and the use of sand ripples in the foreground. The sky while dominant has a nice diagonal flow to it and strong enough to carry the space. The sun placement is good but would rather the large bush not being cut by the horizon.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Morkel,
Agree about the bush.....but the light and ripples are fantastic.....so perhaps selectively lightening or darkening the bush.....give it more punch? I think if you do the one......do them all! This will give another layer of depth to the image IMO. Nicely done overall!

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks so much for the kind and constructive comments guys...

Robert thanks for posting those links, I was meaning to but you beat me to the punch :)

Dave - those "broom bushes" are just everywhere in the Kalahari...tricky to get a shot in this area without one popping over the horizon

Roman - worth a shot! Mind showing me what you meant?