Aloe Sentinel

[Morkel Erasmus]

Continuing my "South African Nightscapes" series, here is another angle I have of the photogenic aloe in the Mountain Zebra National Park, South Africa.

I had to work quickly before the full moon rose...

Techs:
Canon 7D with 10-22mm USM @ 10mm
f3.5 @ 25s @ ISO-2000
Foreground illuminated with torch bounced off my hand

[Norm Dulak]

Hi Morkel.

You have a very interesting idea here. The concept is excellent, but for my taste I suggest that you brighten the plant and the land beneath it a bit, to better delineate them from the starry night sky. I would also crop a bit off the right side and the top of the image, to better focus on that interesting plant.

Still, I understand your appreciation of that beautiful night sky, and I know that whether the emphasis should be on the sky or the plant is strictly a matter of individual taste.

In any event, this is a very nice image, and I thank you for sharing it with us.

Norm

[Hilary Hann]

Love your treatment of the aloe here, works well in the frame and I like the depth caused by the background dark hills.

[Don Lacy]

Hi Morkel, Nice use of the aloe as a foreground element at first I thought Norms crop suggestions were the way to go but the longer I looked at the image the more I felt the original comp worked.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Morkel, I like your lighting treatment of the plant but feel it's heavily weighted to the left in the frame. I might take a smallbit off the right. IMO cropping a small amount off the top is optional. If you took some off it might better balance the overall but one of the strengths of the image is the sky. Finally, IMO the bush on the left isn't helping the image...

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Morkel,
Good ideas above for you to explore but I would try bringing up the milky way and stars a bit more. If you give the milky way some more prominance, it feel it will aleviate the balance isssue. Working that sky a bit more should make this one shine!

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Liked the composition here Morkel. Personally, I would not brighten the plant further. Might try darkening the ground a tad.

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for the suggestions everyone...I left the comp as is but worked on the sky some more?

how does this sit with you?

[Hilary Hann]

Whatever you did has brought out the milky way very nicely. Can't beat an African sky in my view! :S3:

[Roman Kurywczak]

Yep.....that did the trick!

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Morkel, a little late, but you did nice work with the repost, bringing up the milkyway as Roman suggested. Like the way you lit the aloe. Nicely done!

[Norm Dulak]

Hey Morkel. Being a plant guy, the brighter aloe makes it for me in the repost! :S3: And the enhanced sky looks terrific!

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for the kind words folks...

[Robert Amoruso]

I do agree repost is where you want it.

[Morkel Erasmus]

appreciate it, Roman...

[Morkel Erasmus]

...and Robert, Norm and Andrew :bg3:

[dankearl]

This series of yours is spectacular, unusual and amazing. I sort of liked the muted first version the best, but either works fine.