Maluti Vista

[Morkel Erasmus]

Another shot from our trip to the Golden Gate Highlands National Park. This was the view about 20 paces down the edge of the ravine from our cottages...truly a wonderful place to just relax for a few days! This was a few brief moments of late afternoon sunlight before the rain came down again.

Blend of 3 exposures for dynamic range, details enhanced with the Triple Play method.

Techs:
Canon 7D with 10-22mm USM
f16 @ ISO-100
saved at 50 quality setting!

[dankearl]

Beautiful Morkel, it looks like the Scottish Highlands.
Much better than the view you posted a while back.
Good light does make a difference.
I like the bit of foreground, and the hills are gorgeous.
The sky is not great, not your fault of course, but a better sky would have made it much better, but you take what you get at times, it is still a really nice photo.

[Dave Mayers]

Very nice Morkel. I am new to BPN and the technical parts of digital photography so I do not yet feel qualified to comment on your processing. I will say I really like the composition and how the ridge line draws my eye deeper and deeper into the background.

[chris Bycroft]

Hi Morkel, I really like the foreground, how the ridge leads nicely down into the valley, and overall it is an excellent photo. The background valleys, cliffs, and hills I don't find quite so good as they look blury (as it has come up on screen anyway) rather than mist/rain in the background alone. Is this something to do with how the photo was processed as part of your Dynamic Range processing, or do you think there was a change of lighting between you three images? Prehaps more contrast in the sky would help, this is something you could look at in further processing of the image. The area of photo looks like a great place to explore and you have represented the area very well.

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks guys

Chris it must just be the quality, had to save at a very low quality setting to be able to get the file posted at a large enough size to take in the scene. The original JPG looks fine...

[peter delaney]

Hi Morkel

Some nice light and shadow details thru the valley, but for me the FRG is busy and no strong element to hold viewers eye...

agree about the lack of DOF thru middle to BKG ,
the sky does not add to image as already mentioned.

You say the original JPEG??? is sharp...is it normal to shoot jpeg for blending purposes because of file size???

[Morkel Erasmus]

sorry Peter, should have clarified...

the JPG that I used to render a "save for web" version before uploading is sharp right through, and the original RAW exposures I shot before blending are also sharp right through (as they should be with f16 on this lens).

I really think the quality setting here has muddled with the image as nobody on other forums where I posted this image has complained about a lack of DOF here :2:eek:
I might have been slack on sharpening as I tend to be careful of over-sharpening in scenes with lots of detail like this.

Here is a repost with most of the sky removed and some added sharpening after resizing on the mid-ground and background...interested to have your thoughts now?

[Robert Amoruso]

Morkel,

Your second post is more what I was expecting. :w3

[Harshad Barve]

Morkel,

Your second post is more what I was expecting. :w3

Plus one here
TFS

[Dave Mills]

Hi Morkel, the repost is an improvement. The foreground is probably my biggest issue. I don't feel it has much interest and I also feel the positioning of the tree should have been more to the left.

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for your comments Dave, Harshad and Robert.

Dave - interesting point...Peter also mentioned the FG. Another photographer who saw a similarly composed photo of this scene (taken by myself) elsewhere noted that the FG really doesn't matter to him since the grand vista beyond is much more compelling...he even suggested a version where there is nothing in the direct foreground to "obstruct the view". I do generally prefer having at least something of interest in the foreground, and in this area besides some flat rocks this little tree was the most "standout contender". That being said, I couldn't really maneuver to place it elsewhere in the scene as the ledge I was standing on (and my tripod for that matter) was very narrow with just a widening at the end where this tree is. The incline was much steeper than it looks here - one misstep to the left and I was rolling down to the river below :eek:.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Morkel,
I think everything covered on the OP....and I find the observations of the other photographer interesting.....as the leading lines of the hills may have worked IMO w/o the FG trees and rocks. If the sky above had more potential.....that may have been the best option.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Morkel, I quite like pane #7. Nice work!