Kalahari Nights

[Morkel Erasmus]

Sorry for my absence, folks! I have just returned from a 2-week safari-cum-holiday in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

I will attempt to catch up on the images that were posted in the meantime soon.

This is one of my attempts to photograph the magnificent expanse visible in this remote area, although I had to get up at 4am to beat the dawn and enable the moon to be fully hidden from view. Stump painted by bouncing an LED Lenser torch from my hand. There is no man-made light pollution visible here for hundreds of miles...the glow you see is from the East where the sun was preparing to rise.

Techs:
Nikon D3s with Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8 @ 14mm
f2.8 @ 30s @ ISO-3200

[Tom Rambaut]

Makes me ask why I'm living in a city! I guess you could call this a astro landscape. Very interesting idea and well done showing the effort of getting up so early.

[Valerio Tarone]

Morkel I liked it. The trunk in Fg is a strong leading line.

[Hilary Hann]

I like the balance you have managed here and bouncing the light keeps a warm glow. I managed to buy up quite a few discontinued maglites which had really nicely colour toned globes so these are reserved for light painting only. LEDs are not very pleasant but bouncing off the hand makes it much more acceptable, but I have problem controlling the light! :e3
I like the careful composition you have here, good strong diagonals.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks for the comments, folks.
After having another look I realised that the image overall was a tad yellow - I probably left my camera on Sunlight WB instead of switching to auto which I prefer to use for nocturnal shooting.

Here is a colour-adjusted image which is more what I had in mind.

[Robert Amoruso]

Nice repost. I like the addition of the rising sun glow Morkel.

[Hilary Hann]

I do prefer the repost with the colour balance adjusted.

[Marc Mol]

Your colour RP improves on this nicely composed night scene Morkel, especially like the rocket ship stump.:bg3:
TFS

[dankearl]

Great image, Morkel.Makes me feel like I am there, very well done.

[Ed Cordes]

Awsome! 30s exposure still held point stars! Godd job.