Apocalypse Canyon

[Rudi van den Heever]

The weather was treacherous and I had an eery feeling where I was standing on the rain soaked cliff, whilst taking some images of the Blyde River Canyon in the province of Mpumalanga in South Africa...


The mist and clouds slowly pulled back over the canyon and the sun peeped through the clouds. I knew that the landscape was full of promises for some good monochrome conversions.


A blend of two exposures and conversion in Silver Efex Pro...

Equipment: Canon 7D and 10-22mm lens at 22mm

[Morkel Erasmus]

I love it Rudi - great mood, great use of layers and tonal range (bright whites, greys and deep blacks).
It'd be good to have some of your builds on other threads - we encourage between 3 to 5 critiques for every new image you post to foster the community spirit and get variety of input on the images.

[Rudi van den Heever]

Thanks Morkel! Appreciate the feedback!

Just on the previous member's comment that has been deleted by the mods... Yes, I have a blog which does not keep me so busy that I cannot comment on others' images - I had the amazing total of 11 posts last year, so that is not my excuse!

I have joint BPN about 4 years ago to get constructive crits on my work and that is why I am still here! I know, I am guilty of not being very active by commenting on others posts, but I will surely make an effort. My big motivation is of course the fact that I realised that members do not crit my images, 'cause I do not crit theirs... I think it is a win win situation and I will make an effort for sure (as every member should)... BPN is not about VWD's or VVVVVVWD's like many other forums and that is why I stick around!!

About the image... Morkel... The highlights are at its limit of being blown and some blacks have purposely been very dark... Some advice I got along the line from members like you and Peter Delaney and so on... Still no landscape expert I am...

[Arthur Morris]

The mood is quite eerie and foreboding. I am puzzled by the scale and the foreground elements.... Are the foreground "hills" the ground in front of you or distant hills???

The more you put into BPN the more you get out. Making brief but relevant comments on five images each time that you post would take well less than 10 minutes at best and pay big dividends :). best to you. artie

[Colin Driscoll]

Rudi, this is an interesting/pleasing image, although it does give me the feeling of needing a slight amount of ccw rotation. I would be interested in the exif details for the individual shots you take for your merged landscapes.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Rudi, love this one a ton...the mood is fabulous. I think your critiques on other posts in this forum would be a big asset here

[Dvir Barkay]

Awesome shot, love the mood with the clouds and the tonal range is great. Overall very well done.

[Rudi van den Heever]

Hi guys! Thanks for the replies Have not been able to join in the fun on BPN lately and only reviewing the replies now! Arthur, I was standing on a cliff overlooking the canyon. The immediate foreground was below me and merely a "level" after which the drop to the lower canyon commenced! Was eerie indeed and I had this thing of a gust of wind blowing me of the cliff in the back of my mind all the time... ;)

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for the info Rudi. Glad that you are back and that you did not blow over :)