Sun City Sun Set

[Morkel Erasmus]

Attended a conference at the world famous Sun City Hotel and Resort in South Africa (where they play the Million Dollar Golf Challenge).

This was taken after sunset at the lake where they have all the watersport activities. The resort is bordered by the Pilanesberg National Park (the whole area sits in a defunct volcanic crater) and abounds with birdlife and wildlife. As I was capturing this scene a fish eagle was calling from across the lake.

Techs:
Canon 7D with 10-22mm USM
f16 @ ISO-160
Manual blend of 2 exposures using luminosity masks

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Morkel,
Blend looks pretty good but I may want the sky a touch less bright to bring out all the subtle details even more. I think you would then have to tone down the FG......just because it would be to close in tone to the sky......although I would try to avoid the rocks. I'm guessing you couldn't avoid the grasses on the right......but I must say they aren't my favorite piece of the image.....they intrude too much on the rocks as they are well placed in the frame......not sure if you could but avoiding them in the field would have been your best option in this case.

[Nick Palmieri]

Looks like a nice job with the blending. I am also bothered by the grasses on the lower right, but I really like the rocks . If it were mine I may crop some off the bottom and clone out the grasses. I like the composition otherwise.

[Robert Amoruso]

Morkel,

As Roman does many times, he echoes my feelings very well. That grass on the right is bothersome to me to.

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for the comments guys...I was away on a road-trip.

this was unfortunately the only comp I could squeeze in, as to the left was a boat-launching gizzmo and to the right a lot of buoys and netting. :(