Ruined Sunset

[Morkel Erasmus]

Drove out to one of my favourite local spots on Saturday when there were some high clouds around and it was promising to be a nice winter sunset. This is an ancient ruined farmhouse on the farm of a family friend - I have posted other perspectives of this place previously here.

It was nice getting to know my new gear in terms of shooting landscapes...still not quite familiar with all the 'different' controls but I am getting there . The sun was already gone and it looked like the sunset was spoiled, when all of a sudden the clouds flamed up...

We are headed out to the Kruger National Park on Friday and my week is hectic so this will probably my last post in the Landscape forum for a while...

Techs:
Nikon D3s with 14-24mm f2.8 @ 14mm
f8.0 @ ISO-200
Blend of 3 images

[Nick Palmieri]

I love the sky and the ground cover. I like the building but am bothered by a few things about it. I would like to see more detail in the shadows, since this was an HDR I am sure the detail exists in one of the images. I also think there is some distortion causing tilting of the building. Very cool overall composition.

[dankearl]

Yeah, ruined all right, no color at all.

The sky is terrific and I like the building, I would have liked a view a few feet to the right, with a bit more sky and
more of the snag on the ground, but not being there, hard to know what the scene looked like.
The processing is really good, it does not look HDR, which is a plus to me.

[Jay Gould]

Morkel, works for me. It does need a tiny bit of CW which is going to cause the building to lean a bit more. The horizon line just isn't level; to me.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Morkel, guess I'll be a bit contrary on some opinions above. Technically I feel you handled the image well except for a small halo on the roofline. I might have moved back a few feet so the edge of the door wasn't so close to the edge of the frame. I agree that there is a very slight lean on the horizon line and I feel you included the right amount of sky. The lean of the building doesn't bother me but can sometimes be fixed using lens correction in PS. The problem with that is you need more room around it due to the reduction in area when the filter is used. I'm neutral regarding the snag...

[Morkel Erasmus]

Yeah, ruined all right, no color at all.

The sky is terrific and I like the building, I would have liked a view a few feet to the right, with a bit more sky and
more of the snag on the ground, but not being there, hard to know what the scene looked like.
The processing is really good, it does not look HDR, which is a plus to me.

Thanks Dan, the term "ruined" in the title was a veiled reference to the ruins in the shot, more than to the colours of the particular sunset...
I normally use manual luminosity mask blending which gives a natural feel...this was processed with Photomatix Fusion as far as I recall (I made 2 versions and liked this one more).

[Morkel Erasmus]

I love the sky and the ground cover. I like the building but am bothered by a few things about it. I would like to see more detail in the shadows, since this was an HDR I am sure the detail exists in one of the images. I also think there is some distortion causing tilting of the building. Very cool overall composition.

Thanks Nick. I went for a darker feel as the light was all but gone.
I am fine with the building's distortion as that is the idea of using a 14mm lens. I did use the lens profile correction in LR3 but didn't want to push it more.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Morkel, works for me. It does need a tiny bit of CW which is going to cause the building to lean a bit more. The horizon line just isn't level; to me.

Thanks Jay...I live in an area which is just one undulating rolling grassland upon the next so no horizon in a shot will ever be really level. That's why I used the building's right wall for an upright level and I'll stick to that

[Morkel Erasmus]

Hi Morkel, guess I'll be a bit contrary on some opinions above. Technically I feel you handled the image well except for a small halo on the roofline. I might have moved back a few feet so the edge of the door wasn't so close to the edge of the frame. I agree that there is a very slight lean on the horizon line and I feel you included the right amount of sky. The lean of the building doesn't bother me but can sometimes be fixed using lens correction in PS. The problem with that is you need more room around it due to the reduction in area when the filter is used. I'm neutral regarding the snag...

Thanks Dave. I tried to work on the resulting halo but didn't want to overcook it .
I was with my back to another ruins wall so going back wasn't an option

[Rachel Hollander]

Morkel - love the sky and I don't mind the darkness of the ruins as it adds to the mood IMO. I agree about the halo on the roof and also think there's a very slight one on the branch too.

Have fun in Kruger with the new kit. Looking forward to seeing your results both here and in wildlife.

Rachel

[Judy Howle]

I like the composition and wouldn't change anything! The sunset colors are very nice.

[Robert Amoruso]

Thanks Dave. I tried to work on the resulting halo but didn't want to overcook it .
I was with my back to another ruins wall so going back wasn't an option

Morkel, You need a Fisheye, held vertical to the horizon and crop after the fact.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks folks.

Robert - indeed