[Henk Coetzee]

Last month I had a couple of days to drive from Namibia back home to South Africa. Most of the time was spent in Botswana, with 2 nights at Kubu Island on Sua Pan - a granite island poking through the bed of an old inland sea. The concentration of baobabs on this island is spectacular. I was lucky to have one cloudy and one clear day. This one, from the first, cloudy morning.

[Ash]

Hi Henk. Bold composition and interesting subject matter. A little sullen, and as such not quite matched with the less dramatic sky. It would have worked very well a few minutes earlier, with a more graduated and crimson-like sky, supplemented with some foreground light to enhance the details on the trees.

[Gregory_51]

Interesting subject. I think this is probably close to what the subject lighting was at the time but to the viewer the foreground looks rather bland. I might suggest moving closer to the subject. Part of the appeal of a wide angle lens is the changes in perspective they give when you move in close to the subject.I've done a couple of quick edits. I've brightened the foreground and punched up the sky and cropped a bit of the sky out. One is a punchier colour version and the other a b&w treatment. The quality suffers when you start editing a small jpeg but it gives you the idea. Just my thoughts on it.
Cheers

[Henk Coetzee]

Thanks for the ideas. I have a number of images of this scene and the morning. The challenge I was working on here is that capturing the rising sun, the brightening sky and the shade side of the tree becomes progressively more and more difficult as the morning brightens.

A few minutes earlier I did capture this one, which probably does a better job (although it looks a bit dull on the cr@ppy laptop monitor I'm using at the moment).


K20D Sigma 10-20@16mm 1/5s f10

The exercise of working through and processing these images is proving very useful for me. It also means that I will probably plan another trip to this location in the not too distant future .

[smf]

I like both the horizontal and vertical versions you posted. I think I'd like the vertical version a bit more if the image is cropped to remove the objects (rocks?) closest to the camera. In the horizontal image, you might try cropping out the distant tree at right.
Welcome to Pentaxforums. I hope to see more of your photographs.

[Xandr]

I like more the third photo, black and white one, the second is also good.

[Henk Coetzee]

I like both the horizontal and vertical versions you posted. I think I'd like the vertical version a bit more if the image is cropped to remove the objects (rocks?) closest to the camera. In the horizontal image, you might try cropping out the distant tree at right.
Welcome to Pentaxforums. I hope to see more of your photographs.

It does work, although I prefer the proportions uncropped. I've also tried to brighten the sky a little.

[KevinR]

Nice capture. Definitely also one of the most iconic scenes from this off road adventure travel destination. Hope to get there sometime.

BTW: welcome to another ZA member. Seems Pentax has a reasonable niche market on the southern tip...

[riff]

I'd be shooting exposure bracketing for this scene, with the idea they may end up HDR tonemapped. If I don't like the HDR effect I still have a range of exposures to work with. You have a super location and great compositions.

[VTerlakyPhoto]

I think both the horizontal and vertical have something to offer here. The horizontal actually has a great leading line (top of the trees) towards the sun, which I find very interesting. My main issues with the image are the slightly under-exposed foreground (easy to fix by pulling up the shadows a little), but the bigger issue is that it overall looks a bit soft (but that could be due to JPEG conversion and small size?).

The vertical image is strong in that it really separates the tree in an empty landscape, and adds a lot of empty sky to enhance the "lonely" effect - well done. Again, the foreground is a tad under-exposed, easily fixed.

[adelorenzo]

Solid composition I really like this image.

I would love to see the trees get more separation from the background. Some more back lighting (ie brighter sun) would work or even just playing around with sliders and stuff. Second image you posted looks better in that regard.

[Nick Nero]

Last month I had a couple of days to drive from Namibia back home to South Africa. Most of the time was spent in Botswana, with 2 nights at Kubu Island on Sua Pan - a granite island poking through the bed of an old inland sea. The concentration of baobabs on this island is spectacular. I was lucky to have one cloudy and one clear day. This one, from the first, cloudy morning.

Spent 16 days in the Delta and Savuti in August. No cool baobab shots like yours but plenty of wildlife.
I honestly don´t think it´s too much wrong with the first, close up version, except the details of the boabab is lost a little in the shadows. Brighten that up a little and its fine.
That said, the version you posted at 1.08 is much more to my taste. It has more originality and it captures the vastness of the pan and has a sort of hunting ambiance. The reddish in the distant sky is perfectly toned and just enough to not distract or take over the composition. Well done.

[chicagojohn]

I think I like the first one best after looking at all the rest. Is that the moon on the horizon?
But I also think it's a choice of going silhouette or with detail in the tree, and I personally would prefer the former to place the emphasis on the sky and that bright spot just above the horizon which I take to be a setting moon at sunrise?

Interesting composition.