Serengeti Sunrise

Sony DSLR-A700:1/160s f/6.3 at 100.0mm iso320



No real story behind this one. PP via LR2.1
Did I got to far with the PP?

Winston Mitchell said:

No real story behind this one. PP via LR2.1
Did I got to far with the PP?

Click to expand...

Hi Winston,

How far did you go? We'd need to see the original. This is a very evocative image. The tree is so memorable. I like how you have the breaking of the dawn with the sun about to reclaim the sky. I know there's likely birds in that tree and perhaps a lion at the base, nearby might be pack of hyena's ready to steal a carcass or one of the cubs!

If you wait and watch, there's always more to the story.

Just the same, your picture brings all this back.

Asher

P.S. I might try to define more the extreme left branches and leafy mass of the tree. Also I'd explore the upper edge of the other trees and bush in the skyline as they lit by the sun.

Here's the uncropped original. The only color knob I touched was adding some vibrance which didn't do much.

The rest: a curve that's steep through the higher tones, blacks turned down, some highlight recovery, and brightness turned down.

Winston,

Yes there was a story going on! I was so right, and all that are left are the ungulates!

Now how can you just wipe out all those gorgeous animals with PS!= in the first post!

At least you must make two pictures. The first version is fine for the tree and dramatic sky. Now we need another to celebrate the animals that survived another night! 1cm off the bottom, 0.5cm from the top and adjust to being out the grazing animals and post ~900 pixels wide so we can see them!

Asher

I think the first shot is intriguing and beautiful.

Asher Kelman said:

Winston,

Yes there was a story going on! I was so right, and all that are left are the ungulates!

Now how can you just wipe out all those gorgeous animals with PS!= in the first post!

At least you must make two pictures. The first version is fine for the tree and dramatic sky. Now we need another to celebrate the animals that survived another night! 1cm off the bottom, 0.5cm from the top and adjust to being out the grazing animals and post ~900 pixels wide so we can see them!

Asher

Click to expand...

Asher,

I can assure you that no ungulates were harmed in the processing of this photo. The version you propose is awful due to the burned black, burned-over grassland in the forground and the fact that the image was exposed for the sky.

I have a little over a thousand ungulate shots to pick from that are better than this one ;-)

Winston, I fear I like the subtler version best. My first thought on opening the thread was "Oh, another National Geographic picture that's been done to death" This might have been a good one to do the HDR magic on the foreground field and turn it into a black and white?

Jim Galli said:

Winston, I fear I like the subtler version best. My first thought on opening the thread was "Oh, another National Geographic picture that's been done to death" This might have been a good one to do the HDR magic on the foreground field and turn it into a black and white?

Click to expand...

I understand, Jim.

The problem is that the "subtler version" isn't a version...it's just the unprocessed file. The foreground is way underexposed, useless noise. This was by intent. When I made the exposure, my only interest was the silhouette of the tree against a very workable sky and an un-blownout sun. I usually don't know exactly what I want but this time I did...I knew I was going to play with it.

My concern was expressed in the original post: "Did I go too far with the PP?" You think I did. I have no problem with that. It's hard to know where to stop ;-)

The B&W works for me only if I soften it up a lot. Then there is the problem of the hideous fire-blackened grass and road. This can be solved by using the tree as a partial frame. This moves the trunk and sun off to the side, gets rid of the really ugly stuff, and preserves most of the ungulates. This could never be printed but it is a reasonable representation of what might have been. Is something like what you had in mind?

Yes, that would be a very fetching picture. All of them are excellent including the lovely PP version you began the thread with. If you cropped the pastel original just below the base of the tree my mind would never have known or questioned the dark foreground burnt grass areas. It looks very natural for that time of evening (or is it morning). Never mind me, I'm just one vote in a million but I worry more than ever with the new digital generation about "cliché" pictures. It really is gorgeous. Is it too gorgeous?

Winston Mitchell said:

I understand, Asher.

The problem is that the "subtler version" isn't a version...it's just the unprocessed file. The foreground is way underexposed, useless noise. This was by intent. When I made the exposure, my only interest was the silhouette of the tree against a very workable sky and an un-blownout sun. I usually don't know exactly what I want but this time I did...I knew I was going to play with it.

My concern was expressed in the original post: "Did I go too far with the PP?" You think I did. I have no problem with that. It's hard to know where to stop ;-)

The B&W works for me only if I soften it up a lot. Then there is the problem of the hideous fire-blackened grass and road. This can be solved by using the tree as a partial frame. This moves the trunk and sun off to the side, gets rid of the really ugly stuff, and preserves most of the ungulates. This could never be printed but it is a reasonable representation of what might have been. Is something like what you had in mind?

Click to expand...

Jim Galli said:

Yes, that would be a very fetching picture. All of them are excellent including the lovely PP version you began the thread with. If you cropped the pastel original just below the base of the tree my mind would never have known or questioned the dark foreground burnt grass areas. It looks very natural for that time of evening (or is it morning). Never mind me, I'm just one vote in a million but I worry more than ever with the new digital generation about "cliché" pictures. It really is gorgeous. Is it too gorgeous?

Click to expand...

Ah...you mean crop and then leave it alone?

Winston Mitchell said:

Ah...you mean crop and then leave it alone?

Click to expand...

Yes, but that's just me. I hope others will be generous with comments too.