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Thread: Cape Province, South Africa

  1. #1

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    Cape Province, South Africa

    This is a five shot HDR image, I placed my Nikon D3s with Nikkor 24-70mm lens on a rock for stability,set to do a 5 shot auto bracket with the camera on 'continuous' mode.Then it was processed in Photomatix pro and finished in Nik Color EFX Pro.The road on the extreme left follows the coast for many miles and is very popular with bikers come Sundays.

    Cape Province, South Africa

  2. #2
    dubaiphil's Avatar
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    Re: Cape Province, South Africa

    A beautiful view, Neil. It could be the image size (even viewed with the magnifying glass) but it looks as if the 12 apostles (I think that's the range we're looking at) could do with a little more contrast. It maybe the atmospherics, but I think it could help to have a little more punch in that area.

    Did you try Tonal Contrast on one of the middle bracketed shots in Color Efex? That might give you a similar image with a little more microcontrast.

    I'm gutted I only had 3 days in CT last year. I could shoot for a month on the Cape and not get bored - I am severely jealous!!!

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    Moderator Donald's Avatar
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    Re: Cape Province, South Africa

    Excellent application of the HDR technique.

    Noted Phil's point re micro/local contrast.

    A thought upon which to poner - How would it work in 16:9 format, keeping the bottom a sides and cropping a bit from the sky?

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    wtlwdwgn's Avatar
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    Re: Cape Province, South Africa

    I agree that landscapes beg for a wider view. I do like the surf leading us toward the mountains in the background.

  5. #5

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    Re: Cape Province, South Africa

    Thanks for your kind replies, I will give your suggestion a go Phil and Donald after uploading I did then consider that maybe some of the sky needed removing, its good to hear other peoples take on an image that is so personal to you.

  6. #6

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    Re: Cape Province, South Africa

    Here is a quick edit in Lightroom, cropped the sky and added some local contrast and clarity to the area mentioned.

    Cape Province, South Africa

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    Moderator Donald's Avatar
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    Re: Cape Province, South Africa

    What are your own views, Neil? Have you ended up with a stronger image? Be interesting to read what others think as well.

    I think the local contrast has certainly improved it. Not so sure about my suggested crop.

  8. #8

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    Re: Cape Province, South Africa

    My immediate thoughts with the second version are that the crop has brought the line between sea and land closer to the middle of the frame which doesn't 'balance' as well, not sure if its an improvement.

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    RockNGoalStar's Avatar
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    Re: Cape Province, South Africa

    I too think I prefer the original crop. I also feel that the 'horizon' is not 100% level. To me it feels as if the sea is travelling uphill and I would suggest a slight CCW rotation (unless it is an optical illusion created by the cape on the far right being closer to us than the mountains in the middle). Difficult to tell. Other than that, I think I would also like to see the tip of the cape on the right, rather than it being cut off.

    My only other question is whether there was actually any need for a 5-shot bracketed exposure. With a D3s I would have thought you'd have ample dynamic range to shoot this scene with one take? I am not criticising your use of HDR, as I think you have applied the technique sympathetically, just questioning whether it was actually necessary.

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    Moderator Donald's Avatar
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    Re: Cape Province, South Africa

    Quote Originally Posted by Neilmac50 View Post
    My immediate thoughts with the second version are that the crop has brought the line between sea and land closer to the middle of the frame which doesn't 'balance' as well, not sure if its an improvement.
    Yep, I read that one completely wrong. The original is much better. Oh, the shame of it!

  11. #11

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    Re: Cape Province, South Africa

    In reply to Tommy's question about my camera's dynamic range,what I quite often do when taking images with the idea of making into a HDR is to also take a seperate one of the scene with my best guess at exposure and also process that as an individual image to see if it is as good as or better.In this instance I felt the five image HDR came out better, the lights qualities did not make an easy subject to capture.

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