A tree on a hill

I posted a pretty grim update on a poached rhino last night on my social media outlets, so I thought I'd just post a simplistic and serene landscape photo this morning to make up for it. I haven't been out photographing landscapes properly in a long time - I blame the wildlife haha.

This is from my archives - a trip in November 2011 to be exact. What was supposed to be a relaxing fly-fishing retreat with good friends inevitably turned into a photographic mission for me as I woke up one morning to what looked like a promising sunrise. I trudged up the hill behind our little cottage, and looked for a composition before the light peaked. I found my composition, but the light didn't really "show up" as well as I anticipated. It's still a decent image and I've kept it. What do you think?

Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8 @ 14mm
f16  |  ISO-200  |  Blend of 3 exposures using manual luminosity masks in Photoshop

click on the image to display at proper resolution and sharpness

Thanks for your time, my friends!

Morkel Erasmus

Drakensberg Serenity

It's been a while since I posted a landscape photo, so I might as well do it today. I enjoy landscape photography a lot...it's just that those darn animals take up so much of my photographic attention, okay?

This was taken earlier this year during a lovely family breakaway to the southern Drakensberg region - more precisely to the Castleburn resort close to Underberg. It's a beautiful area and I will definitely be back there someday to explore some more. This photo shows the Castleburn lake (which is a good spot for some fly fishing) after a thunderstorm had passed through one afternoon. I love the dynamic range of my Nikon D800! This photo is a SINGLE exposure, where I was able to bring up shadow detail by more than a whole stop without introducing a real semblance of noise. Normally I would have had to blend two exposures to get this kind of detail in the entire range of tones.

Techs:
Nikon D800
Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8 @ 14mm
f5.6  |  1/200 SS  |  ISO-64
Shot handheld

click on the photo to display properly

Let me know what you think of this one...

Morkel Erasmus