African Sunset storm 1

[an2netswan]

I am still new to sharing my shots, as I am still learning about photography...
But I would love some comments on this photo, on how to improve the composition and maybe some post processing tips. How would this photo look with some HDR done.. just a thought. Would love some critique.

Exif data:
Canon EOS 400D Digital
F-stop:5.6
Exposure time: 1/80sec
ISO speed ISO 100
Focal lenght 18mm

[lerabu]

Wow! What a vista!

I would only crop it lower slightly above the tree to the right to make the view tighter and make the view look from left to right.

May you could also play in Photoshop / Lightroom to intendify to colours to your liking.

This is a fantastic shot.

[SwissJon]

I would crop this so that the tree to the right wasn't visible, it's hanging in mid air and does nothing for the photo. And clone out the power wires and pole.

There's a small amount of burn out in the sky, I'd try to recober that, and boost the contrast and the colours to make the clouds darker.

Apart from that, it's a nice photo.. One which the Mods will undoubtably reduce in size.

[windrider86]

Would you mind resizing your photo so we dont have to close it? Please and thank you

[SwissJon]

He he..

[subsonic]

This is a great photo as is, but you could almost use two different crops and get two more nice images out of it, might be a nice choice.

For example, on the left side, you could go edge to the clump of trees near the middle, or from the tree on the right back towards the middle.

To me, those would all work, as does the original. Grain of salt here, I'm pretty new at this myself....

[Krusty79]

Very cool sunset. It looks like there was too much dynamic range for your camera to correctly expose the bright clouds and the foreground. I have that problem even when I use my graduated neutral density filter. If you did want to try HDR on a shot like this, you can take shots at -2, 0 & +2 EV and load them into Photomatix or other HDR software (you can try Photomatix for free). If you go the HDR route, you can try to add some foreground interest, which will add depth to your shot.

For future reference, your images should not be any longer than 740 pixels on the longest side.

[wsbII]

I agree with Jon about the tree on the right. I understand your question about HDR, but would offer another view. What do the foreground objects add to the shot. I'd consider burning them in photoshop to just create the silouhette (never sure how to spell that). The sky is amazing, I wouldn't detract from the sky, but rather focus on it. It's an incredible scene, would have been an honor to have just been there

[Gulf Coast Girl]

Originally Posted by an2netswan

[IMG]How would this photo look with some HDR done.. just a thought. Would love some critique.

What a great shot! I love the clean line of rain line on the left. Would love to see it cropped as others suggested... especially if there's another inch of rain available on the left. From what little I know about HDR I think this would be a good candidate. I really like the faint car (wagon?) in the image (I think it depicts mankind vs. mother nature) and I think HDR would bring it out more.

[an2netswan]

Just want to say thanks so much for all the different comments and views, and possitive attitudes, it just inspires me to pick up my camera more....obviously you just love what your do.

I took some of your advise and cropped the photo, and add another that was also taken that day.



and the new one



This shot were taken on our farm in South Africa in the Waterberg area, the day before chrismas last year.