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Archive 2016 · Seal Island Sunrise

  
 
beavens
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Seal Island Sunrise


As some of you folks know (and some may not!), my wife and I recently took a return trip to South Africa. First up on the agenda (after an amazing close-up cheetah encounter at a sanctuary and some wineries!) was going to Simon's Town/False Bay and cage-diving with the white sharks there.

The sunrises and sunsets of Africa are almost all beautiful, but some moreso than others. We were quite fortunate this first morning and below are a couple pictures that I've got. Even the locals were blown away by the intensely saturated skies and wonderful cloud formations at play. If only the cameras could keep up with the human eye, but I gave it the old college try.

C&C welcome as per always!

Thanks,

Jeff












Jul 27, 2016 at 10:46 AM
eeneryma
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Seal Island Sunrise


beavens wrote:
As some of you folks know (and some may not!), my wife and I recently took a return trip to South Africa. First up on the agenda (after an amazing close-up cheetah encounter at a sanctuary and some wineries!) was going to Simon's Town/False Bay and cage-diving with the white sharks there.

The sunrises and sunsets of Africa are almost all beautiful, but some moreso than others. We were quite fortunate this first morning and below are a couple pictures that I've got. Even the locals were blown away by the intensely saturated skies and wonderful cloud formations at play.
...Show more

Welcome back, and you've been missed. #2 is my pick, an incredible photo. Keep them coming!
Steve



Jul 27, 2016 at 11:28 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Seal Island Sunrise


Welcome back and glad you had a great trip. Both of these are fantastic for the sky's. I prefer 1 because of the better shadow detail and lack of total black. I am amazed at this 400mm. I need to use my 100-400 more for landscapes.


Jul 27, 2016 at 11:47 AM
beavens
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Seal Island Sunrise




Welcome back, and you've been missed. #2 is my pick, an incredible photo. Keep them coming!
Steve


Thank you, Steve - both for the welcome and your feedback! As always with travel, returning is a bittersweet event. If it weren't for family and our parrot we may not have returned. The photographical possibilities out there are endless, and anyone who remains in the area is certain to come back with just stunning pictures. I hope I can do a fraction of justice with what I brought back.

---------------------------------------------

ben egbert wrote:
Welcome back and glad you had a great trip. Both of these are fantastic for the sky's. I prefer 1 because of the better shadow detail and lack of total black. I am amazed at this 400mm. I need to use my 100-400 more for landscapes.


Thanks, Ben! It was a truly fantastic trip - each portion of the holiday had their own unique memories. I hear ya on the shadows, and I could more than likely bring them up accordingly but the goal for that one was the silhouettes. Glad you dig 1 though! This lens is really an awesome versatile piece of glass. I almost never broke out the 16-35 on this trip as the 100-400 got me through 95% of the trip!

Jeff



Jul 27, 2016 at 12:27 PM
lighthound
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Seal Island Sunrise


Oh hot damn! They're starting to roll off the press!
Ok, computer.

Welcome home Jeff! Super happy for you and your wife to have had a great trip!

That sky is just crazy nice! Both images have their own feel and strong points so I couldn't choose one over the other.

#1 has the dynamics of the rough water that is perfectly mirrored by those crazy clouds/sky. I like the little guy in the water even though he's not in focus and very dark. I think he he adds a nice presence to the image. One small nit and it might be just me but it feels like it needs a slight CCW rotation?

#2 This one has a completely different mood and feel. This one is calm, warm and inviting. I really like how you nailed the whiskers on the middle one. That sucks my eyes right in and I keep looking right back at him. The bird is a very nice touch as well. I'm going the opposite direction from Ben on the shadows. I really like the boldness of the solid black against that magical sky. IMHO, solid silhouettes are suppose to be just that, solid. If I had to find a nit, it might be the front edge of the lower wing. It might just be rim lighting from the sun but I'm seeing a slight halo or something there. Not a show stopper by any means.

I'm trying really hard to contain my enthusiasm and excitement for you while viewing these, thus what little nits I could find.

I can't believe you didn't get motion blur on these shooting at that SS. Nice work Mr!

Keep em coming man!
Just be forewarned that I might start calling you really bad names out of envy.

Dave



Jul 27, 2016 at 12:57 PM
beavens
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Seal Island Sunrise


lighthound wrote:
Oh hot damn! They're starting to roll off the press!
Ok, computer.

Welcome home Jeff! Super happy for you and your wife to have had a great trip!

That sky is just crazy nice! Both images have their own feel and strong points so I couldn't choose one over the other.

#1 has the dynamics of the rough water that is perfectly mirrored by those crazy clouds/sky. I like the little guy in the water even though he's not in focus and very dark. I think he he adds a nice presence to the image. One small nit and it might
...Show more

I felt that I could not deal with a full day at work without at least putting a couple out there, especially cause I've been up since 3:45am!

Thanks for much for the very detailed feedback! I enjoy how you pick up on the small things that I never even took noticed to - most notably the seal in the lower-left of #1. I will take a look at the rotation as well as the potential haloing on the bird's wing (I see it also now). Don't believe I pushed the sharpening too much, but it is entirely possible!

Call me all the names you got, as long as you dig on the pics.

Jeff



Jul 27, 2016 at 01:16 PM
lighthound
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Seal Island Sunrise


Well ya didn't give us any "big things" (that I can see) to nit about so I did the best I could with little things.


Jul 27, 2016 at 01:25 PM
beavens
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Seal Island Sunrise


lighthound wrote:
Well ya didn't give us any "big things" (that I can see) to nit about so I did the best I could with little things.


Trust me, it's very helpful. Sometimes, especially with my own pictures, I cannot see the forest for the trees.




Jul 27, 2016 at 01:29 PM
sbeme
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Seal Island Sunrise


Two spectacular shots.
Great to behold, I am sure, but the comps are spot on. Dave described well that neat interplay with sky and water shapes in the first.
But to me the second is totally killer. Down to the whiskers!
I think the processing and technicals are spot on in each.
Just great stuff Jeff. Wonderful that you were there with the skill to use your equipment, a mature eye for comps, and excellent processing.

Scott



Jul 31, 2016 at 09:53 PM
eeneryma
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Seal Island Sunrise




sbeme wrote:
Two spectacular shots.
Great to behold, I am sure, but the comps are spot on. Dave described well that neat interplay with sky and water shapes in the first.
But to me the second is totally killer. Down to the whiskers!
I think the processing and technicals are spot on in each.
Just great stuff Jeff. Wonderful that you were there with the skill to use your equipment, a mature eye for comps, and excellent processing.

Scott


Jeff,
I was showing all your great photos to my wife tonight who was oohing and ahing at them. We both agreed that someday we have to make this trip.
Steve



Jul 31, 2016 at 11:01 PM
beavens
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Seal Island Sunrise


sbeme wrote:
Two spectacular shots.
Great to behold, I am sure, but the comps are spot on. Dave described well that neat interplay with sky and water shapes in the first.
But to me the second is totally killer. Down to the whiskers!
I think the processing and technicals are spot on in each.
Just great stuff Jeff. Wonderful that you were there with the skill to use your equipment, a mature eye for comps, and excellent processing.

Scott


Thanks for the very kind words, Scott! The view was truly quite spectacular - so much so that we had to take pause and drink it in (as well as photograph it in!) before we continued on looking for natural predations!

---------------------------------------------

eeneryma wrote:
Jeff,
I was showing all your great photos to my wife tonight who was oohing and ahing at them. We both agreed that someday we have to make this trip.
Steve


That's fantastic, Steve, and means quite a bit to me. I agree that you need to add SA, and Africa in general, to your shortlist. It's a beautiful country/continent with phenomenal sightings and wonderful people. Another member from FM once told me that when you go to Africa that it gets into your blood. He has been returning for going on 35 years now. With two visits under our belt already I believe I know exactly what he's referring to. We're already trying to figure out details for our NEXT trip! If you ever have any questions at all, don't hesitate to ask. That goes for anyone as well!

Cheers!

Jeff



Aug 01, 2016 at 07:51 AM





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