Three landscapes of New Caledonia

[Killakoala]

As i am currently enjoying the sunshine in New Caledonia at the moment, i thought it would be nice to take the opportunity to show you the 'other' side of tropical paradises.

Click on an image for a larger pic.

This image caught my eye as i passed it by. The sillouhette caused by shooting towards the sun seemed like a good opportunity to get the pines more distinct. I applied a strong curve to the final image to get some darker blacks and whiter whites out of the image. I got what i aimed for in the beginning, when i first saw the view. (Shot with D2H and 80-200)


This is a nickel smelter that i caught early one morning as the clouds were still low in the mountains behind. The scene was just begging to be converted into a dark, brooding industrial image. I also added some grain to add to the mood. (Shot with D2H and 80-200)


Finally a sunset that is not all that special, but just to show you that it is indeed a tropical setting. I played with the colours a lot to get a nice purple tinge to the view, which is my preferred sunset colour Overall, the sunsets here have not been very good, which is a bit disappointing. (Shot with D2H and Sigma 12-24)


Your critiques are always welcome.

[johnd]

Steve, I particularly like the nickel smelter. At first glance it's dificult to tell which century it was taken. It almost looks like all the clouds are smoke from the smelter. The b/w treatment works real well too. Nice image.

Cheers
John

[avkomp]

Steve,

I like the treatment of the nickel smelter.

gives it a dark brooding appearance


Steve

[Manta]

Excellent work Steve. I really like all of them. Good observation skills for the first one.

[kamran]

Yep. Nice pics. Love that sunset.

Keep it up.

[marcotrov]

Some lovely shots here Steve. I really like #1 and #3. I like the Ying and Yang effect of #1 and the composition and beautifully rendered colours of #3.
cheers
marco

[NJ]

im a sucker for the colours in that sunset! love it!

[Manta]

Steve,

I've just had another look at these; still love them. However, I've altered my view with regard to the first one and now feel there's too much Yang and not enough Yin (to borrow Marco's phraseology ).

It took me a few seconds to work out why it felt unbalanced. For me, the correct diagonal line should be somewhere around the middle of the trees, not along the ground. I reckon it's because the trees themselves add to the black rather than separate it from the white and as the shot is currently composed, it appears a bit lopsided, with too much black. Just a personal viewpoint but I think it would benefit with a re-crop, placing the groundline lower in the frame and making the midline somewhere around half tree height.

Does that make sense or did I get up too early?

[leek]

Nice shots Steve... I love #1, but now that Simon has made that suggestion, I'd have to agree with it...

[Killakoala]

Agreed. In fact i think that would make the trees a kind of grey in-between black and white, which will add further to the image. Also i will clone more white into the bottom right where the hill behind is too dark in contrast to the trees.

Great advice, thanks.

Thanks for the comments all..

[wendellt]

i like the 2nd one best it's very nostalgic of a time of post industrialism i like the offsett of subject matter from the landscape and man made development

the 1st one has those classic compositional aspects

the 3rd however seems out of place compared to the others