Camera Labs

I'd never visited Hatta with a camera before so after checking the weather last night and seeing that light clouds were forecast in the morning, I set off early to get sunrise at Hatta. Hatta is a town in the UAE, 140km from Dubai, and you have to drive through a small portion of Oman on the way. It is set at the foot of the Hajar mountains, and a dam was recently built which created a picturesque lake. It was a good clear golden hour, with nice whispy clouds.

Here are a few for c&c:

1.



2.



3.



4.



5.

Nice set Phil, the clouds are interesting and you captured the rich tone colours of the mountains in varying times. Did you PP the green in #1 and use a filter on the shots. #3 and #5 five are just different FL, my choice would be #3 as it appears the mountain and reflection shapes a butterfly, this one is my favorite.


Cheers

_________________
Nikon D7000, D40X, Nikkor 18- 200 VR II, f3.5-5.6, 70-300 AF non VR, Kit Lenses.

Hi 4xxxx

Number 4 was taken 2 minutes before sunrise, and the others were taken within the first hour of sunlight hitting the lake.

I prefer the look of number 3, but either:

I didn't quite get the hyperfocal distance right
I didn't let the camera settle when shanging shutter speeds before firing off the next shot in the bracket

Either way, the foreground isn't as sharp as I'd like. I took several bursts of bracketed shots from this location, so I'll have to process some others to see how they come out.

In terms of processing, there was no saturation boost done on the green water, and no filters were used. It really does appear that colour with the sun on it. Each picture is a blend of 7 or 8 shots because of the very high dynamic range (1/500th to 1/8th at F16 for the earlier shots, adding 1/1000th in later shots)

After blending I ran through Nik Colour Efx to boost contrast and add a slight grad ND effect, with a light unsharp mask in PS to finish.

Looks like such a great place!

_________________
Flickr

Some more great photos Phil! I always love your work. Number 3 is definitely my favourite.

_________________
Camera: Canon 550D with battery grip
Lenses: Canon 24-105mm f/4L, Canon 50mm f1.4, Canon 18-55mm, Tamron 70-300mm,
Accessories: Manfrotto 055XPROB with 808RC4 head, Canon 430ex II speedlite, Lowepro Nova 180AW and Lowepro Pro Runner 450AW

Oh that is so lame, every hot girl who can aim a camera thinks she’s a photographer -Stewie Griffin

Thanks James - I've never had my shots called 'work' yet, so I guess I'm heading in the right direction.

The dynamic range was so great at the location that a lot of shots had to be taken to capture everything. It's nice to get in the mountains with good visibility and no haze as well - the endless beige that every fades into at around 4km visibility in Dubai itself is a bit annoying!

Good news - I've just won a sunrise balloon flight over the desert which I'll be taking next week. Now that'll be a photo opp!