Treasure Hunt

I like it very much ! Spectacular image.
Personally I'd think about brightening the b/g dunes just a touch if possible but I love the f/g texture and light, and the sky.

Very nicely done, Abdulla. I love the crepuscular rays. I'll second Neale's suggestion about lightening the BG dunes just a touch.

Ed

Flows nicely from the foreground dune to the background rays, but I agree that I kind of get lost in the darker background dunes. The whole upper third could be brightened without blowing out the sky or putting the whole image out of balance I think.

Thanks Neale, Ed & Daniel for stopping to view. I guess looking at it now I am more of convinced that the background dunes are a bit dark. I managed to show a bit of dunes in the updated image. I guess processing it I was more of wanted to hide of the back dunes and draw the viewers eye towards the rays in the clouds. I guess after the rays you end up looking at the dunes and feel it's a bit dark.

Many thanks all for your sweet words and support.

Nice! The cepuscular rays are awesome here, very cool.
I agree about the bg dunes; the repost is an improvement, but there still seems to be a 'disconnect' here between bg/fg. You might try darkening the fg dunes, or lightening the sky, something to suggest the fg lighting is more natural. It might take some work, but this is a great comp so it's worth a bit of experimenting. Try looking at the single exposure to get a feel for the natural dynamic range here.

The texture of the FG are beautiful, and the light in the sky are nice. The upper part of the image (mainly the dunes in the bg and the lower clouds) is indeed too dark. As pointed by others, the re-pose is an improvement, but can be further improved.

The composition is tremendous! However, I think the sky is a bit dark, making it look a bit unrealistic (and I don't think you need it that dark so low in the frame to maintain the exposure).

Looks nice. Very dramatic light.

Spectacular!!! Wonderful shot and moment of light.

I do find the heaviness of the background a little distracting. Ooops, I just saw the second shot. Much better.

The repost is much better. Great comp and light on this one. Well done!

Love it my friend

nice work, i prefer 2nd version :-)

Very nice Abdulla. Beautiful colors and I love those sun beams. The foreground texture and patterns are really nice as well. The second version looks best to me.

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Thank you all for stopping by and giving my work some part of your time to view.

I agree on most comments that the background dunes does need a little bit enhancement and presented better. I am still experimenting on this new technique that I learnt.

Just to explain a little better on the situation that day. The sky on that day was a dense as you can see. The only opening in the sky was really up high and time of capturing this image was about 30 mins before sunset. Therefore I had to choose a composition low and point upwards to make sure I keep the opening.

Many thanks again

-Abdulla

It was certainly nice to meet you, Abdulla. I'm pretty sure my best shot from the trip came from the evening of our workshop here and this rendition certainly emphasizes that great sky we had! Personally, I think it would be even more powerful with some selective dodging of the sky and sand directly behind and around the background peak and less so, on the beams above. With more contrast and brightness especially in the lower portions of the sky behind the dune, the dune would become an even stronger focal point. Still, this is handled quite well. We sure were lucky to catch those radiating beams right behind the peak! Hope to see you again sometime soon and good luck with the coming new arrival!

Thanks Marc for the amazing workshop and no doubt for the comments to improve. I have different image now taking everyones contribution to it.

Cheers
-Abdulla