Autumn's Hold

[Octane]

All,

This is far from my best work.

I made this photograph towards late afternoon along the Arrow River in Arrowtown on New Zealand's South Island.

Arrowtown is renowned for its splendid display of autumnal colours; with fiery reds, blazing golds, warming oranges, pale greens amongst other subtle tones, filling the landscape and complemented by the faint cyan of glacial melt in the river.

The sky in the original file was blown out, so, I made another exposure which was four stops under-exposed and masked it in to the composition. Highlights in foliage controled through careful luminance processing.

This image was made from the same location as:

Pastels of Arrow River's Autumn (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=44741)
Shades of Autumn (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=46716)

This is far from my best composition and the light was not exactly what I was hoping for, but, I did want to share the colours. I look forward to heading back in autumn and spring, 2010, to do this place (and others) justice.

Slightly higher resolution available here (http://users.tpg.com.au/octane2/ah.html).

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
1/30s f/8.0 at 40.0mm iso100

Comments, critique, etc., most welcome.

Regards,
Humayun

[troypiggo]

The colour of the trees certainly do look rich. Pity I missed that when we were there in September. You've done a great job of blending the exposures there, though something just doesn't gel - can't put my finger on it, whether it's the white balance or the brightness of the sky versus the scene. Not sure.