About the Image(s)

Orakei Korako is one of the more dramatic of the innumerable geothermal areas on the northern island of New Zealand. I was very taken by the way the scorched earth lies only meters from a dense jungle of these tree palms.

Canon EOS R5, 1/2000 second, f/6.3, ISO 640
Canon RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM at 200mm, cropped in post to approximately square, resulting FoV roughly comparable to about 160mm

At first I found it impossible to compose an image that showcased the contrasting landscapes; I was trying to do it with a wide-angle capture. It was only later, when I was positioned at some distance, with the geothermal activity between me and the jungle on the further hillside, that I realized I could do it with a long focal length that would compress the whole scene. All in all, I'm pretty pleased with the result.

I don't recall why it was that I had the ISO cranked up a bit. As usual, I exposed for the highlights.

The (nearly) square aspect ratio felt comfortable and allowed me to trim away what felt like excess. I took care to keep the diagonal from ending near a corner, and to keep it asymmetric. Because of the crop, I started off with a side-trip to Topaz Gigapixel AI, where I kept the additional sharpening to a minimum but did denoise it a bit.

Post-processing was about sculpting locally to correct a bit for the compression. I painted in some contrast, primarily in the tree ferns and in the harsh grey mineral deposit area. I did have to tone down the nearly burnt-out highlights in the middle tree ferns.