Mark Kriedemann, Transmutations of Tone Amidst Haze (ENTRIES CLOSED - March theme: The Great Outdoors)

Heavy haze over the seascape visible from Oraileys Beach in Thailand at the end of March 2026 meant some very special tones from the sunset. Instead of the pure gold we’re accustomed to viewing in Australia, the atmosphere filtered the sun in such a way that during its final stages of setting, it turned almost pink. Not satisfied with simply some interesting colours though, I wanted to line up a boat perfectly with the sun, just as the sun was touching the mountains in the background. I also shifted the sun slightly to the left in composition to allow space for the trailing whisper of cloud, which I thought made the sky more interesting. I used a 100-400 to achieve the necessary compression and introduce more of the haze affect (having more haze between camera and subject). I got as low as I could without losing the texture of the water surface completely to show the effect of the sunset on the water’s tone. Finally, I deliberately underexposed the image so as to reveal the scene’s rich colour and avoid clipping highlights. Minor tuning of levels to enhance colour detail.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.