Sunrise on Verneukpan, a monitor lizard on the move and a hyena striking a pose… Did your photo make the cut this month?

JOUBERT TULLEKEN

@joubert_tulleken Canon EOS 80D Canon 18 – 135 mm lens

JOUBERT WRITES: My wife and I were travelling from Kathu to Cape Town and we decided to camp on Verneukpan for a night. We were the only people there and we pitched our tent in the middle of the pan. I got up at 4.40 am to set up my tripod for a sunrise photo. There’s nothing at all on the pan so I decided to include the vehicle tracks to make it interesting. I was grateful for the clouds in the sky, which added some colour. When the sky was at its pinkest (around 5.20 am, just before sunrise) I set the self-timer and stood in the frame. My shutter speed was 1/4 second, aperture f14 and ISO 100. When I got home, I used Adobe Lightroom to adjust the white balance and contrast.

TOAST SAYS: Natural light is the one thing you can’t control. The best you can do is to put yourself in the right position so that when the light changes you can press the shutter button. Joubert’s decision to get up early was the right one. Verneukpan is as deserted as it gets and it’s hard to capture the vastness. Joubert tried to do so by creating lines to lead your eye into the photo (the jeep track) and by posing in the frame to give a sense of scale. Note how his body rises above the horizon. He also spread out his arms, which makes the silhouette so much stronger. We’re on Instagram! Follow us and our sister mag Weg for travel and wildlife pics from all over: Search for @gomagsa and @menseselense