I sharing some images from a recent trip to Oman. The mountain landscapes were breathtaking, I cannot really do them justice with the photos. The beaches are pristine and perfect for camping.
I can wholeheartedly recommend Oman for a photo trip. Getting there is not trivial (6 hour flight from Munich), but once you are there there is a lot to see (9 days was not enough for even a fraction). Accommodation is relatively cheap, food is very cheap (especially fruit), eating out is a great experience, and the locals are very, very friendly, especially if you are with children.
We mostly did hiking (in wadis), camping (on beaches and the edge of the desert), and did not have time to cities other than Nizwa.
The obligatory camel shot. This is special to me because my 4 year old daughter also brought a camera (a Panasonic travel zoom) and used it extensively. After wading through approximately one hundred million camel, goat, and cat photos, I found some really good compositions.
The local fauna is interesting, especially the birds, snakes, and reptiles, but I did not have a zoom lens for wildlife on this trip so I only got critters who would come close enough.
Indeed it does! Thanks for pointing that out, next time I should pay attention to this.
Actually, both are captured burned out (for sunrise/sunset, I like to compensate just enough to capture the sunstars if I am using narrow aperture), then highlight reconstruction (inpaint opposed) in Darktable makes the “top” sun (the real one) about 15% brighter than the bottom reflection (in scene-referred terms), and sigmoid maps this to a smaller difference.
I am still undecided about whether I should correct this (by making the reflected sun darker). After all, it is a bit darker and this, as you said, is just contrast with the surroundings.
It is an interesting problem to have. On one hand, yes, it is supposed to be objectively and perceptively brighter, but was dampened by physical and algorithmic constraints. On the other hand, how many of us try to avoid looking at the sun directly to protect our eyes only to be blinded by reflections, especially when having to concentrate on the road while driving? It depends on what you want the image to evoke.
