Cosmos Heaven

I've been meaning to get out to photograph the local "cosmos bloom" since the middle of February but being a new father has kept me busy when work hasn't...yet I finally found time to slip away to a spot I had picked out on Tuesday afternoon.

There isn't much going on in terms of landscaping where I live on the South African Highveld, so the cosmos season brings welcome relief in that sense. Pity it's almost over, I need to get out again soon! It's quite hard to get a shot without any man-made elements like pylons, cooling towers and roads around here, especially since there are many mines, power plants and refineries in the area. That's what makes this spot so special...when shooting from a SE-SW direction you can get in just an endless meadow of cosmos with a tree here and there.

Luckily the sky played along nicely! This is a blend of 2 images for dynamic range. I know many will bemoan the "central" horizon...rest assured I have many varying compositions vertically and horizontally of this scene...and I wanted to create a "dreamscape" of flowers seemingly without end, touching the sky in the distance. I included the half-open patch up front to provide something of an anchor to start from, as opposed to filling the frame entirely with flowers from the bottom up (which I also have shots of).

You're going to have to click on the larger version here...

Would be interested in your thoughts!

Techs:
Canon 7D with 10-22mm USM @ 10mm
f16 @ ISO-100
Had to extend all parts of the tripod to the full to be able to rise slightly above the tall flower stems.
The sun was all but gone behind a cloud bank to the right of the immediate view here.