Namibian Desert Sea
Oct, 2015Views
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Staff Winter Selection 2015
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
Taken in the Namib-Naukluft National Park in Namibia, the largest conservation area in Africa. Dunes in the park can rise to 300 metres. The shot was taken along the road between the park gate and Sossusvlei, a large, white, salt and clay pan dotted with dead trees surrounded by dunes. Sossusvlei is probably the most visited tourist destination in Namibia.Time
We entered the gate at about 7 am as the sun was rising, but only got to this dune (called Dune 45) at about 8 am as we were stopping taking pictures of the various dunes along the way.Lighting
Being fairly early, I still managed to get some good contrast between light and shadeEquipment
Nikon D750 with a 70-200 VR 2 and TS 1.4 - hand heldInspiration
These dunes are so unique that any variation in light or form is worth taking. I really liked the curve of the dune sweeping down to ground level and the few scrubby trees highlighted at the base.Editing
Not a lot. I shot it in jpeg and made some highlight, shadow, black and white adjustments, as well as adjusting the white and black mid-tone sliders, all in LR5In my camera bag
While my wife and I traveled for three years I carried the D750/ 70-200 combo (using the 1.4 TS occasionally) and Nikon D600 with a 24-120 on it. When at home I also use a tripod as well as a Tokina 105 macro lense.Feedback
Rather than taking wide angle landscape shots (although as you can see the widest I have is 24mm) I often prefer to look for an interesting area in a landscape and zoom into it. The shot above was the original (not cropped). If I want to take a wide angle I prefer to take adjacent pictures (in portrait) and stitch them in Microsoft's Image Composite editor.
