I was captured by the textures and colors of the pan floor, the trees and the massive dune. The dune looked as if covered with small balls. Only later I reali...
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I was captured by the textures and colors of the pan floor, the trees and the massive dune. The dune looked as if covered with small balls. Only later I realized the bird had crashed the image.
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
For our Honeymoon I travelled with my new wife to Namibia. We drove to Etosha and then down to Sossusvlei. The drive was not without drama as we encountered some of the heaviest rains in many decades. At Sossusvlei we travelled into the park early before the heat of the day to visit the Dead Vlei. The Acacia trees are many centuries old and preserved by the dry desert environment.Time
Visiting the Deadvlei is best done early on the morning or late afternoon or if you are lucky enough to stay inside the park, at night. This shot was taken about 10:00 am. We had done some walking to see the Vlei before settling into serious shooting.Lighting
Lighting in the Vlei is harsh, the sun pours down driving hard contrasts. In future I will bring a 10 stop ND filter. The absence of trees and moving objects means a much deeper dynamic range can be captured. The ND filters with long exposures or exposure stacking are good ways to remove the many tourists and dare I say, other photographers. Fortunately none were in this shot.Equipment
My standard rig for travel is a Canon 5D MkIV, a 70-200mm f2.8 and a 16-35 f2.8 lens. For this shot I used by nearly 20 year old 70-200 f2.8 with a circular polarizer (I had not learnt about ND filters yet).Inspiration
Dead Vlei is about hard color. Black, Blue, Red, Yellow and the cream of compacted clay at the bottom of the Vlei. Trying to capture all of this is challenging. Narrowing things and skipping the blue of the sky I focussed on the textures of the sand, the small bushes on the face of the dune which contrasted with the black of the trees and the base of the Vlei. This shot captures for me, a different feel of the Vlei.Editing
No I am glad to say this is nearly as shot.In my camera bag
My standard rig for travel is a Canon 5D MkIV, a 70-200mm f2.8 and a 16-35 f2.8 lens.Feedback
Bring a tripod, a good lightweight carbon fibre unit, arrive early and look, really look to you own special perspective.