Dead Sea, Jordan
Sunset at Dead Sea in Jordan
Sunset at Dead Sea in Jordan
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Feb, 2020Views
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Awards
Action Award
Curator's Selection
Top Shot Award 21
Spring 21 Award
2020 Choice Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Outstanding Creativity
Peer Award
Magnificent Capture
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken during my holiday trip to Jordan by the Dead Sea away from the busy hotels area, actually in the middle of nowhere. I asked few locals that I was looking for something special with salty pristine rocks. Most of them told me it's hard to find such places nowadays but one said there's one location and gave me some approximate landmark. I took a taxi and we drove for about 40-50 km away from the hotel to South to desolate area trying to find it. It was not easy because the road along the coast was high above the water and you could hardly see anything down due to steep rocky and dusty slopes. On top of that the driver was afraid of me doing it in general because the coast was a borderland with Israel (on picture across the sea) and local border guards could appear at any moment. But I insisted and at one point I decided to stop and to just go down a steep slope by foot and finally covered with dust and having few scratches I found these beautiful scene. I spent there 45 minutes, my skin and equipment was covered with salt, I also had few additional scratches as rocks were very sharp because of salt. Finally I went up to find my driver pretty nervous and sweaty but luckily border guards didn't show up. I felt really happy.Time
For landscape shots I usually choose either sunset or sunrise time or the blue hour. This one was taken right after sunset.Lighting
I deliberately chose a sunset time for this little adventure because the sea position was exactly from North to South and sunrise time was a waste of time due to shadowing of this side of the sea but sunset time lit it softly and beautifully.Equipment
This shot was taken using Canon EOS 30D, with 24-105mm f/4 L-lense and a tripod due to long exposure of 30 seconds. Due to limit of the wide angle I had to take 2 vertical shots to fit the whole scene in and to stitch them later during post-processing.Inspiration
I saw other people's photos of the salty rocks before but always dreamt of taking some myself and being on holidays in Jordan I did everything to find it.Editing
The shot consists of 2 vertical frames stitched together in the panorama editor. I also erased loads of dust dots entered the camera during 30 seconds exposure and made some white balance, contrast and color corrections.In my camera bag
I usually have two Canon mirror cameras (EOS 30D and EOS 400D) and 3 Canon lenses to cover all angles (10-22mm, 24-105mm, 100-400mm) as well as a care kit.Feedback
Never give up when looking for something special, ask locals and be prepared to take some reasonable risk. Have your equipment ready for different circumstances and always wear appropriate shoes and clothes.
