Dune 54

[Manfred M]

I'm cleaning up and reorganizing my data, so while I am at it, I'm revisiting a few old images and reworking them.

This is a shot at sunset of Dune 54, so named because it is 54 km from the park gate at Sesriem, Namibia. This shot was taken in November 2011.




The tree died some 900 years ago, but the area is so dry it has not rotted away.

[Chrisclick]

Nice B&W. The textures are wonderful, if not tactile!

[Dave Humphries]

HI Manfred,

There's something visually odd about this shot.

The lighter shades on the bark suggests the light is coming over your right shoulder, however, the shadow is suggesting the light must have been coming over your left shoulder.

An alternative explanation would be that the tree shadow doesn't belong to the tree in shot, but to another, out of frame to your right.

I couldn't really determine the reality from grass clump shadows.

I was also intrigued/distracted by the tracks and whatever that is on the ridge line of the dune near the top.

If your intention was that I should study this for several minutes and scratch my head (unwise!), you succeeded

[deetheturk]

Hi Manfred, I really like the image and think it has been well worth reworking!

[bnnrcn]

Hi Manfred, I haven't seen a tree which died 900 years ago and still stands up, thanks for sharing BTW, I wonder about the light in the image as Dave does IMO that shadow of tree belongs to another one which is not in the frame.

[Shadowman]

Nice capture.

[John 2]

That's a really nice mono conversion Manfred. I think that I would have liked the tree to be leaning into the comp but sometimes you can't have everything. It's still a nice image.

[Rebel]

HI Manfred,

There's something visually odd about this shot.

The lighter shades on the bark suggests the light is coming over your right shoulder, however, the shadow is suggesting the light must have been coming over your left shoulder.

An alternative explanation would be that the tree shadow doesn't belong to the tree in shot, but to another, out of frame to your right.

I couldn't really determine the reality from grass clump shadows.

I was also intrigued/distracted by the tracks and whatever that is on the ridge line of the dune near the top.

If your intention was that I should study this for several minutes and scratch my head (unwise!), you succeeded

Don't worry Dave, I'm with you

The shadow doesn't seem to fit the tree, cool image though!

Maybe its a mirage?

[Manfred M]

Dave / Matt - after 5 years, I can't remember for sure, but suspect it is the shadow of another tree.

I went back to the image folder and found this shot (SOOC jpeg) that I had taken just prior to the B&W and it shows two trees pretty well beside one another.



The marks in the sand are the footprints of the many people who have climbed the dune, along a ridge to the top. I was quite ill when we got to this site with something I must have picked up on the flight over and was running a fever and coughing quite heavily, so I was just barely able to get out of the truck to take pictures. Climbing the dunes was definitely out of the question for me those couple of days we spent in the area.

Here is a screen capture from The Photographer's Ephemeris showing the approximate location and lighting. The shot was taken about 5 minutes before sunset. Dune 52 is well visited because it lies so close to the road.

[Mike Buckley]

I would not normally like this style of composition with the top of the dune intersecting with the middle of the tree. I would normally prefer that the top of the dune is either above the tree or near the bottom. In this case, I like the position of where the dune intersects the tree even though I have no idea why I like it.

All of the shadows of the bushes are to their left. So, it's clear to me that the shadow of the tree in the photo is not displayed and that the shadow of a tree is of a different tree that is not displayed.

[Manfred M]

I would not normally like this style of composition with the top of the dune intersecting with the middle of the tree.

The reason I find reviewing some of my older shots so interesting is that many of the images that I "loved" when I took them seem somewhat flawed to me today. My views on composition have evolved, as has my approach to post processing.

These shots were taken around 18 months after I returned to "serious photography". I was still figuring out where I was going and was probably spending more time shooting video than working on stills. I found that my still photography knowledge had a profound impact on how I framed and shot video. Back then I was certainly one of those people who was on the "I can fix that in post" bandwagon. What I learned from shooting (and editing) video is that getting it right in camera so as to minimize PP work takes a LOT less time.



One of my goals for this winter is to get back at some serious video work. You will note that I even colour coordinated my shirt for the scenery in this shot.

[Mike Buckley]

You will note that I even colour coordinated my shirt for the scenery in this shot.

Duly noted!

[Wavelength]

Excellent images...