Etosha Pan

[Manfred M]

This is a shot along the length of the Etosha Pan, a 135km / 75 mi long flat salt pan in Namibia's Etosha National Park. It has a touch of a green cast from the mineral salts on its surface and while this picture was taken during dry conditions, during the rainy season it is covered by a thin layer of water.



It's one of the few places in the world that I've been where you can see the horizon while looking over dry land. The B&W treatment brings out the texture of the salt pan surface and it almost looks like water. The dark splashes on the ground are shadows cast by the clouds. The dark in the distance is the bottom of the clouds.

[Shadowman]

Nice composition.

[Brownbear]

I also love the composition. Truly mesmerizing!

[selig1656]

Gotta love it , the pic pulls you in . Great composition and I like the blk/wht .

[Mike Buckley]

Gotta love it , the pic pulls you in . Great composition and I like the blk/wht .

Yes to all of that!

[IzzieK]

Very nice composition indeed! I agree with what has already been said.

[Wavelength]

I liked it; it is an outstanding composition....yet i wanted a overall softening; as of now i feel a slight harshness...also i am eager to see its original colors..

[Manfred M]

This is the original Nandakumar.



Very little PP work; sharpening a touch of white and black point adjustments and a bit of a vignette. The horizon needed a bit of straightening and a few "dust bunnies" on the sensor were removed.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Manfred A very nice BnW image but I actually prefer the color image as the salt surface is more noticeable with its color in the photo .

[kdoc856]

t I actually prefer the color image as the salt surface is more noticeable with its color in the photo .

That is true, but I personally find that land/sky interface fascinating, and it is somewhat "swallowed up" by the color. The Mono just pulls me right to the horizon, whilst the colour lets me wander about on both land and sky.

[FootLoose]

I like the colours in the original but I prefer the b&w. In the mono, there is more of a sense of the clouds going on forever to the horizon whereas some of that sense of depth is lost in the colour- possibly because there is not the same tonal variation as the distance recedes.

[Manfred M]

That is true, but I personally find that land/sky interface fascinating, and it is somewhat "swallowed up" by the color. The Mono just pulls me right to the horizon, whilst the colour lets me wander about on both land and sky.

I like the colours in the original but I prefer the b&w. In the mono, there is more of a sense of the clouds going on forever to the horizon whereas some of that sense of depth is lost in the colour- possibly because there is not the same tonal variation as the distance recedes.

Thanks Kevin and Greg - you have basically summed up my thoughts on this quite well indeed. While I love the colours in the original it somehow was missing something. From a compositional standpoint, I find that the colour version looks almost inverted, with the dark tones at the top of the image and the light ones at the bottom. The other issue is that the brilliant blue sky and white clouds is highly textured, yet the mineral salt encrusted land lacks the texture.

When I did the conversion, I used Nik Silver Efex 2 with Filter #24 - Full Contrast & Structure just because it gave me a finish where the cracked ground darkened up and offered almost a counterpoint to the sky and clouds.

[Mike Buckley]

Just to nit pick a bit...

I find that the colour version looks almost inverted, with the dark tones at the top of the image and the light ones at the bottom.

The same is true of the monochrome version and that's to be expected in that scene.

the mineral salt encrusted land lacks the texture [in the color version]

Admiring your post-pricessing skills, I would be very surprised to learn that you were unable to bring the texture out in the color version every bit as much as in the monochrome version.

Having said all that, I like the monochrome version so much that I doubt that any interpretation of the color version would be as appealing to me.

[IzzieK]

True...the colour looks nice but the conversion to B/W is more appealing as it is. I agree with Greg's assessment. +1 to his thoughts.

[Sam W]

Monochrome for me but I think each has it place. The monochrome has more interesting and unexpected aspects. Both are great photos. - Sam

[Wavelength]

I liked the color ; yet me too choose mono, because of the greater distinction among tufts of clouds, which i miss in the original; thanks to your processing....again color looks more flat than mono...thirdly, mono warns something impending, where as original, just a beautiful scene

[GBO25]

Great B&W. Makes it look like you are looking across the sea. Glad you posted the coloured version to show how good the edit is.