Dune Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

Common desert representation sees it as large sand areas, dunes followed by dunes to the horizon. In fact less than 20% of the desert in the world fit that fantasy. The view toward Admer dunes is the largest dune area I have seen during my trek. (The picture posted by Christophe was taken more than one year before my travel but nothing has changed.) The line below the horizon is made up of white sand dunes. During my trek we let it behind us and walked toward rocky grounds.
Heading South out of Djanet we first had to cross Teessrass (phonetic transcription) dunes. It gave me the chance of some sand pictures fitting the classical desert fantasy. This is one of them.
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Tassili N'Ajjer
Tissrass dunes South of Djanet
Fuji Provia 100
Olympus OM1 Zuiko 35-105mm f3.5 circular polariser filter
Light metering at ISO 64

weswang, pamastro, jhm, aznegrao, supereira, singuanti, apazevedo has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Schultzy (5428) 2006-02-11 13:07

Bonsoir Philippe,
Très impressionant ce jeu d'ombres et de lumière dans les vaguelettes de sable.
Un sujet qui est presque un cas d'école.
J'imagine que ce paysage change du tout au tout avec l'inclinaison du soleil et l'allongement des ombres.
Sujet intéressant !
Bon week-end !

weswang (18223) 2006-02-11 13:09

Hi Philippe, You have well managed to show the impressive scenery in the desert. Good use of the light and shadow. I think the dark corners on the top are caused by the polarizer. I have this kind of problems to some of my photos. I did not find a good technique to solve them yet.
Nice contrast and good details.

Cricri (43108) 2006-02-11 14:34

Bonjour Philippe,
jolie image de ses Dunes, la formation, les détails
de l'ombre avec une superbe lumiére, doux ciel
Bon weekend
cricri

barrufeto_77 (25809) 2006-02-11 15:04

Hi Philippe.

Nice picture!!! The tracks are really enjoyable. The shadows are also good.

Well done!

Regards, Oscar

jmdaoudal (82) 2006-02-12 13:19

A part le vignettage c'est une belle ambiance de desert par le cadrage, les couleurs et les contrastes, stepan avait proposé des traces de pas dans le desert de Lybie, et je vois qu'il y en a ici aussi, c'est un élément interessant qui parle de désert et de solitude.
j'aime bien la photo
Jean Michel

papagolf21 (56435) 2006-02-12 14:52

Bonsoir mon ami Philippe,
Parler du désert, ne serait-ce pas, d'abord, se taire, comme lui, et lui rendre hommage non de nos vains bavardages, mais de notre silence?
[Théodore Monod]
Je ne parle pas, je me contente d'admirer.
Très belle réalisation.
Amitiés.
Philippe

capthaddock (28640) 2006-02-13 10:14

Hi Philippe - what a fascinating place, this looks just like my preconception of what the Sahara desert looks like, remarkable work I love the shadows, I just wish the dunes were not disturbed by footprints.

pamastro (7213) 2006-02-13 12:50

There is a similarity between your autumn in Belgium shot posted a few before this and this photo. Both make use of the lines in the landscape and in a sort of minimalist way. Here it is carried further because of the simple landscape. Except when you get into the photo you realize it is not so simple. The sweeping lines of ridges, the zags perpendicular to those running to the back and the deep shadows make for an impressive and sweeping feel. The way the shadows form and fade in pits and cracks and those lines makes me feel like being part of the wind shaping this landscape. And with that clear sky above it creates an unreal feel. I would try to use the clone tool to get rid of the vignetting. I wonder if another polarizer would also solve the problem. Even at the widest on 35mm lens you shouldn't get too much fall off in the corners. Or at least from my experience using mine on a 35mm lens.

[workshop] [compare] +

jhm (82601) 2006-02-13 13:05

Bonjour Philippe,
The wrinkles in sand are very nice, also the colours and contrast are superb!
Very great quality.
Best regards,
Merci pour partage.
John

devimeuxbe (55865) 2006-02-19 18:26

Hi Philippe
Nice shot in the desert.
La lumière avec le polarisant est exceptionnelle.
C'est splendide
Bertrand

jrj (34779) 2006-02-21 9:28

Very nice this shot of the sand dunes. Great forms and shapes in the else empty landscape. Good work P.

singuanti (15240) 2006-02-25 22:48

Hi Philippe. I always love the desert scenes. The colors are so beautiful and what a play of the light and shadows. I bet Velvia would be even better. Awesome shot Philippe!!

apazevedo (5469) 2006-02-26 19:05

The desert is a mystery, Philippe, and you show us a good view of it; the golden sands, the light and shadow, the marks on the sand and the lines makes from this one a very good composition!