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Abstract Dune


Abstract Dune
Photo Information
Copyright: Daniel Kohanski (Wandering_Dan) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 724 W: 101 N: 822] (3005)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2002-09-30
Categories: Nature
Camera: Nikon F3
Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop
Theme(s): Jeppo's favourites - the first 100! [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2007-09-18 10:00
Viewed: 1248
Favorites: 1 [view]
Points: 42
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
This is a digital scan of a print made from a color negative.

Every serious travel or nature photographer needs to make a pilgrimage to the sand dunes at Sossusvlei. "Vlei" is an Afrikaans word meaning a salt or sand pan surrounded by high dunes - and these dunes, at 300 meters, are the highest in the world. They are also reddish from the high iron content, and, because they generally run north-south, they are perpendicular to the light of the rising sun and produce spectacular sunrise images. Dune 45 (as in 45 km from either the sea or the park entrance, I forget) is the one most photographed, but there are plenty of other dunes, like this one.

Because of a flat tire on the way in (and because our guide didn't quite appreciate the need for precise timing), we actually arrived a little late for the best sunrise shots, but thanks to the miracle of Photoshop, I was able to manipulate the picture into something more like what it was an hour or two earlier. I also exaggerated the shadows in order to bring out the abstract quality of the light and shadow. Some day we will have to go back to Sossusvlei and try some for some more.

Technical: There is some loss of quality from the scanning and cropping. I used Levels to darken the shadows completely and to bring the red colors as much as I could without pushing them to the point of garishness. I had to do a lot of cloning to get rid of white and colored dots - scanning artifacts. Then I tried to correct that with a sequence of Smart Sharpen, the Gaussian Blur to smooth out the pixilation, followed by a Noiseware noise reduction. Finally I selected for the sand only, and used Smart Sharpen to touch up the crystal nature of the sand.
Preetie, Ulishna, yso, jean11-3, Jeppo, Floydian, linask, ChrisJ, xramm has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To Preetie: What is Art?Wandering_Dan 5 10-11 20:54
To Manamo: Quality ControlWandering_Dan 2 09-28 07:13
To Floydian: Digitizing the NegativeWandering_Dan 2 09-19 22:00
To brandstaetter: Digitizing the NegativeWandering_Dan 1 09-19 08:38
To yso: Neat Image vs. NoisewareWandering_Dan 2 09-19 03:59
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Critiques [Translate]

Very nice shot, well composed and good colors

Hi DAniel
A great shot, this is very nice picture, but I know difficult of scanned of negative ...
Ciao
Andrea

  • Great 
  • marjan Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1145 W: 75 N: 875] (5450)
  • [2007-09-18 10:24]

hi Daniel, just wonderful with high quality and good composition.
Maybee litlle bit out of sharpnes.
Marjan

Perfect lines!
Great composition and colors!
Julia

Hi Daniel,

I have really mixed reactions about this one..on the one hand I am overwhelmed by the abstract nature and patterns of the shot..the quality loss is evident but what really puts everything in question is that I do not know how much of it is "real"..it looks like a painted canvas and there is less of a pic like feel to it maybe the lack of gradation in the shadows..the over smoothness of the sand..I wish you would post the original in WS so that I could make a comparision..honestly am at a loss right now..somewhat caught in the PP debate.. I commend you for taking this pic and bringing it to us..I am a great admirer of ur work..but right now am at a loss..do I love it or do I not..is it a true representation..is that photography...honestly I am divided (you may call me judgement impaired :))hence am not rating it till I decide either way..till then Thank you so much for sharing this extremely dramatic shot..
Take care..and follow your heart.
Warm Regards
Preetie

  • Great 
  • Zolive Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 336 W: 15 N: 114] (1232)
  • [2007-09-18 10:44]

Hi Dan,
Amazing picture. The shadow of the dune look like a cartoon face. Great POV. Regards.
Olivier

Hi Daniel,
Nice composition with all these shadows, great colors !
In ws just a noise reduction of the scan,
Regards,
Yves

Hi Dan,

I had also problems with scans, mainly with sharpness and dust. But I can imagine that the slide is top quality. Beautiful capture of this swinging line.
TFS Chris

Hello Dan,

I love this shot! There is an abstract beautify in the design, and produced with a limited palette. The note is highly informative, completing an effective TE package. There have been a couple of photos from a namesake of mine, Bulent, but I haven't been able to track them down. When I do, I would like you to to see them also.

Warm regards,

Bulent

PS I just saw some literature for the Nikon D300. It came up in an advertisement when I opened up TE. It sounds like a very impressive camera of 12+MP. But waiting until the glitches have been idenfied and eliminated seems like a reasonable tactic.

  • Great 
  • Jeppo Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 651 W: 2 N: 565] (4832)
  • [2007-09-18 14:28]

Hi Dan,

I love desert pictures...maybe because I got so fascinated when I visited the moroccan erg chebbi. In your pic I love the shadow/orange contrast...well defined shapes!
tfs
Silvio

Hi Dan,
You have a great composed picture here. I see you worked on it when i look at the original one and that is just to be perfect. It brings out a complete different but surely better composition to it. Colors are much stronger now.
I see the struggling with the scanning, not an easy job to get the best out of it, i know this myself with my old slides.
I also prefer Noiseware for his excellent preview and settings...a good tool.
You could use it more in the blue here and also a bit more sharpness on the sand but that will brings also more grain visible...hard to decise which way to go but i like your final image a lot.
Regards, Henk

Hi Daniel, fascinating alternance of light and shadows in a splendid dune, great composition with wonderful colors, very well done, ciao Silvio
PS Thanks for the beaiutiful ws

Hey,this I like a lot =)
It's very simple but makes me one more time longing for the desert... I wanna see this one day and in my imagination it's wide and open and free...

Thanks for your comment and, yes, I thought about the single candle on the right ;-) and about another note but I decided to think positive today :-)

Greetings

Kerstin

  • Great 
  • ChrisJ Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 8653 W: 911 N: 11409] (55326)
  • [2007-09-20 4:39]

Hi Daniel

I really like the hot, warm orange colour of the sand, contrasting against the cooler blue of the sky. Perhaps I'd add some gaussian blur, to the sky, to mask the noise? Good graphism & high contrast lighting on the dune. Tfs!

great composition and color. it feels like a painting.
the more i look at the image the less reality i feel, not sure why, maybe the scanning and touching striped it's soul!

overall enjoyed your post
thank you:)

hello Daniel,

a beautiful landscape turned into an astract painting. great orange colours !
greetings,inn

Bonsoir Daniel,
Alors nous ne parlerons pas de la perte de qualité du au scan. Mais une belle photo avec un F3 c'est toujours émouvant.
La compo ici est magnifique et le jeu d'ombres et de lumières particulièrement réussi.
Bravo encore!
Nicolas

Bon jour Daniel,

Superbe ! Belles couleurs, belles lignes...
Marie

Hello Daniel,
the patterns and the colors are really beautiful. It's not something I saw with my own eyes, so it makes it even nicer! The strong light and deep shadow zones really make beautiful patterns!
Unfortunately, the quality is too low to really appreciate fully...
Good evening,
Marc

  • Great 
  • jrj Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5479 W: 506 N: 7200] (32672)
  • [2007-10-03 3:43]

A graphic setting very well seen and carried out Daniel. The black and red is just so effectful and interesting in a setting like this.

Daniel
Classic Sossusvlei shot of dunes captured in the early light will the shadows are dark and crisp. Excellent composition
Regards Colin

Hello Dan,

Very nice contrast between light and shadow. Indeed post-processing is nice and can level some frustrations about what we thought we would get ;-)
TFS,

Patrice

  • Great 
  • CLAP Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Note Writer [C: 105 W: 3 N: 37] (437)
  • [2008-04-01 22:03]

Classical subject, but which you have very well exploited. I like the contratste marked between shade and light.
Claude

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