Dark Side of the Dune, a photo from Hardap, South

Photographer's Note

Here is a Sossusvlei picture from the archives. The shot was taken on the drive in towards the pan from the main entrance gate. This section of road, which is now tarred, runs along the gravel plain between the dunes and parralel to the ephemeral river. Ideally, one should be ready to go into the park at sunrise (when the gates open) as this is the time to see the dunes with the deep contrasting light and shade. Guests who stay overnight in the park itself get an hour's head-start on visitors staying outside.

CLODO, Budapestman, annjackman, jhm, Charo, kato, abmdsudi, Suppiluliuma, timecapturer, Cricri, jafadabret, mkamionka has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

siudzi (23939) 2011-05-21 4:29

Hi Rosemary,
Wow! What an amazing visual effect! Really impressive composition with great colors and lights. Congrats!
Cheers, Malgorzata

serp2000 (29242) 2011-05-21 4:30

Hi, Rosemary,
Fine title and excellent creative photowork! Superb contrast, nice colours. TFS! My compliments!
Serghei

hemantbuch (1649) 2011-05-21 7:54

Hi Rosemary, this is my first extended visit to TE in a while and I'm so glad, because I got to see this beauty. Wow! The lone tree adds to the whole scene by emphasising loneliness. Awesome! Regards,
Hemant

MJR (3163) 2011-05-21 8:26

Rosemary
those dunes are calling ! Sorry, I have not seen your gallery for a while, I have taken a TE holiday, but pleased to be back to find this.
The shapes and colours are pure delight. The tree is a neat detail, even better had it not entered the shadow zone, but thats picky. Its also very difficult to pick up those minor details in the viewfinder, I find !
But lovely, I WILL make it one day !
rgds
Martin

samson (1227) 2011-05-21 9:12

Hello Rosemary

What a visual treat. I like the light play on the dunes. And the solitary tree says a lot of the solitude in this place.

regards
sam

JFS (32179) 2011-05-21 9:37

Fascinating shot Rosemary, these sceneries only can be found in Africa. I love the tones, the different textures, the big shadow. A marvel!

Thanks!

Juan

GREGG (8243) 2011-05-21 12:30

Hello Rosemary,
Fantastic view, good composition.
These sceneries only can be found in Africa!!!!
Bravo.Regards
Grzegorz

CLODO (24734) 2011-05-21 12:45

hello Rosemary

You waited for the perfect time in order to have the dune shadows, giving the sense of depth. The tree in the foreground is eye catching, and the curve of the edge of the sand dune leads the look to discover all the picture.
Greetings
CLODO

giorgimer (34512) 2011-05-21 14:40

Probably the place I most wish to visit on earth...thanks for sharing this beautiful view, with amazing play of light and shadow

Compliments!

G

LOOOK13 (19022) 2011-05-21 14:50

Salut Rosemary.
Very very nice capture.
Splendid colors on this dunes, and beutiful little tree.
Great cheer.

Budapestman (82620) 2011-05-21 15:36

Hi Rosemary,
a fantastic photo of this country, the composition is spectacular, beautiful colours and lights, the atmosphere of the photo is mysterious, Tfs! Have a nice weekend! Kellemes hétvégét kívánok!
György

annjackman (13227) 2011-05-22 3:08

Great picture Rosemary. The colours and shapes are very graphic. Even the FG has wonderful lines of colour and light. The tree of course perfectly gives scale to the landscape.
Best wishes, Ann

jhm (122474) 2011-05-22 5:28

Hello Rosemary,

Incredible for look at, the nice colors so strong in the layers
I love the enlightenment in background.
Light and colors make these picture attractive.
Sharpness and clarity be superb.
Very well done, TFS.

Nice Sunday,
John.

Charo (51174) 2011-05-22 17:18

Hello Rosemary,
I have seen many different pictures of these dunes, and actually still amazed by its color and spectacle.
Great perspective in light and shadow and great colors.
Best wishes,
Charo

kato (6789) 2011-05-22 18:42

Hello Rosemary,

It's very impressive to see interesting shape of this dune, so you're capturing well the contrast between red bright side and dark ones. it's also beautiful and tasteful for border line with curve of them as well as color layers of plain. And, a lonely tree that sets it up in plain draws out a good effect for the whole.

Regards,
mikio

Robert1969 (6238) 2011-05-22 22:37

Hello Rosemary,

A picture with beautiful layers and composition.
The very good light shows a lots of details (no hard shadows).
The tree shows the highness of the hills (good point of view)...Good work.

Friendly regards,
Robert

abmdsudi (26295) 2011-05-23 1:21

Hi Rosemary
Stunning !!!! Well it is something you dont see every day, a truly remarkable desert landscape captured in fine clarity. This certainly gives an idea of isolation and sense of wide open space, but beauty. An extraordinary landscape, hard to believe its real. A simple composition yet with lots of impact and great depth to this image with excellent graphical effect. The area, the stunning red dunes, the shadows, grassy plains and the blue sky work so well together. Love the layered feel to the tonal ranges of colours and textures with strong lines. The solitude surviving tree remains standing proudly enhancing the depth and dwarfed by the vastness and no element of nature I guess, can topple this. Fascinating place and well shot, Congrats, TFS
Best regards

Suppiluliuma (3843) 2011-05-23 1:25

Nice representative scene from Sossusvlei, the single tree adss a charm. The bluish shadows gave me the impression that that was the result of an increase of saturation.

You're right about the delay: We stayed outside, that's why we lost about an hour getting the tickets at the entrance.

TFS.

Erdem

timecapturer (30342) 2011-05-23 5:52

Hi Rosemary
I love this! Such an outstanding composition, making full use of the light to add such amazing lines and shapes. A striking image of high quality and imagination. I think the placement of the little tree is inspired. Perfect title and presentation. Well done!

Regards - Brian

Cricri (86501) 2011-05-23 9:02

Hi Rosemay
Splendide contraste que donne l'ombre sur les dunes, l'arbre parait minuscule a côté, un paysage vraiment merveilleux et bien réaliser
Belle soirée
cricri

eldancer1 (17088) 2011-05-23 9:14

Wow! Awesome capture of this dunes. I like the way you used shadows to create depth in your photo. Good dof with sharp details. Wonderful colors. Well done, tfs.

ines8 (5838) 2011-05-23 13:20

Really splendid and special landscape,a very impressive picture.
All the best,
ines

specialist (1303) 2011-06-02 12:39

this is an excellent shot Rosemary with incredible depth and expert management of light and colors, cheers,
kurtul

jafadabret (56497) 2011-06-03 8:34

Bonjour Rosemary,
Cette photo est d'une très grande beauté avec les lignes et les couleurs des dunes sous la forte lumière qui a donné un très fort relief.
Le petit arbre apporte beaucoup au paysage.
Amicalement
Jacques

andre_clavel (888) 2011-06-09 3:40

Bonjour Rosemary,
Ou comment se sentir tout petit face à la nature ...
Une image très bien réalisée et très colorée ... bravo !!!.
bonne journée,
amicalement,
andré

mkamionka (24559) 2011-06-14 3:43

Hi Rosemary,
spectacular landscape. Excellent composition. I like very much the lone tree far in the distance. The dunes make incredible curves and the shade seems to enhance the interesting effect. Great idea for the title!
M

smarcell (19875) 2011-07-07 7:13

Great geometries here ! Then the lonely tree is the right touch. I suggest a cropped version (but I am too lazy to post a woorkshop): the idea is to remove the part on the right, where the brown hill is covered with stones, and make the image a square, with the tree equally distant from the left and right edges. Without that part on the right the image becomes very clean, with lines, black and bright areas, and it could even be a paint. Try !
Cheers
Stefano