I went out to the desert on Wednesday evening, near Hatta Road, and now understand why they're considered to be such inhospitable places. It wasn't especially hot - it's winter here - but it was very dusty, the light was extremely gloomy, and though I'm really pleased I had the opportunity to go, I was glad to get back to the car and drive back to Dubai. Despite its beauty, there was something oppressive and alien about that landscape - dead, dry and empty. That said, I would like to go again, but it was definitely an intimidating place.
This is the first of two sand shots - tomorrow's is a bit less literal - but I do have at least two more than I'll put up on Monday and Tuesday. Tomorrow's will be posted by autopilot as I get on a plane at 1am on Monday morning and will be spending the rest of the night travelling home via Paris.
captured camera lens focal length aperture shutter speed shooting mode exposure bias metering mode ISO flash image quality RAW converter cropped?
5.45pm on 22/3/07
Canon 5D
EF 24-70 f/2.8L USM
35mm
f/5.6
1/40
aperture priority
+1/3
evaluative
100
no
RAW
C1 Pro
1x1
comment bySysagent at 07:09 PM (GMT) on 24 March, 2007
Like the processing on this shot Dave, looks alomost like the skin / armour of a reptile.
Different and effective.
comment by Jennifer at 07:27 PM (GMT) on 24 March, 2007
Love it - have you added grain to the grains?
comment byMaarten at 10:07 PM (GMT) on 24 March, 2007
like the different tones of brown + the lines created by them !
comment bymax sauter at 10:16 PM (GMT) on 24 March, 2007
it looks like a painting.
this is really very impressve, and totally disturbing!
comment byowen-b at 12:01 AM (GMT) on 25 March, 2007
This is fab - like ripples in a huge sheet of golden foil or something...
comment byAndy@PhotoChron at 02:51 AM (GMT) on 25 March, 2007
Beautiful patterns.
comment by cy at 03:51 AM (GMT) on 25 March, 2007
very haunting image. i really like the feel. it is like a dream that you can not completeely remember but can not forget. truly lovely. i lke the sepia lense too.
i think the alien feel to this might be the look of it almost being a exxtreme macro shot of an eye. almost like it was watcching to see what you were up to.
comment byBill at 05:57 AM (GMT) on 25 March, 2007
If you get a chance (and haven't already), go far enough out into the desert that you can't see anything else. I did that in Kuwait a few years back, and it was really freaky -- and I grew up in Australia, so I'm pretty used to desolate environments. But this was new for me: nothing but sand and sky, no features, no breaks in the horizon, nothing. Nothing living, nothing moving, nothing growing -- nothing.
I had a camera with me, but couldn't find any way to capture that feeling; I'd be really interested to see what you come up with.
comment byFrank at 09:51 AM (GMT) on 25 March, 2007
The sand has the same color than on the Belgian coast but temperature is less hot.
comment byPsychodudu at 10:22 AM (GMT) on 25 March, 2007
A bit of a departure for you, this David. I always want more contrast in this short of image, I know it's my untrained eye asking for clichéd shots, it certainly has a quality about it. If I was put on the spot I'd say a litle ott on the noise, but hey, you're the boss!
Hope all is well with the mini-army.
comment byRobert at 12:45 PM (GMT) on 25 March, 2007
Looking in the clear areas, it doesn't seem like noise was added. I like the interaction of the dark and light sand; it may not be alive but it feels organic.
I had a different reaction to the desert; I felt a clean freedom to move in open space. Then again, I found clear, bright blue skies.
comment byNeil at 01:14 PM (GMT) on 25 March, 2007
Hairy spine anyone?
comment byP.J. at 05:53 PM (GMT) on 25 March, 2007
This one is awesome. Never been to a desert myself, so seeing shots like this is wild. I think you have a great capture here. Well done!
comment bySteveO at 10:38 PM (GMT) on 25 March, 2007
I really like this, it's very fractal, especially when you look at the thumbnail, it looks like it could have just as easily been taken from a plane rather than a couple of feet, i love stuff like that, but then i'm a maths geek :-)
comment byAlice at 03:20 PM (GMT) on 26 March, 2007
Great shot. I really like the texture and grain in this. Nicely done.
I went out to the desert on Wednesday evening, near Hatta Road, and now understand why they're considered to be such inhospitable places. It wasn't especially hot - it's winter here - but it was very dusty, the light was extremely gloomy, and though I'm really pleased I had the opportunity to go, I was glad to get back to the car and drive back to Dubai. Despite its beauty, there was something oppressive and alien about that landscape - dead, dry and empty. That said, I would like to go again, but it was definitely an intimidating place.
This is the first of two sand shots - tomorrow's is a bit less literal - but I do have at least two more than I'll put up on Monday and Tuesday. Tomorrow's will be posted by autopilot as I get on a plane at 1am on Monday morning and will be spending the rest of the night travelling home via Paris.
camera
lens
focal length
aperture
shutter speed
shooting mode
exposure bias
metering mode
ISO
flash
image quality
RAW converter
cropped?
Canon 5D
EF 24-70 f/2.8L USM
35mm
f/5.6
1/40
aperture priority
+1/3
evaluative
100
no
RAW
C1 Pro
1x1
Like the processing on this shot Dave, looks alomost like the skin / armour of a reptile.
Different and effective.
Love it - have you added grain to the grains?
like the different tones of brown + the lines created by them !
it looks like a painting.
this is really very impressve, and totally disturbing!
This is fab - like ripples in a huge sheet of golden foil or something...
Beautiful patterns.
very haunting image. i really like the feel. it is like a dream that you can not completeely remember but can not forget. truly lovely. i lke the sepia lense too.
i think the alien feel to this might be the look of it almost being a exxtreme macro shot of an eye. almost like it was watcching to see what you were up to.
If you get a chance (and haven't already), go far enough out into the desert that you can't see anything else. I did that in Kuwait a few years back, and it was really freaky -- and I grew up in Australia, so I'm pretty used to desolate environments. But this was new for me: nothing but sand and sky, no features, no breaks in the horizon, nothing. Nothing living, nothing moving, nothing growing -- nothing.
I had a camera with me, but couldn't find any way to capture that feeling; I'd be really interested to see what you come up with.
The sand has the same color than on the Belgian coast but temperature is less hot.
A bit of a departure for you, this David. I always want more contrast in this short of image, I know it's my untrained eye asking for clichéd shots, it certainly has a quality about it. If I was put on the spot I'd say a litle ott on the noise, but hey, you're the boss!
Hope all is well with the mini-army.
Looking in the clear areas, it doesn't seem like noise was added. I like the interaction of the dark and light sand; it may not be alive but it feels organic.
I had a different reaction to the desert; I felt a clean freedom to move in open space. Then again, I found clear, bright blue skies.
Hairy spine anyone?
This one is awesome. Never been to a desert myself, so seeing shots like this is wild. I think you have a great capture here. Well done!
I really like this, it's very fractal, especially when you look at the thumbnail, it looks like it could have just as easily been taken from a plane rather than a couple of feet, i love stuff like that, but then i'm a maths geek :-)
Great shot. I really like the texture and grain in this. Nicely done.
Reminds me of a ant farm! :-)