Andy Biggs
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Buy and Sell: On
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 p.1 #15 · Namibia Landscapes (large post) | |
L. Bergman wrote:
Just a quick question: Since you said these are only rough edits, I assume you didn't add much if any color saturation to the dunes? If so, the colors there are just amazing!
Did you have to do a lot of sensor cleaning? Wondering how much sand made it inside the camera bodies vs the lenses. I'm inferring due to the amount of dust and sand there, keeping lens changing to a minimum is a good idea... 
In ACR, I have not used the saturation slider past about +5 for 99% of the shots. The Skeleton Coast from the air photograph needed a ton of correction work, as shooting through the airplane window messed with the colors pretty badly. So I had to do a crop of the sky, realign the horizon, and increase the contrast. The saturation was at about +10, but the contrast slider was way over to the right. Airplane windows really do horrible things, you know.
Regarding cleaning of my sensors, I had to clean my sensors many times during the trip. I am used to dusty environments to begin with, but this was very different. Sand has the ability to really mess with your camera gear, and I got to a point where I never switched lenses. Here is what I took with me:
Canon 5D
Canon 20D
16-35mm f/2.8 L
24-105mm f/4 L IS
70-200mm f/2.8 L IS
400mm f/4 DO IS
45mm TSE
90mm TSE
For the Kolmanskop ghost town shots, I mostly used the 16-35mm on the 5D. For almost everything else, I used the 5D with the 24-105mm and the 20D with the 70-200mm. I rarely used the TSE lenses, and chose to rely more on the RRS panorama kit instead for stitched panos. I have not yet processed any of the panorama shots, as I am still in the software selection process. I will likely use Panorama Factory, as it is the only pano software that imports and exports 16 bit TIFF files. If any other software does this, I would love to hear about it.
Today I am shipping my 400mm DO, 70-200mm and 24-105mm lenses back to CPS for cleaning. There was one day when the winds were very high out on the dunes, and sand found its way into every place you can imagine. Just a cost of doing business. I am used to sending my gear in for cleaning on occasion, but not 3 at one time like this round.
What would I do differently on the trip? I would probably leave the TSE lenses back at home. Other than that, it was a perfect setup. The 400mm DO was purchased used just for this trip, and now I am actually thinking of keeping it for rental purposes. There are many people who sign up for my wildlife safaris that don't already own long lenses. I have many people ask me where to rent the bigger primes, and this is an easy way for me to add value for people. Heck, I can even bring the lens to Africa for them. I can also rent my 500mm and use the 400mm DO for myself. No preference on my end which is chosen.
Thank you for all of your kind comments. You are all very flattering!
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