Well, I just got back from leading a group to Namibia. If you are unfamiliar with Namibia, you should take the time to learn more about the country and its gorgeous landscapes. We covered a ton of ground, visited many different and unique ecosystems, took tons of photographs, and had an all around great time. From an equipment standpoint, I have never had to send in as many lenses for cleaning as I need to do right now. Out of my 6 lenses on the trip, 4 are being send in to Canon CPS due to sand in the focusing rings. Just a cost of doing business.
These are just rough edits, and I still have another large group of raw files to process. All of these images have had very little processing, in case you are wondering. The Sosussvlei dunes have a high iron content, and through oxidation (rusting) the dunes have turned a very deep reddish color. Very amazing. I used a polarizer during most of the trip, but I found that I had to tone it down to avoid blowing out the colors too much.
Feel free to ask any equipment questions, like what I packed, what I used, and what would I do differently next time.
Beautiful shots! I love the Sosussvlei shots with the sensuous curves and shadows, but it's hard to choose only one. The trees are so sureal that Dali would be envious.
WOW! These are fantastic! I particularly like the first one. The contrast between the green water and the sand dunes is amazing.
I like the other images on your site as well. I really dig the B&W treatment of the natives from afar. Great Work.
BTW, all the links on the gallery page at the bottom don't work. They all point to the local nambia06 directory, but should be going to your sites root instead.
FABULOUS, Andy! As you may remember I leave for Zambia at the end of May - but Namibia is on my wish list! These are just lovely. Hope you share some wildlife shots, too... I'll go over and check that forum right now.
Thanks for posting and welcome back!
Just went and skimmed your gallery - I see you got to meet some of the Himba people. Those photos - both color and back and white - are wonderful. Which lens did you use for these? Thanks again.
Andy, amazing work! 1-4 are gorgeous. #3 & #4 being my favorites (almost Dali-esque). I should congratulate you on your #6 too - like a classic landscape shot for a geomorphologist. These are all wonderful and a total treat to view this morning.
To say those shots are stunning I think would be an understatement. You're reminding me why Namibia needs to be on my "must visit someday" list...
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...
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!
superb series and website. i was there last summer with my parents and these just remind me of the amazing landscapes. the diversity in scenery was what struck me most, and the large distances between habitation.
it remains the most beautiful place that i have visited and also the most desolate. when i'm earning big bucks in a couple of decades count me in on one of your trips
