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Author Topic: Deadvlei, Namibia  (Read 6440 times)

shadowblade

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Deadvlei, Namibia
« on: April 13, 2012, 10:08:28 pm »

Sunrise over Deadvlei, one of the clay pans in the Sossusvlei region in Namibia's Namib Desert.

Millions of years ago, the Tsauchab River flowed to the sea, on the coast of what is now Namibia. The encroaching dunes, however, blocked its path, causing the river to finish among the dunes, depositing its silty sediment among a number of clay pans, or 'vlei'. Deadvlei itself is so named for the dead camelthorn trees it contains. These were living during wetter times, when the vlei was flooded with water, but, when the climate changed at the end of the last Ice Age, they died. Due to the dryness of the desert, they have not decayed. It is believed the trees are over nine thousand years old.

3-shot panorama taken using the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II using the shift function.

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Tony Jay

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Re: Deadvlei, Namibia
« Reply #1 on: April 13, 2012, 10:24:58 pm »

This is definitely a place to go for photographic inspiration.

Having been there I can say that I could photograph every day for months and not run out of ideas.

Fantastic image but I hope you haven't finished yet!

Regards

Tony Jay
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wolfnowl

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Re: Deadvlei, Namibia
« Reply #2 on: April 14, 2012, 02:13:04 am »

Nicely done!  Thanks for sharing it.

Mike.
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If your mind is attuned t

Guillermo Luijk

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Re: Deadvlei, Namibia
« Reply #3 on: April 14, 2012, 06:45:59 am »

Deadvlei is so unreal to us, that it's impossible not to get shocked when in that place. I think I chose a similar point of view to yours, but a different tree:


About your image, I think shifting a wide angle TS lens is not the most recommended way for landscape photography. You get the same perspective and FOV as with an ultra wide angle lens, so elements near the left and right ends get severely distorted. In this case it would be better to use some cylindrical projection, just keeping the horizon perfectly horizontal. This is easily achieved with any Panorama software and can even be done starting from your TS linear composite, it's just a change in the kind of projection to compress information near the ends.

Regards
« Last Edit: April 14, 2012, 06:48:40 am by Guillermo Luijk »
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brandtb

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Re: Deadvlei, Namibia
« Reply #4 on: April 14, 2012, 08:50:30 am »

Quote
About your image, I think shifting a wide angle TS lens is not the most recommended way for landscape photography. You get the same perspective and FOV as with an ultra wide angle lens, so elements near the left and right ends get severely distorted. In this case it would be better to use some cylindrical projection, just keeping the horizon perfectly horizontal. This is easily achieved with any Panorama software and can even be done starting from your TS linear composite, it's just a change in the kind of projection to compress information near the ends.
+1
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shadowblade

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Re: Deadvlei, Namibia
« Reply #5 on: April 14, 2012, 11:17:22 am »

The UWA effect is the main reason I prefer stitching on a tilt-shift lens rather than a cylindrical projection - I find that cylindrical projections look quite unnatural, unless they are made planar in Photoshop (which results in a lot of stretching of the pixels and los of image quality). A 24mm tilt-shift lens stitched is equivalent in horizontal angle of view to a 14.4mm lens on full-frame, so not that extreme either...
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sdwilsonsct

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Re: Deadvlei, Namibia
« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2012, 06:54:50 pm »

I like it a lot.
Wikipedia says that that the trees are not quite so old; perhaps it is missing a zero.
Scott

Enda Cavanagh

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Re: Deadvlei, Namibia
« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2012, 07:29:12 pm »

Deadvlei is so unreal to us, that it's impossible not to get shocked when in that place. I think I chose a similar point of view to yours, but a different tree:


About your image, I think shifting a wide angle TS lens is not the most recommended way for landscape photography. You get the same perspective and FOV as with an ultra wide angle lens, so elements near the left and right ends get severely distorted. In this case it would be better to use some cylindrical projection, just keeping the horizon perfectly horizontal. This is easily achieved with any Panorama software and can even be done starting from your TS linear composite, it's just a change in the kind of projection to compress information near the ends.

Regards


I would not agree with that at all. The result with a tilt shift lens or a view camera with lens movements is a far superior way of creating panoramics especially when the subject is close to the camera. You are open to a lot of problems with an accurate stitch. More so when you have areas with patterns or details.

I shoot 70% of my images with wide angle lenses which I than stitch to panos. You just need to consider how to locate the subjects located along near the sides of the image.

Tony Jay

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Re: Deadvlei, Namibia
« Reply #8 on: April 16, 2012, 07:39:29 pm »

There are always many ways to skin a cat however I must agree with Enda that tilt/shift does give one many more options.
Tilting, in particular, is not a magic bullet because it does have its limitations.
One works with what options one has to achieve a good result.

Regards

Tony Jay
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MTGFender

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Re: Deadvlei, Namibia
« Reply #9 on: April 17, 2012, 07:59:55 pm »

I think your image is just amazing! It has a different perspective but great.
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shadowblade

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Re: Deadvlei, Namibia
« Reply #10 on: April 17, 2012, 08:16:09 pm »

I was going for a Salvador Dali-esque feel in the image - the landscape is so surreal it almost demands it!
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shadowblade

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Re: Deadvlei, Namibia
« Reply #11 on: May 15, 2012, 05:27:37 am »

Very pleased to have won 3rd place in the Landscape category of the Epson International Pano Award with this photo! Will be exhibited at the PMA exhibition in Melbourne May 25-27!
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Justan

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Re: Deadvlei, Namibia
« Reply #12 on: May 15, 2012, 10:23:35 am »

^^Congratulations! ^^

EduPerez

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Re: Deadvlei, Namibia
« Reply #13 on: May 16, 2012, 01:56:10 am »

Very pleased to have won 3rd place in the Landscape category of the Epson International Pano Award with this photo! Will be exhibited at the PMA exhibition in Melbourne May 25-27!

Congratulations, and well deserved!
But be careful, someone might find out who this mysterious "shadowblade" is...
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Jeremy Roussak

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Re: Deadvlei, Namibia
« Reply #14 on: May 16, 2012, 03:42:54 am »

Congratulations, and well deserved!
But be careful, someone might find out who this mysterious "shadowblade" is...

Xiao-Sheng Ho, congratulations! A quick browse around the awards site shows your photo to be in distinguished company.

Jeremy
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