The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.
Feedback Focus: Artistic / Expressive
About This Image
This photo was taken at the Skeleton Coast dunes near Walvis Bay, Namibia.
Walvis Bay and the Skeleton Coast of Namibia is noted for its fog. The cold water current from the Southern Ocean flows northward toward Namibias Atlantic coast. The cold water meets the considerably warmer desert air and creates a temperature inversion. The cool moist air is trapped beneath the warmer air producing a low blanket of clouds and fog. The wind then carry the fog inland across the dunes.
This photo captures the phenomenon, I’ve never seen fog move so quickly., blocking the sun and adding a mysterious darkness over the dunes.
The muted toes is what first caught my attention. The panoramic composition is well suite for the lines in the dunes. The fog really helped in controlling the highlights and sets the mood nicely for this area that is probably the most desolate on the planet. I don’t think I would change anything about the photo.
There is so much to love about this photograph, Alice: The three layers of color/tonality, the hint of a breaking wave, the breadth of the dunes, the simple lines in the foreground dune and the more complex lines in the mid-ground dune.
I don’t have any suggestions. I think as photographers, we sometimes look for dramatic side light, but some of the best light I’ve had has been more overhead with a large cloud putting one feature in shade while another is in the sun. It’s a different kind of energy (and maybe more shape and line than texture) and it’s wonderful. That’s what makes this image so fantastic.
Oh my! I have to go there. This is so different from our Death Valley. I like how the tan is offset by the grey in the back. And there is a mix of the two in the middle. I can see crops where the center of interest is not in the middle of the frame.
This is wonderful!!! The shadow on the farther dunes is almost freaky, and the fog bank over the ocean lends an otherworldly look. I love the subtle vignette at the bottom!
@Igor_Doncov – you definitely do! And I need to go back – with a more flexible and advanced group.
This is a gorgeous image, Alice. I love the forms of the dunes, the change in color from the warmer sand in the foreground tot he grays of the middle and the solid (almost fog of the background. I also like that there is just the faintest hint of other land forms showing through the dense fog. Very well done.
Those tones of grey and tan are like coverings of the softest suede, just delicious. The soft but directional light is sublime, playing as it does across the fabric of the dunes. I reckon this would make a very classy large acrylic print and deserves to hang in your home.
I, too, find the toning of the sand to be captivating, and the shadows add so much texture. I can’t appreciate the motion of the fog in a still capture, but the fog adds an interesting mood.
At full size, the image seems a bit soft or slightly out of focus?
Hi John, It is a soft image and I decided to let it be just that, the conditions were windy and foggy and that’s how it look to me. However I am attaching a revised image where I attempted to sharpen it but I don’t think it changed much. It’s just not a sharp image.
Alice
The sharpening changes the mood quite a bit. Personally, I like the softer version, where the different layers flow smoothly into each other. I find the eye trail into the picture easier to follow, whereas on the sharper image the transition from one color of landscape to the next is a bit of a stop for me.
Gorgeous image Alice! The first thing that came to mind looking at it was subtle sophistication. the tones are beautiful and the pano format is perfect for the subject matter. If I were going to suggest anything at all it might be a slight crop off the left side, that side isn’t as interesting to my eye and I think shifting the focus more to the right might improve the composition, but that’s just a personal preference, it’s wonderful as is. I like the sharper version better .
This is beautiful and mesmerizing. The colors are amazing. It’s dripping with mood. I prefer the sharper image though it seems to have enhanced a couple of dust spots.
