Nocturnal Dunes

[Morkel Erasmus]

Not sure if I posted this one yet - sorry if I have :D
During a short trip to the Kalahari desert, I was able to capture this image one morning on a small dune set in the middle of an immense dry salt pan. I had to get up at 3h15 AM to ensure the moon was no longer in the sky and thus maximise star visibility.

All comments most welcome...

Techs:
Canon 7D with 10-22mm USM @ 10mm
f3.5 @ 25s @ ISO-2000
Foreground illuminated from off-camera with an LED Lenser flashlight bounced off my hand

[dankearl]

Outstanding, it looks like a moonscape or the end of the Earth.
Looks like you can walk into the galaxy.
Pretty cool.

[Todd Frost]

Very cool shot Morkel. Love the little sand ridges leading into the darkness. I might remove the bit of brush top edge of sand dune as it meets the sky. Very well done.
TFS
Todd

[Richard Lovison]

Morkel,

I like the concept in this image. As dankearl indicated, it feels like you can walk right into the universe. My only wish is that there were more of the bushy brush as in the center of the image instead of the "sticks", as I find them a bit of a distraction. You have a good compromise between having some detail in the sky though keeping the stars as points and having more detail but having star trails. Nicely done.

Richard

[Dave Mills]

Hi Morkel, I like the play between the dunes and sky which gives the image an eerie feel(IMO)
While I like the brush I'm not a big fan of the sticks. The image appears a bit cluttered.
If this were mine I would remove the stick on the far rt and the tall bush thats feintly seen in the backround. Well handled technically...

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Morkel,
I like the concept here but feel that the light falloff is leading me away a bit from the interest. You may consider painting from a lower angle on the dunes.....further accentuating the ripples....so debating if a vert with the sand and 1 bush......could have been a stronger comp. Just another idea for you to explore!

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for the kind feedback everyone...

Roman - I probably have a vertical compo somewhere of this scene...in this case I found the lines in the sand very appealling and wanted to include as much of them as possible.