Auob Riverbed - Kalahari

[Morkel Erasmus]

I just returned from a magical 8-day trip to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park in the Kalahari desert. The park straddles the borders of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. Some amazing wildlife and avian sightings are to be enjoyed here - but more than that the appeal of this arid region lies in its wide open spaces, immense silence and its red sand dunes popping out of golden fields of wild grass, dotted with the signature camel-thorn trees. It's a place where you can unwind your stress, cleanse your soul and just be.

On this day we had magnificent clouds - I almost took more landscape shots than wildlife/avian :)

The park is concentrated around 2 dry riverbeds - the Nossob and the Auob. You literally drive around in the riverbed on gravel roads. The rivers only flow in the case of extreme heavy rainfall, something that this region has had 3 occurrances of in the last 100 years or so.

I used the gravel road as a leading FG line to balance the strong lines of the clouds. I wanted to give the viewer a sense of the space, as well as the unique biosphere of the golden grass, sparse trees and red sand dunes. I hope I have succeeded. I will be posting many different scenes from this amazing place. And yes - in Africa our skies look like this a lot :D

Your comments will be highly appreciated...

Techs:
Canon 1000D with 18-55mm IS lens
f16 @ 1/250 SS @ ISO-200
Exp 0
Handheld from SUV window
PP applied: reverse S-curve, selective colour, local contrast enhancement, slight saturation (10 points), NR on the sky

[David Thomasson]

Beautiful country! I like the composition. The lines of the road and clouds work nicely together.

It might benefit from some color adjustment.

[Hilary Hann]

This is my first post but thought it about time I jumped in!

I really like the expanse of sky and keeping the horizon down low works for me. I agree that a little adjustment in the hills would give it more zip, much as David has shown.

I have tried similar landscapes with the road moving away and it is hard to achieve the effect without a great blank bit of road distracting the eye, so I think you've accomplished that well.

[Nick Palmieri]

Very very nice. Love the sky and I love the road. The only comment may to be add a little more FG roadway and/or eliminate some sky to follow the ROT a little closer????

[Dave Leroy]

Thanks for the description Morkel. Those places in the world are truly special.
It looks like a fine job of processing in the bright light, and David's repost does brighten it up nicely.
Well done. Dave

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks a lot for the comments Dave L, Nick, Hilary & David.

@ David - thanks for taking the time to work on it...would you mind telling me what colour adjustments you effected?

[David Thomasson]

@ David - thanks for taking the time to work on it...would you mind telling me what colour adjustments you effected?

These gaps at the high end of histogram tell the tale. The reds are a little higher than G and B, so that means it has a slight red cast. Open a curves (or levels) adjustment layer and pull the red in until it starts to clip. Then pull in the green and blue -- probably not all the way to clipping. Just have to use your eye there to tell how much. I also applied a warming filter to the grassy areas, but that's optional.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Morkel,
Nice job using the road to lead you in and although it is not my favorite subject, you placed it well in the frame and composed nicely with the clouds and hills. I do like Davids tweaks to the colors...including the FG warming. I think I wouldn't crop the sky as it has very nice cloud patterns that lead me nicely through the image. Nicely done!

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks David - I applied to the full size image and it rocks. I also darkened the road slightly.

thanks Roman - my thoughts exactly - I don't mind a road when it's used like this, and the sky was to die for so I wouldn't crop any of it :)

here's my newest version...

[Robert Amoruso]

Morkel,

Excellent composition for all the reasons mentioned. Dave's adjustment make it the a real winner. Also glad to see you come back with your final version. Great work.

[Nick Palmieri]

Morkel, The re-post is really awesome!

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for your great feedback Nick & Robert!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Morkel, Nice job with the repost and VG job following the advice!

[Harold Davis]

nice repost, morkel. subtle and effective! i agree. the clouds are very interesting and the road provides nice leading line.

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks Roman & Harold :)