The Atacama Desert is a region in northern Chile touted as the driest, (or second driest-next to Antarctica) place in the world. It’s unique topography of volcanoes, salt plains and wind eroded geology makes it an interesting landscape. It is however a place where few clouds appear, and the sun is a predictable presence on a daily basis. For this reason, much of the photography happens around sunrise and sunset. In a few cases, like this one, shots taken during mid day are doable. In this case I excluded the sky and used the shape and shadows on the landscape for interest. I converted it to black and white just to see what it looked like, and throw in the color for comparison. I did do a little horse back riding myself but it is a dry and dusty landscape and the supreme advice for the rider is to be the lead horse, not the one in the rear!
Atacama Desert, Chile, South America, Canon 5D Mark II, 24-105mm f/4L IS, 105mm, 1/1000 sec @ f/4, ISO 200
Atacama Desert, Chile, South America, Canon 5D Mark II, 24-105mm f/4L IS, 105mm, 1/1000 sec @ f/4, ISO 200
I dig the black and white, in this image, it’s almost a two tone image, hardly any shades of gray. Really nice and welcome back!
Thanks Dave, those high contrast scenes are born for B&W. Good to be back in the snow.
Strangely I see the horses clearer in the red toned version. I’m not sure why that is. Perhaps because they’re the strongest shadow where in the prior version there are more competing shadows. In any event its a great shot and a trip I’m jealous of. Looks like a great trip to make.
Jim, I agree with your shadow assessment. One could likely make some local tonal adjustments to focus shadow strength to a portion of the image. I’ll be posting some stuff from Patagonia later, which is, in contrast, a wildly dynamic and changing landscape. Have you been….?
I do really like the red tone version, great image.
These images are so surreal! Even the original photo; it’s hard to believe these are the actual colors of the landscape. I can imagine a sliver of sky could have make it seem less ‘foreign’, but perhaps this moon-like-look was what you were going for?!
Thanks Inge and Emlyn, regarding the look I was going for…well, I did restrict the sky on purpose, but much of the region has a lunar landscape feel, so that was a byproduct of the environment.
Beautiful landscape. Your description of the topography reminds me of Death Valley. In the B&W version, if I didn’t know this was a desert, the sand/salt almost looks like snow – in both the ridges and flat land.
I am enthralled with horses and their long, beautiful tails. I like to feed them apples and walk with them, but not ride them because that is scary. I’m happy to see you like horses as much as i do.