Namibia Archives - Page 6 of 6 - Stuck in Customs
12
Dec 2014 : Friday
filed under  Fish River Canyon, Namibia

Rene Doing a Photo Job on the Rim

Thanks Everyone for the 1 million+ views on this video! – I’ll be sure to get incarcerated again!

Look, I blame Rene (in the photo below) for the bad advice he gave me in flying the quad over The Forbidden City. I mentioned him during my interrogation, but they just gave me a blank stare. I saw RIGHT THROUGH IT.

Daily Photo – Rene Doing a Photo Job on the Rim

Here’s the awesome Rene Smith, who you can see right there, riding the sweet rim of the canyon. Renesmith don’t care. He’s just right there on the edge even though I told him not to get too close. Now, I don’t know if he actually got the shot or not, but I can guarantee you he spent approximately 10 hours in Photoshop in some kind of an altered-mind-state, which I think is all kinds of awesome. Stay awesome Rene; oh, and pass the G&T!

By the way, be sure to check out Rene’s amazing site, Science Kids!

Rene Doing a Photo Job on the Rim

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-09-20 18:02:37
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/45
  • Aperture5.6
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length43.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias+2

Comments
26
Nov 2014 : Wednesday
filed under  Camera Gear, Lüderitz, Namibia, Photography Tips, Sony A7R

A Quiver Tree Stands Alone

Portrait Orientation and Composition

There is a rule that is sometimes okay to break that you should not put the subject in the middle of your composition. Well, when you switch into Portrait-orientation, all those rules go right out the window! You’re fully allowed to plop things (like the tree below!) right plum in the middle of the frame.

Daily Photo – A Quiver Tree Stands Alone

These trees are unlike any other tree I’ve ever seen! They are spread all around many desert-y areas of Namibia, and they are often quite spread out from one another. Each one has a totally unique shape, and you’ll never see one that will be mistaken for another one. I’ve never seen individual trees that can look so unalike their neighbors… I’ll post more of these in coming weeks and you’ll see what I mean!

A Quiver Tree Stands Alone

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-09-21 05:53:34
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/5
  • Aperture8
  • ISO125
  • Focal Length17.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias-1

Comments
25
Nov 2014 : Tuesday
filed under  Lüderitz, Namibia

Over the Ghost Town of Kolmanskop

Overhead Panos

This is a new thing I am going try to do more of — taking a series of photos while looking straight down then pasting them all together. Most of the cameras on these quadcopters are pretty good, but you can really amp up the resolution if you take a ton of photos and paste them together, like in the image below

Daily Photo – Over the Ghost Town of Kolmanskop

Here’s a very strange and confusing photo of one of the many abandoned buildings in Kolmanskop from above. The quadcopter was flying overhead and taking pictures straight down. This is a panorama that was assembled from about 6 different photos — and it turned out so unusual, I think! This happened to be a good time for the light and shadows… the late afternoon there seems to have the best light coming in the windows to light up all the sand dunes that have penetrated the building.

Over the Ghost Town of Kolmanskop

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-09-23 09:06:02
  • CameraHERO3+ Black Edition
  • Camera MakeGoPro
  • Exposure Time1/290
  • Aperture2.8
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length2.8 mm
  • FlashNo flash function
  • Exposure ProgramProgram AE
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
23
Nov 2014 : Sunday
filed under  Damaraland, Namibia

The Desert Rose Warms Herself

All this is on video

We have a secret new video we are working on right now! Be sure to sign up or the Newsletter to find out about it first!

Daily Photo – The Desert Rose Warms Herself

This is one of many photos you’ll see of Desert Rose! What a cool gal! We met her in Namibia and she was working at the hotel. She had a crazy-wonderful attitude and was quite the actress! My friend Rene and I managed to talk her into a bathing suit and get into a freezing cold pool for a photoshoot. I’ll share those photos soon. But after that, she was so cold, so Rene, the towel-boy, wrapped her up like this… I thought she looked so awesome against the wall in those mixed tones…

The Desert Rose Warms Herself

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-09-27 07:18:18
  • CameraILCE-7S
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/4000
  • Aperture
  • ISO50
  • Focal Length
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
16
Nov 2014 : Sunday
filed under  Lüderitz, Namibia

The Ancient Bowling Alley

A Good Soundcloud Playlist

Here’s a playlist on Soundcloud I’ve been listening to lately. If you have one too, please add it to the comments!

Daily Photo – The Ancient Bowling Alley

Okay maybe “ancient” is the wrong word… I’m not even really sure how old something has to be before that word can be used… maybe relatively-ancient! Anyway, this amazing old-timey bowling alley is inside that ghost town in Namibia where the sand dunes have overrun the entire place. Because this is mostly underground and protected on the leeward side, it has yet to accumulate any sand inside yet.

The Ancient Bowling Alley

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-09-23 19:46:13
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/6
  • Aperture8
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length39.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias-0.3

Comments
4
Nov 2014 : Tuesday
filed under  Namibia, Sossusvlei

Patterns in the Sand

A Facebook Ask Me Anything

Over on the new Facebook Page, I announced a new “Live Q&A” which is kind of like a reddit AMA, I think. Anyway, come over and make note of the event, and pop in live to ask questions! 🙂

Daily Photo – Patterns in the Sand

I spent a lot of time taking photos of all the desert scenes in Namibia, but sometimes I forgot to look down and see the beauty right in front of me! I was actually not too good at remember such a simple rule. The only time I happened to remember it is when I was just walking along and decided to look down at my feet for whatever reason. I’d have to stop very quickly so I didn’t make foot prints in the area I wanted to photograph!

Patterns in the Sand

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-09-26 20:29:55
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/200
  • Aperture8
  • ISO50
  • Focal Length15.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias+0.3

Comments
3
Nov 2014 : Monday
filed under  Namibia, Sony A6000, Sossusvlei

New Sony FE 70-200 review

My Other Sony Goodies and Lenses

Go visit the often-updated My Equipment Page to see all my goodies!

Sony FE 70-200 – New Review

Go check out the new Sony FE 70-200 Review that just landed on the site! I just used this lens for the first time after my month in Africa. I’m now looking forward to using it more here for landscape-y shots in New Zealand. It’s so light and awesome!

Daily Photo – Alone in the desert

One great thing about a zoom lens like this 70-200mm (linked above) for landscape photography is it allows this nice effect called “compression,” where you can do effects like this: Bring in the two layers of sand dunes from beyond and make them look nice and overpowering.

For this particular one, I used the A6000, which is a cropped sensor camera. This means I was able to get in even tighter, as this camera will change the specs from 70-200 to 105-300.

Alone in the desert

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-09-25 19:07:16
  • CameraILCE-6000
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/1000
  • Aperture4
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length138.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
31
Oct 2014 : Friday
filed under  Camera Gear, Lüderitz, Sony A7R

Kolmanskop and a New Facebook Page

New Facebook Page!

We’ve started a new Facebook Page for Trey Ratcliff! I’m moving it all off my personal page over there… so stop by and have a Like! 🙂 We’re doing a special week-long event there, and it ends with an AMA, so stay tuned! 🙂

New Visual Interview with Adobe

I did an interview with Adobe… but it’s kind of a cool interview because they asked me to answer each question with a photo!

HDR Photo

Daily Photo – Kolmanskop

This is an amazing place! It’s an abandoned diamond mining town near Lüderitz in Namibia. The nearby desert has blown in and covered the entire town with sand dunes. It’s so wild there! This is the first of a TON of photos I took while there… I’ll post more here soon.

Kolmanskop

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-09-23 04:33:25
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/15
  • Aperture16
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length11.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias-1

Comments
1
Oct 2014 : Wednesday
filed under  Camera Gear, DJI Phantom, Namibia, Sossusvlei

Deadvlei from Above – 900 year old trees in Namibia

DJI Quadcopter Review

In case you missed my DJI Phantom Review, now is a good time to check it out, since I took all these photos with that awesome device!

Deadvlei from Above

I had an amazing day just a few days ago here in Nambia at Sossusvlei inside the Namib-Naukluft. I’ve always wanted to visit this place, and it is certainly not easy to get to. You know what’s even harder to get to? That HUGE sand dune behind it which is actually 350 meters (over 1,000 feet) high. I climbed it after I took these photos… it took me about 2 hours… Honestly, it’s 50% higher than that because, I kid you not, your foot slides down 50% with each step! Oh god it was hot and tough… but I did it! Then I ran down the front face in less than 8 minutes. Whoa! It was Amazing!

Anyway, I flew the DJI Phantom with the GoPro3 and grabbed all these photos below. I LOVE the perspective… so interesting to me… I hope they are interesting to you too! 🙂

There’s also a lot of video we grabbed… we’re working on a new video series that is TOTALLY AWESOME! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter if you want to see it first!

DCIM103GOPRO

DCIM103GOPRO

DCIM105GOPRO

DCIM105GOPRO

(that last shot is me and our crew walking out of the Dead Vlei at the end of the afternoon… super sweaty and mega-tired! This picture was actually taken while the quad was being piloted by the Great Bel Jones!)

Daily Photo – Deadvlei from Above

And here is my absolute favorite photo of the day. I looked at all the trees. This was my favorite… I don’t know why…

Deadvlei from Above

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-09-24 23:42:26
  • CameraHERO3+ Black Edition
  • Camera MakeGoPro
  • Exposure Time1/2200
  • Aperture2.8
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length2.8 mm
  • FlashNo flash function
  • Exposure ProgramProgram AE
  • Exposure Bias

Comments