Camel Thorn Trees: Stunning Photo Looks Like A Painting

This unbelievable photo was taken by Frans Lanting for National Geographic. The caption reads, "Tinted orange by the morning sun, a soaring dune is the backdrop for the hulks of camel thorn trees in Namib-Naukluft Park."

Be sure to check out the National Geographic photo gallery!

The image can be found in the June issue of National Geographic, available on newsstands May 30th.

Comments

[Alicia Westberry]

09:52 PM on 06/09/2011

That's beautiful!! It really does look like a painting!!

[gevan]

10:03 AM on 05/27/2011

Somehow that bit in the upper left with the yellow rectangle looks artifically added.

[jimboy71]

11:41 PM on 05/27/2011

Very good.

[Stephen Garey]

01:37 PM on 05/25/2011

People seem to be raving about this photo, but I'm not one of them.

I've been a very vocal critic of how some (maybe most) digital cameras tend to "draw" images in an illustrated fashion, making the end result look more like a painting than a photograph. As a professional photographer, this is not at all to my liking and something that I hope doesn't become a trend, ie that this becomes a concerted effort to make digital captures look like paintings. Heaven help us if that's what comes about.

Canon's DSLRs seem to be the worst of the bunch when it comes to rendering like a painting. Many NY Times images are Canon, and I can tell immediately which Canon took the shot by how much it looks like a "drawing." Nikons seem to the least offensive in this regard, but many of their models turn out "painted images" as well.

Perhaps this is all a good reason to stay with film, inconvenient and time-consuming as it may be.

[cedy]

09:24 PM on 05/25/2011

Would a carpenter blame his tools?

Sure I understand the difference between Canon, Nikon, 120, 4x5 and so on. I don't think your biting remark about cameras really makes a good point. I shoot all these formats and think that it depends on the circumstances and budget. However I do have to agree on your point about film, this probably should have been taken with a larger format camera, than a full frame DSLR. I probably would have done it with either a Mamiya 67 or a 4x5, but the pressure to produce quickly and all the hatred for film makes this picture an opportunity that is beyond the photographer and more related to the management or laziness of the photographer. Frankly, I would used a longer lens, and shot to infinity in mind rather that closer up, as the photo gets soft at the peek of the dune. Also he used a ND 2 stop which is fine, but the foreground is just to dark. I would have used a .3 ND and a 1 stop hard grad, to bring out more detail in the trees.

[Stephen Garey]

11:53 AM on 05/26/2011

I'm not sure what was "biting" about my comment, nor was I blaming anyone for their choice of tools. Digital photography is still in its infancy, and it is what it is at this point in time: somewhat artificial and sterile. I'm surely not the only photographer to see it this way! I hope and trust this will change for the better as sensor design continues to evolve.

If viewers of digital images (meaning the general public) are letting themselves get used to this less-than-authentic reproduction and are also willing to accept it without question, that's their business. I will never get used to it nor will I accept it.

That all being said, I shoot digitally 100% of the time. I shoot both Canon and Nikon platforms and carefully match my bodies and lenses for the most authentic imagery I can produce. I often use Nikon lenses on my Canon bodies via an adapter in order to achieve this goal. I usually come close, but more often than not I can see the traces of digital in my images.

The one digital camera that produced like film ... in fact, like 35mm Kodachrome slides ... was the Fujifilm S2 Pro, long out of production. It arguably embodied the best sensor ever designed. It was built around the Nikon N80. Many things were very wrong about the design of the S2 camera body ... except the sensor. Wow. What pictures. I still use one.

[gevan]

09:59 AM on 05/27/2011

Need more Hudson River School photos.

[f8doggie]

12:58 PM on 05/25/2011

Oh, the little white blobs are bushes on the orange dune. The blue foreground must be in shade. It is an amazing view. Nat'l Geo photographers are the best.

[MJinCanada]

03:21 PM on 05/27/2011

I think the white blobs are stones rather than bushes, but yes, amazing.

[OhCaptain]

10:48 AM on 05/25/2011

Gorgeous!!

[schildpad]

10:35 AM on 05/25/2011

Wow, that's just amazing.

[sillyfrog]

10:29 AM on 05/25/2011

Well it is time to drill for oil there.

[HumbleGenius]

11:07 AM on 05/25/2011

I knew the photo was missing something.

[channala]

10:00 AM on 05/25/2011

Taken during a fire?

[MJinCanada]

03:26 PM on 05/27/2011

Sunrise on a sand dune. The tree trunks in front are still in shadow from the dune or hill between them and the sun.

[D-blings]

09:53 AM on 05/25/2011

I'm trying to wrap my mind around this picture. How is it not fake?

[Sockme]

09:58 AM on 05/25/2011

Look up other images taken in Namibia's deserts.

[MJinCanada]

03:24 PM on 05/27/2011

First you have to think of sunrise in a valley. One slope is illuminated and blazing (in this case with reddish sand and white rocks) while the valley floor is still cast in blue shadow.

[VOTER]

09:49 AM on 05/25/2011

STUNNING!

[ThaGovna]

09:45 AM on 05/25/2011

As has been said probably a billion times now...WOW.

It's so beautiful, it must have been taken with an iPhone!

Lol!

[artist-53]

09:16 AM on 05/25/2011

Love It!!!

[oscartucker]

09:11 AM on 05/25/2011

Beautiful! Just Beautiful!!!!!

[jag1018]

09:10 AM on 05/25/2011

Truly breathtaking. I would love to have a print of it!

[entemplin]

08:26 AM on 05/25/2011

stunning! :-)