Wonderful composition, tonality, and vision. Great picture.

Thanks

Great shot. Maybe a bit of a cliche, but only so because it just works so well. That sky is something I live for as a photographer!

It's a great shot - thanks for sharing! Though, if I were you I'd remove those nasty letters at the bottom! With or without letters it's a great shot.

Best regards,

Finally, an explanation behind the choice of the photo of the week. I am grateful enough for that, but recently the quality of the photos has improved too. Thank you.

Great shot, wonderful control on exposure..

This is a wonderful image. A good example of artistic composition , technical merit and a little bit of being in the right place at the right time.

Let us know.

Great shot! Tonality and positioning are right on.

The beauty of this photo hinges on the lower clouds and the U formation. The sand dunes and the camel train are underexposed and seem to be awefully neglected. IMHO, the balance in this photo has been robbed by a neglected upper 1/4th section and lower 1/4th section.

Nevertheless, its a nice photograph and has a mood to it.

I like the rich sepia tone which complements the desert scene well. Well composed althought I would crop the top 1/4 of the shot. Well done.

I like the shot, and it is a nice travel photo. Thus the aesthetics rating. However when I saw it I immediately thought "Lawrence of Arabia" and David Lean. Not that this is bad (au contraie), but maybe a different way to portray the vastness of the desert would make it a better pic.

great shot .... cloud formations over caravan really set the mood .... could also crop the image horizontally across the pix at about the middle, creating a slim-jim, but i like the relatively small proportion of the image devoted to the caravan.

A very nice picture. I did not think U shaped clouds, but crescent shaped, which then led me to think that Hallmark could market this as a Ramadan card and open up a whole new market in the Middle East!

No comment...it's beautiful!

Great effort

Camel riders of wahaiba sands

I am a learner of photoghraphy. Your photo is a chapter to me. Congratulations

The clouds are terrific and the caravan well placed but why knock out the colors of the sky? It would be interesting to compare the dramatics of the untinted scene with the Sepia toned scene perhaps that would amplify why the photographer chose the filter.

Why not just enjoy the beauty the photographer shared with us, rather than second-guess his artistic vision? I'm sure Dan had valid reasons for using a sepia filter. Check out Dan's other photos here and on his web site. This photograph is not a fluke.

Superb. I'd love to see an original print...

Dan, I enjoyed my week of Photo.net "fame" in last week's POW. I'm glad that the standards are as high with this week's choice of your wonderful image. Your images show not only superb photographic skill but also an understanding of the subjects and how best to visually present them. If the visitors to your extensive website galleries take anything away with them, it should be that the world is an incredible, stunning place that should be seen up close and not just viewed in various media. Fortunately for us, your beautiful images make us want to discover it all for ourselves. — David Julian (www.davidjulian.com)

Nice. Really nice!

Its a well deserved POTW selection. And FINALLY, the rationale behind the selection appears! Thanks team photo.net.

It looks like two photos to me. One of the unusual sky formation, and one of the backlit camel train. For my taste, I'd crop out the upper half of the sky and create a panaroma of just the fluffy clouds and camel train.

I would have framed it a little tighter but it's a beautiful photograph

This might be a personal bias, but I really like the open frame including all the clouds. The clouds, like the camel train, are in motion: Slow and steady, the cloud moisture flattens out in the classic anvil shape. (This is some textbook meterology stuff happenin' here!) But that movement makes a nice metaphore for the timeless plodding of the camel train, all part of a never ending cycle.

I'm interested in why the photo was choosen, and the feature here of inclusion of that by the PhotoNet elves may be an important part of our learning experience. HOWEVER, sometimes I like just "showin' up cold" and viewing something on its own merits, without any bias. Sometimes that's how I invite people to view my own photos - very little setup, except a title so they can find it. I usually include detail if someone wants to hunt for it, because sometimes that's something I look for myself later.

Great shot.

Also, I'm glad to see the rationale behind the pick added.

"The bottom of the cloud just missing the riders' heads shows careful composition." My guess is that this was good fortune, and not careful composition, judging by the distance.

But I am forming a theory that good photography is a matter of making your own luck.

Good photo. One can see the care that went into its creation, without it being flaunted. Good travel shot. Good piece of the human condition.

Why is everyone downing the sephia? I think it adds a charector that fits the desert. It makes me think of a hot, dry evening. :)

Dan has a great eye for a photo.

This camel train sings out travel brochure to me.

The heavy sepia does add a distinct feel to the picture. I wouldn't do it, I'd prefer black and white. But this is Dan's photo not mine. So I'll shut up on that one.

Dan is protecting his work with the copyright stamp but it does detract from the composition. Such is the modern world.

Initially I liked the idea of a photo elve's comment. But in retrospect this reduces the often entertaining opinions expressed in POW. Maybe the elves could chip in after perhaps 3 or 4 days of comments, or if someone directly questions their choice?

I just want to express my disappointment from seeing that explanation from the photo.net guys as to why they chose this pic. I used to enjoy seeing a photo up there that inevitably will be people that won't like it, and others will love it. That's photography for you. There was no reason whatsoever to give the explanation, this is a free site, a beauty with no advertising, they choose POW and if you don't like it... tough. And if you get annoyed with it go surf other sites, there are millons of them on the internet, and stop whinging. It was kinda funny to see those ridiculous complaints for having chosen that POW, and the elves silence over it was just delightful. The discussions thereafter were rich and great learning material. Sometimes I wondered why it was chosen but I always wondered why people was so desperate to know the reason, as if photo.net "owed" them an explanation. Beats me. I am very sorry the elves gave in on this one. Just a thought, Pablo.-

great photo

A POW doesn't have to be good to be chosen. What for? To get 50 comments all the same saying "awesome", "great shot" and the like? I only expected a controvercial photo that would lead to an interesting photography people exchange of ideas about the ups and downs, and learn something in the process. I thought that was the idea of the photonet people too, maybe I was wrong. Pablo.-

i think the comment of the elfs is not necessary but it is also no harm. you can look at it as just a comment from some people just like you and me!elfs comment will not influence my view on a picture anyway... take patricia's POW in december for example,that was a rich discussion,70%found the photo not good anough for POW or distasteful or what ever... that was great,we had a good and funny time reading it,you think it would have been differend if the elfs gave there first comment?maybe,but i don't think so..i agree that some commentators feel that the elfs "owed" them there comment wich is indeed ridiculous. i liked it without elfs comment but it is ok if they do so. this "camel train" picture is not controversial,it is a beautiful picture,no comment necessary. i wish i was on that train to... 2 times 10!!!

I was gone for the past week, and found out about the POW tonight when I got back. I wanted to give some explanations on a few matters.

1) I took about a whole roll of film for this scene, about 5 of them with the sepia filter. the rest of them were done without it, although I used the polarizer to reduce specular highlights and add some contrast in the clouds. the color version of the image is currently in Mountain Travel/Sobek's catalog.

2) I didn't like the non-sepia version because it was mid-day and the colors were pretty washed out. Well, it wasn't "bad", but not as nice as it could have been at, say, sunset. By comparison, I just found the sepia version much nicer.

3) I also shot this with my backup camera which was loaded with AGFA 200 (black and white slide film), using a red 25 filter (to add contrast). It's a dramatic shot, but it seemed a little cliche, compared to the sepia-toned image. honestly, I was so excited about the new filter (it was the first time I used it) that I probably prejudiced my judgement about the aesthetics.

4) The camera used was an EOS A2 -- I hadn't added it in my camera database on photo.net yet, so it defaulted to my 1v, which is my current camera (and IS in the database).

5) Regarding cropping: I specifically intended to show the TOP of the clouds to give a sense of scale. If you crop anything off the top, the sense of space is lost.

6) Regarding copyright notice. I do not add that to "protect" my images -- I do that to "advertise" my web site. I almost always take care to minimize distraction with the URL, but I've found that having it on my images has gotten me more business than any other form of marketing.

IT IS A AWESOME PICTURE, IT LOOKS LIKE A PEACEFUL RIDE THROUGH THE DESERT. KEEP THEM COMING.

This picture has grown on me. Adelaide SA

good color i lve it

When I look at a photo I don't try to pick it apart based on some technical guidelines that are out there to grade your everday photo. When I saw this IMAGE it stopped me from scrolling with my mouse and kept me transfixed on the monitor. If anyone tries to pick apart this image, it will most likely be the result of an inferior male ego (considering that greater than 90% of the subscribers to Photo.net are male) aspiring to capture such a breathtaking image. Some may say that you were just in the right place at the right time, others may say that your equipment did most of the work and how the composition should be better. I say, that many photographers on this website truly love photography and in the back of their mind aspire to capture such an image, whether they can admit it to themselves or not. I say DAN, YOU'RE THE MAN and you should be proud of yourself. Charge a fortune for it, you deserve it!

Beauty and grandeur. These heavenly cloud formations sweeping down to meet the caravan feel like like they were sculpted by the hand of God. The silhouetted creatures and their riders are incidental in this landscape. They could have been scraps of paper being tossed by the wind. The captured moment in time here is the grand hero.

Nice....Very Nice!

Lovely! A dramatic sky complements the camels. The line of the clouds directs the viewer the same direction as the camels. This is a very effective b/w shot. The sepia tone looks nostalgic, but would it convey a stronger image in true black-and-white?

I haven't been to photo.net for a long time, so was quickly browsing through when I came onto this outstanding work. WOW! Just wonderful!

Congrats on landing to Pop Photo pic for Photo.net.

Those stratified clouds make the picture into nice thirds...

This got to be the best photo I have seen here...

This is a very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very wonderfull Photo. Thanks you scan this Photo Hitendra India

Beautyfull picture, perfect light and great composition. Shooted at the right time. Your portfolio is one of my favorite on photo.net. Congratulations for your work. Jan

this one i've seen somewhere else, has it been in a photo mag? wonderful shot, right place right time, beautiful image

I like this shot. I've always been fascinated with cloud formations and they lead the eye well in the composition. The camels don't quite have the aspect for the ideal shot, but work well. Obviously camel and desert profiles with a big sky are fairly common so I can't say it's an original shot, but I still like it.

- Cliff

I love how the clouds direct the eye in this picture. There is a just a bit of detail left in the cammel train and pure silhouettes would probably be better.

I was so focused on the clouds that i looked past the direction the herd of caravan. its beautiful how the whole flow and direction the sunlight seems like it does a u-turn to follow along the trail of people and camel. i also love how the sunlight is wrapped in the clouds. i really love this piece. i am in awe.

If this was mine, would probably be my last work. You've got it! Brilliant!!

I love it. I hope that is hanging on somebody's wall somewhere.

Just Desserts ( pun intended ) This is a rare view of a mysterious location. Perfect picture,IMHO. Aesthetics 10 Originality 10 I only wish I could have been there !!!

just lovely- (so rare to get three types of clouds in a shot, too). love the people interspersed between the camels... love the amount of sky to earth... just fab.

Best use of a sepia filter I've ever seen....