Salt mining in Danakil

Good shots & a fascinating subject. (You really have got off the beaten track!)

Of this last set I particularly like #22. Sometimes getting down in the dirt seems like a lot of effort but it was definitely worthwhile. Did you use a high pass filter in post?

FWIW some of the blacks are a bit "closed" on my monitor but it may be my monitor that's at fault.

TFS

Atom Ant wrote: Sometimes getting down in the dirt seems like a lot of effort but it was definitely worthwhile. Did you use a high pass filter in post? FWIW some of the blacks are a bit "closed" on my monitor but it may be my monitor that's at fault.

Thank you Tony, you caught the first point: dirtyness...there is no toilet in the whole Danakil...! (I'm not joking) anyway that was really worthwile. A pity that we spent only about 15 minutes in visiting the proper salt mining...and it was very hot.
About the post, every picture is processed in LR5 with normal regulations, no filters, in this case contrast and clarity added plus minor colour reguation.

travelshots wrote: a tad of highlight recovery and lifting the dark tones in some of the images would have looked more natural, but might not have transported the harsh environmental and work conditions that well. But I would have removed the magenta blobs caused by lens reflections in Image 22.

Yes right, PP in this case was attempting to emphasize the extreme working conditions, trust me it was really hot, and I was suffering just taking some pictures for 15 minutes.
magenta blobs are quite evident but IMHO in this case they emphasize again the power of the sun...

I'll add this consideration, about shooting in different social contexts.
It's not simple to get in touch with people so distant, and some of them are shy or just don't want to be portrayed, or even hostile. So I usually tried with this technique, I say I work in local hospital and begin to say some phrases I learned to work, like "what's your name", "be quiet", "don't move, it cames a little puncture" "do you feel pain", "ok good boy it's finished"...and so on; as you can figure it's quite humouristic, they ask where I come from and in what hospital I work and so on... and usually after this I ask permission to take some photos.
But in this case an old man (fig #26) was pretty "unmoved", he asked for money; and only after I promise to give him my bottle of water, he accepted to be portrayed (see below). But as I and he returned to the car trying to take the water, our guide firmly protested that it was not possible. after a brief quarrel the guide (a young Amharic man, that is of a different ethnicity, not an Afar) allowed me to give only a bottle half-filled ... that the old master disdainfully refused going back to his work and showing great dignity, and making me feel so small and sorry. Not knowing what to do I even went back on my feet, I tried to apologize and gave him the money I had in my pocket.
This story means that we were not in a zoo, we are all humans and much similar in feelings, but so different in our behaving "rules" (culture) and maybe this encounters (that are developing more and more in the future) can bring both good, evil, and strange consequences.